“Not perfect, but better every day”. This is the motto of Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf’s new 3,000 square meter ‘Conscious Fashion Store’ in Berlin, which offers a new shopping experience in the area of more sustainable fashion.
Something is happening at Potsdamer Platz. The shopping center ‘The Playce’ has replaced the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden with a new concept since September 2022. Shopping here is supposed to be fun and games, ergo the neologism of play and place. Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf has followed this concept and, with its ‘Conscious Fashion Store’, is bringing a new component not only to Potsdamer Platz but also to its own portfolio. The core is about sustainability, learning, creating trust and community building.
Standing on pressed wood panels, Head of Sustainability Lena Böringschulte, General Sales Manager Thimo Schwenzfeier and Manager Corporate Communications Lucas Hermanns welcome FashionUnited to a preview of the new sustainability concept. There are still a few things to do before opening on May 19th, but overall the store seems quite ready. The escalators are already rolling, but the elevators still have to be removed, as Thimo Schwenzfeier explains, and the plants for the vertical gardens are still missing. A couple of naked manquins stand in line at the entrance, they are dressed in the looks from the campaign, which can be seen behind the escalators on an LED wall in moving images.
The store has a more open design and the range of goods is less than in a ‘conventional’ P&C store. At the entrance to the ground floor, which is dedicated to the men’s collections, there is a so-called ‘Soft Shop’ from the Knowledge Cotton brand. “The difference to the shop-in-shop or brand shops,” explains Lena Böringschulte, “is that it is our own furniture and not that of the supplier.” The decision to have these soft shops, which make up the entire store, is based on the idea of sustainability owed. This means that it can be flexibly converted and replaced at any time if desired, and the lifespan of the furniture is extended. Even the brand name of the shops is not permanently installed, but is instead beamed onto the wall and can therefore be changed at any time.
More sustainable brands meet existing brands
“A symbiosis of relatively dedicated, more sustainable brands and the established existing brands of P&C and their more sustainable products or ranges,” says Thimo Schwenzfeier, describing the brand mix. In addition to Knowledge Cotton, Armed Angels can also be found here with a large selection, but also Marc O’Polo, Boss, Replay, Drykorn and P&C’s own brand Jake*s Studio – “adapted to the expectations of P&C customers” and the Demands on the sustainability of the house. An exception is the Vaude brand, which as an outdoor brand may not be familiar to P&C customers, but which fits in extremely well with the range in terms of sustainability.
For the selection of more sustainable products, Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf uses a seal catalogue, which Head of Sustainability Lena Böringschulte explains. Her team tries to create transparency and trust with its own label, because most customers don’t see through the jungle of sustainability seals: “‘We Care Together’ is the initiative for sustainability for the entire P&C Group, including Anson’s and Magasin du Nord,” she explains. “We want to use this to make sustainability more understandable for customers.” That’s why categories such as ‘Recycled’, ‘Organic’ and ‘Responsible’ were introduced. Purchasing for the Conscious Store is managed centrally by the buyers in Düsseldorf, who are in constant contact with the sustainability department.
Women’s fashion is one floor below. There, at the entrance, Lanius lures customers into the store, and there are also Ecoalf, Save the Duck, Armed Angels and also Marc O’Polo. In the back part of the first basement there is a show studio behind glass, where printing, embroidery and sewing work can be done. Customers can have clothing individualized, changed or repaired here. Next to it is a workshop area with a long table and blue stools. “We will hold workshops here, for example an open sewing café, do-it-yourself or upcycling workshops,” says Thimo Schwenzfeier.
The second basement is characterized by a younger and unisex target group. The fact that you are now in the former multi-storey car park is shown by the pillars that mark the former false ceiling. Brands like Calvin Klein, Champion, Lacoste or own label Review present themselves here. Next to it is a concession area for the second-hand shop ‘Vintage & Rags’, which specializes, among other things, in T-shirts and hoodies from the USA. There is also an area for lectures and talks that can be separated by a curtain. When an event isn’t happening, the curved seats of the orange-red grandstand are occupied by Flamingo and Mother Earth sneakers.
Overall, the store appears to be a good step towards a relaunch that big retail chains like P&C desperately need. Because cool concept stores and direct-to-consumer brands pick up the younger generation with more commitment than department stores – you can feel that in Düsseldorf too. The Conscious Fashion Store could point the way for the future of Peek & Cloppenburg and its retail locations: “This is one of several possible future concepts,” says Thimo Schwenzfeier. “We want to show what is already possible today.”