"I don't know, I've never swaffed before"
Hello All!
How was your summer? Mine was comprised of rather boring
stretches of tedium punctuated with stressful bouts of activity. For reasons of
compromised space and compromised finances…and really compromises in general, I
didn’t seem to get done the many things I had intended for the summer.
But I did/do have some work! Some months ago, the one sewist
in the world whose work I admire the very most (but doesn’t much like
attention, so I won’t mention her by name) called me and told me about a firm
she has been working with for a couple of years. This firm works closely with
Farbenmix and, well, this firm is looking to expand outside of the
German-speaking market and further into Europe. Would I like to help?
Um, help? How? You realize, I am in Californa. So, ideally
situated to expand into France and Italy and Spain and so forth I am/je suis/io
sono/soy not so much, ne c’est pas/non/no? Whatever: If this is a partner firm
of Farbenmix, and if you, awesome sewist/dear-friend-who-shall-not-be-named,
work for these guys, that’s good enough for me. Count me in. What do you want
me to do?
For a few months, I’ve just done some translations of German
blog posts into English. Really no sweat off my keyboard. I haven’t even sent
this company an invoice and I hadn’t really told anyone—until now—that I’ll be
getting a paycheck from these guys once in awhile.
That is because I really want to stand behind what I am called to represent, especially when it comes to something near and dear to my
heart like sewing.
Swafing is a mid-sized firm in the greatest tradition of
European mid-sized firms, which are still the backbone of European industry. These are the kinds of companies with, maybe, 150
employees, max, that are handed down through the generations and, therefore, are not
hyperactively and shortsightedly focused on “shareholder value” and “quarterly
returns”. These firms like to consider things in terms of longevity and
sustainability. Something that can be passed on to to the next generation. Swafing
is located in Nordhorn, Germany, a small town near the Dutch border. In its
heyday, Nordhorn was an important industrial center for the textile industry.
Mills, manufacturers, distributors, and other suppliers and service providers
in the textile and apparel industry value chain all called Norhorn home. Swafing Sr. would go to these different
firms and purchase up what they had laying around to sell to the home sewing
market. And then the 1990s came. Outsourcing. China. “Nuff said. Nordhorn as an
industrial center for the textile industry? Very much less so. (North Carolina,
you can sing this song, too, am I right?). Swafing Jr. was facing very tough
times, tough times indeed.
At just about the right time, this rather manly company got quite the
estrogen injection, in form of very enthusiastic sewists, who love them some
fabulous fabric. And fabulous fabric of the sort they were unable to find.
High-quality cotton knits and high thread-count percales printed with whimsy
and wonder and fun. Sumptuous fashion fabrics that were on trend. Pretty, but
nonetheless utilitarian fabrics for things like handbags and ski jackets.
Worsted wools in a broad pallet of colors. Yarn-dyed striped interlocks in most every color and most every width. Digital prints. French terry. Confidence in Textiles/Oeko-Tex and respected organic standards. You
know what we want. You know how hard it is to find it.
Swafing was the kind of company that knew how to find or
make whatever kind of material was wanted, if they only knew which fabrics were
wanted. These are dudes, remember:
No matter how hard they may try, sometimes they don’t get it. Am I right? And so Sabine Pollehn of Farbenmix came with a wish list. And that wish list fulfilled many, many wishes
of many, many home sewists. Many, many, many. And so, many more fabrics were
made and innovative new designers discovered and many, many, many pretty things
were sewn up all around the land. And then Swafing hired some highly enthused
gals having both excellent sewing and business-y skills to handle things like creative
direction and online marketing. And Swafing made a name for itself.
And they lived happily every after…not yet. Mr. Swafing is
not content to sit on his laurels. He also understands how fickle we sewists
can be and wants to continue to grow and meet new demands.
And this is about where I was called and started translating
blog posts. Whatever.
This company, Swafing, recently invited me to attend their
semiannual “Hausmesse”. What looks like might be translated into “house mess”
is really something different. (“House mess,” come to think of it, has no
German translation. Probably because it doesn’t exist. Very tidy country.)
Translated by a pro like myself, I used the term “in-house exhibition” in the
blog posts for “Hausemesse.” But translating words doesn’t necessarily convey
the meaning. For example, zum Beispiel,
if you’re invited for coffee in the U.S., you’ll likely just meet a friend at
(please-anyplace-but-)Starbucks and drink lattes from paper cups. In Germany,
on the other hand, if you are invited for coffee, please consider bringing
flowers (from a florist), please
calculate at least two hours around a beautiful table resplendent with
different homemade cakes and pastries, fine china, napkins folded prettily,
special forks, linen table cloths and so on, and please wear your Sunday best, but
sensible shoes, because “having coffee” invariably concludes with a lengthy
walk (Spaziergang) no matter what the weather. Coffee vs. Kaffee. Same thing,
completely different.
