Attention Maloja fans: Maloja can not only be worn as clothes on your own body, for a few weeks now you can also read how the bike and lifestyle brand Maloja came about, the people behind it and how the company became what it is Today is. Europa Verlag published a collection of Maloja stories about inspired work, careful growth and sustainable success that is well worth reading under the title “Going Your Own Paths”.
Rimsting, early November. An unusual presentation takes place on a lonely, developed farm in the middle of nowhere in Bavaria. It is not the location that is unusual, because the bike and lifestyle brand Maloja has been based here for many years, but the product: it is a book. Written by Alexander Provelegios, professional journalist and author and a friend of the house, about the essence of Maloja, captured in seventeen independent episodes from the company’s almost 18-year history.
A sympathetic success story without a raised index finger
Anyone who got to know the two founders Peter Räuber and Klaus Haas knows that Maloja works differently than many other companies. Quality of life plays a serious role here, as you can see as soon as you enter the company headquarters: there is wood and flea market furniture everywhere, right in the entrance area there is a small kitchen where professional cooking is carried out, and long tables where the employees come together for lunch. There are no separate offices here, not even for the bosses. They have their desks right in the middle, a hierarchy cannot be discerned.
Just as informal, sympathetic and inspiring are the stories that Provelegios has peeled out of the many conversations he had over many months with the “Maloja family”, which has now grown to 50 people. Of course, it’s about a success story, but without trying to stylize yourself as a role model and without ignoring difficult issues and setbacks.
USA – a treacherous market
One story, for example, tells of how incredibly easily business in the USA developed and ultimately failed. There was an enthusiastic American who discovered Maloja in Bavaria and wanted to open a shop in Sun Valley, Idaho. The enthusiasm made the founders skeptical at first, but in the end Maloja agreed, and in 2010 the first trading partner opened on American soil.
A few years later, at the Eurobike trade fair in Friedrichshafen, buyers from REI, an American outdoor chain with 165 stores and three billion US dollars in sales, are at the stand and are enthusiastic about the brand. “In the second year of cooperation, the REI CEO walked dressed in Maloja over the outdoor fair in Salt Lake City. That was a statement, ”quotes the book from Klaus Haas. But the tide soon turned. The buyers were delighted, but they didn’t explain the brand to their salespeople or buy the products that Maloja stands for. Instead, a lot of yoga, which is only a marginal topic for the bike and snow sports brand.
Conclusion: In 2016 the collaboration ended with a loss. The Idaho store, on the other hand, still works today because it understood what Maloja is about.
Wrong motive: The biggest shit storm in Maloja history
Another lesson is the episode about a mountain bike shirt produced in 2015 that was supposed to give the brand the shit storm of a lifetime in South Korea. South Korea was about to be built as a new market at the time, and the shirt was dedicated to the world’s first mountain bike downhill race in California. Without knowing it, the design team chose a motif that was reminiscent of the Japanese war flag “the rising sun” and titled the t-shirt with the name “Kamikaze-Downhill”.
What sounds completely harmless to German ears is an outrage of unimaginable proportions in South Korea. “We had to close the Korean Facebook account and made it onto the 8pm evening news. On the German Facebook account we got Hitler graphics and pictures that showed Japanese people impaling the heads of Koreans, ”says Peter Räuber. The opening of the first Maloja flagship store in Seoul was planned three weeks later. An explanation of how the gaffe came about was not enough for the South Koreans. Maloja had to take the shirt off the market worldwide.
Design: more than just a beautiful appearance
It also tells about how leadership is lived at Maloja and about creativity. Design in particular plays a major role at Maloja, after all, the brand has created a new genre with its unmistakable design, starting with bike clothing, sports and leisure wear that captures an attitude towards life. To make sure it stays that way, the design team goes on a multi-day excursion into the forest or to the “spinner meeting”, where new inspirations and graphic themes are freely sought.
For the HiSociety design theme, which was dedicated to mountain farmers, the design team volunteered for a week on a South Tyrolean mountain farm, milking cows, clearing stables and paved slopes. “We cannot develop a collection at great expense and let it degenerate into a marketing topic,” says Peter Räuber, “we have to fill the whole thing with decency and respect.”
These are just a few examples of the many stories that Maloja has shaped as a company over the years and made it what it is today: A brand with a lot of independence and real values that are not only expressed in the product, but also in the Dealing with each other. Ultimately, the book wants to show how you can reconcile life and work in a company, and how you can meet daily challenges in ways that are not commonplace.
The book is published by Europaverlag and has 312 pages. It costs 25 euros.