Hiltl is back on course. After the trouser manufacturer repositioned itself after insolvency in 2020 and restarted production at its home location in Sulzbach-Rosenberg last year, Gerhard Kränzle is looking positively to the future.
In the interview, the Hiltl CEO explains how the “Made in Germany” trousers are being received, why the only international outlet recently had to close and how the brand is trying to reach a younger target group with Tiktok.
What approach has Hiltl been pursuing since the realignment?
We want to emotionalize the brand and are currently aligning the specialization close to the trend and craftsmanship. With the European production and DNA we have, we fit into the spirit of the times. Without playing sustainability ‘so roughly’, we have natural sustainability. We gave Hiltl what it needed. We haven’t reinvented the wheel, but we just play the Hiltl DNA well.
An important part of your DNA is also the trousers production “Made in Germany”. How has this been accepted so far?
We are surprised at the response this has had so far, but we were also surprised at the price ranges we were able to generate from the partners who had it for autumn/winter. They were extremely happy.
We cracked price limits between 300 and 400 euros, which were the best price ranges for the partners. ‘The leaders’ who have taken it over and continued it have sales quotas of between 85 and 95 percent in these price ranges.
Were the plays well written this season as well?
Many continue to write ‘Made in Germany’ because we come there with a good classic but also with a good modernity. There are also very authentic items such as the ‘Japanese Workwear’ and the 800 gram carpenter’s cord, which is also written by many heritage shops.
What else are you betting on this FW23 season?
We build on wool – a modern wool look that is interpreted in such a way that the business man can wear it, but I can also wear it with sneakers or a vest. So rather relaxed, maybe a bit timeless, organized without a target group – for us, coming through the value is an important stylistic device.
The cord issue is also important to us. Even though we know that the cord didn’t perform all that well overall, we sold it extremely well and are still selling well in the order.
Which colors characterize the season for you?
Off-White was good everywhere. Blue was always there. Depending on the specialties, Bordeaux was still good. In addition, the shades of beige and olive green are important. Unfortunately, mineral green does not work so well.
We’ve included a good range of colors because we don’t just want to grow through fit either. Many more traditional customers say they need something new. We have qualities where we play twelve suits. Of course, that gives strength when you have such a color palette for an article.
With the ‘Microfactory’ they also moved within Sulzbach-Rosenberg. What happened to the outlet?
We moved and took the outlet we previously had on Asamstrasse to Dieselstrasse. We are very happy in the region because a lot of people live there, Nuremberg is 60 kilometers away and Regensburg 70 kilometers away.
Are there also outlets in other places?
No, we had also tried an outlet in Prague that just wasn’t profitable. That’s 200, 220 kilometers away from us – right at the airport – actually great, but unfortunately the tourists haven’t returned there as we would have liked. That’s why we recently closed it now.
They also want to expand e-commerce more. Where is the focus there?
When we realign ourselves, when we prepare marketing material, Instagram and other social media, it must also be such that retailers can also use it well. We have our own online store and want to grow there as well. It is more important for us to bring the retail partners into good growth.
What proportion does your own e-commerce account for?
In our own e-commerce, we have a sales share of five to seven percent. We’re doing it very carefully, although we don’t yet have any firm intention to say: it has to be like this up to here and there. As a modern company, you simply need the online channel. We also have an eye on it and have good growth, but it is not a main channel.
Nowadays you have to be careful not to come across as outdated. We don’t negate online, but we still have so much growth potential with our partners on the ground.
But the Tiktok account isn’t there yet, is it?
We’re working on that. We’ve actually switched a few things already. But we have to be really careful there. Tiktok has to be treated differently than Instagram.
We did a few field tests and did a target group analysis for Generation Z with the marketing students at the University of Kufstein: How do we address them? From what moment are we interesting for you and what price ranges do we need? I was surprised because 58 percent of the purchases made by ‘Gen Z’ are in stores. I would have imagined the online share to be much, much higher. That’s why we look at it very closely, because we want to make future generations transparent for Hiltl.
What’s next at Hiltl?
We will continue along the path we have now taken, further developing the collections. We have a clear focus on our trend target groups because we no longer see it in terms of age. We want to make that more professional because we still see great potential there.
With ‘Made in Germany’, the move to the new headquarters, and our new approach to photography, we have taken the path that was important to Hiltl. We now have to make sure that we don’t oversubscribe. We don’t live in an insane rejuvenation, we want to land in the present and be adequate and visible for our target groups. We’re going to increase social media presence because today you have to have a face there. In this respect, we will now continue what we have promoted.
In which markets do you currently want to grow?
In terms of exports, we still have a few important growth markets ahead of us. These clearly include BeNeLux and the USA. In BeNeLux we have just completed a market analysis. We now had 35 appointments out of 65 potential new customers in the order phase.
The same way is now also going in the USA, because the product is extremely well received there and we had trading partners there who stopped buying because we didn’t deliver well, and and and. But they are coming back now and are happy that we are going this way, that we are able to deliver and are reliable and that we can enter the market. So the next important task is to rework the markets where we have been.