And the “Hausmesse” might translate to “in-house exhibition”
or “open house” or “warehouse sale” or some such. But a lot gets lost in
translation. Below, I’ve tried to let a few of the hundreds of people who
attended explain why they drove hundreds of miles (excuse me, “kilometers”) to
some ho-dunk (excuse me, “quaint”) town in the countryside. And also to explain
in a small way, why I am now proud to call myself a member of the Swafing team.
But please remember: no one can pay me enough to promote
something I don’t believe in. Or at least nothing under the
buy-my-own-island-and-my-own-flying-horse-that-speaks-fluent-French price
point. So, if I show you something made with Swafing fabric, it is because I
really stand behind it. I really do like this fabric and the company behind it. If I start Instagramming pix of Jean-Pierre flying among tall palm trees, you are welcome to call my judgement into question. Until then, when I say the fabric is off the hook? Seriously, it is. This is that marvelous European fabric woven by elves on magic golden looms in an enchanted forest or some such. Seriously.
A Fabric Paradise on the Dutch-German Border
“So, what brought you to Nordhorn today?”
That was my question to attendees at the recent Swafing
In-House Exhibition. Nordhorn has its charms—don’t get me wrong. There are, for
example canals surrounding the central shopping district. But, let’s face it,
Venice Nordhorn is not.
“Oh, everybody goes to the Hausmesse!”
Everybody? To an in-house exhibition of a mid-sized,
family-run fabric distributor? People drive hundreds of kilometers to mill
about a collection of rather non-descript industrial buildings near the
German-Dutch border? As I press against the racks to allow yet another smiling
customer and her full cart is push past, I will have agree with Sabine Pollehn
of Farbenmix. But why?
“It’s Swa-fing,” explained
to me in slow, deliberate syllables. Like the three-year old, who as discovered
that “why” is the one of the Five W’s that just can have no end, I bite again.
“Why Swafing?”
Anke Müller, the creative force behind Cherry Picking, gives us our first German lesson for fab fabric fans. Everybody: "ISH LEE-beh SHTAW-feh!" "I love fabrics!"
“Und warum sind Sie
heute in Nordhorn?”
So meine Frage an so
mancher Besucher des diesjährigen Swafing Hausmesse. Nordhorn hat gewiss seine Reize—mich also bitte nicht falsch
verstehen. Die hübsche Innenstadt ist umringt von Kannelen, die mit Booten
befahrbar sind. Aber wir machen uns doch nichts hier vor: Venedig ist Nordhorn
wohl nicht.
“Ach! Jeder fährt zur
Hausmesse!”
Jeder? Zu der
Hausmesse eines Mittelstandsunternehmens, das Stoffe vertreibt? Es fahren Leute
Hunderte von Kilometern zu einer Kleinstadt an der deutschen-holländischen
Grenze, um um einigen unscheinbaren gewerblichen Bauten aus der Nachkriegszeit
herumzulaufen und Stoffe kaufen, die sie ja sonst bequem und gemütlich online
bestellen könnten? Während ich schon wieder gegen die Regale mich drucken
müssen, um eine lächelnde Kundin mit vollem Wagen vorbeifahren zu dürfen, muß
ich es wohl glauben. Aber warum?
“Weil es Swa-fing
ist,” für mich extra in langsamen Sylben ausgesprochen. Und wie die freche dreijährige,
die soeben herausgefunden hat, das die frage “Warum” immer wieder und immer
wieder zur Frage gestellt werden kann, frage ich auch wieder, “Warum?”
Anne Petry, artist and creative tour-de-force behind Hebbedinge makes new friends. Literally, makes new friends. Get it?
And this is where the conversation gets interesting.
“I am a passionate wool felter,” explained Silke Freitag of
Müritz. “I run a successful yarn shop for knitting and crochet, but my
customers keep coming in asking for fabric. Swafing fabric. I think it is
important, in business, to go new ways and try new things. So I’m learning to
sew!”
“I think it is important to always try new things. That is
the wonderful thing about making things with your hands. You are always going
in new directions,” Ms. Freitag explains.
Put that way, I have to agree with this mother of five grown
children, who might just been seen about Müritz going new directions on a
groovy old GDR-issued bicycle, which Ms. Freitag has colorfully yarn-bombed.
Und nun wird das
Gespräch interessant.
“Ich bin Filzerin,”
erkläre Silke Freitag aus Müritz, “Und habe einen Wollladen für Stricken und
Häkeln. Aber meine Kunden fragten nach Stoffen, auch Swafing-Stoffen. Wenn man ein Geschäft hat, finde ich es
wichtige, auch neue Wege zu gehen. Deswegen lerne ich nähen!”
“Ich finde es wichtig,
immer neue Sachen auszuprobieren. Das ist das schöne an Handarbeit. Du mußt
immer neue Richtungen gehen,” drucke Frau Freit aus.
Und so ausgedruckt muß
ich ja der Mutter fünf erwachsener Kinder recht geben, welche man wohl um
Müritz herum eventuell ihre neue Wege fahren sehen könnte--und zwar auf einem
absolut fetzigen DDR-Fahrad, das Frau Freitag bunt “yarn-bombed” hatte.
“Sewing is like breathing,” explains Jette, communications
director and all-around girl-Friday for Farbenmix. “It is just like that.
Sewing is like breathing to me. Whatever else is going on around me, I need my
creative time. Just to breath.” And good fabric is like fresh, clean air, then,
Jetta? “Exactly! Swafing gives me the fabric to breath creatively!”
“Das Nähen ist wie
Atem,” sagt Jette, Kommunikationdirektorin und
Mädchen Frau-für-Alles bei Farbenmix. “Genauso ist
es. Nähen ist wie Atem. Egal was um mich herum abgeht, brauche ich mein Nähen.
Einfach Atem zu können.” Und gute Stoffe sind dann wie frische Luft, liebe Jette?
Stoff als metaphorischer Sauerstoff? “Genau! Swafing gibt mir den Stoff, um
kreativ Atem zu können.”
“Swafing is just good,” explain a group of three ladies near
the workshop tent. Hm, I think, judging from your accent, you three have come
quite a distance. “Yes, we drove from Switzerland.” That’s a good 600
kilometes, at least! “Yes, but Swafing has the kinds of fabrics we want for
children’s apparel.”
And then a round of smart phones are lit up to show off some
sewing creations, but also to show off some adorable Swiss grandchildren.
Super fangirl showing off her "Spooky" shirt sewn from Cherry Picking's recent collection.
“Swafing ist einfach
gut,” erläutet eine Gruppe von drei Damen, die in der Nähe vom Workshopzelt
standen. Hm, denke ich, anhand ihre Dialekten, sind diese drei sehr weit
gereist. “Ja, wir sind aus der Schweiz gekommen.” Das sind sicherlich
mindestens 600 Kilomerter! “Ja, aber Swafing hat die Stoffe, die wir für Kinderklamotten
brauchen.”
Und dann werden ja die
Smartphones herausgeholt und stolz sowohl Selbstgenähtes als auch bildhübsche,
schweizerische Enkelkinder gezeigt.
“So, why Swafing?” I ask a couple dressed proudly in beautiful
Alpine garb. They had driven up from Austria.
“Swafing has good service, good quality. No complaints
whatsoever! Not from me nor my customers,” explained this Alpine shop owner. “I
have a rather large shop. I need to stock a little bit of everything. And my
customers are very price and quality conscious. They want a good deal. I can
count on Swafing fabrics selling well, to help ease the inventory risk with the
slower moving items. It’s a very good working relationship.”
“Jö. Und warum
Swafing?” frage ich ein Paar wunderschön in voller Alpentracht angezogen. Sie
sind extra aus Österreich gefahren.
“Swafing hat guten
Service, gute Qualität. Keine Beschwerden. Weder von mir noch meinen Kundinnen,”
sage die Ladenbesitzerin mit Shop in den Alpen, “Ich habe ein ziemlich grosses
Geschäft. Ich muß ein bißl von allem anbieten können. Auch Spitze und so
weiter. Meine Kunden achten sehr auf den Preis und die Qualität. Ich kann mich
daruaf verlassen, daß die Swafing-Stoffe gut verkauft werden und somit das
Risiko mit den Langsamläufern zu decken. Es ist eine gute Beziehung.”
“We’re just starting out,” explained a young couple in the
coffee tent, “We’re in the process of setting up a Web site and online shop.”
It began for this couple, as it has for so many shop owners,
with the young mother’s passion for sewing. I probably needn’t explain in too
much detail to this audience how quickly and completely sewing can take hold of
your imagination…and soon after your living quarters and perhaps your career.
“So,” explained the couple, “We’re going to open our own
online shop. And Swafing is the fabric people want by name.”
“Wir fangen jetzt erst
an,” erzähle ein junges Paar im Kaffeezelt. “Wir sind dabei ein Onlineshop zu
bauen.”
Es fing für dieses
Päarchen an, wie wir es ja kennen,
mit der Leidenschaft der jungen Mutter für das Nähen für ihre Kinder. Ich muß
wahrscheinlich Leser dieses Blogs nicht in besonders vielen Worten erzählen,
wie schnell das Nähen deine Fantasie…und wenig später den ganzen Wohnraum und
gar die Kariere übernehmen kann.
“Also,” sage das Paar,
“Wir machen das eigene Onlineshop auf. Und Swafing-Stoffe werden per Namen von
Leuten gefagt.”
“The Hausmesse is like a class reunion,” explains Anke
Müller the creative force behind the Cherry Picking line of exclusive designer
fabrics, “You see your customers, who have become like friends, year after year
at the Hausmesse. Swafing is just like that.” As I pet Mr. Swafing’s two dogs
sniffing curiously around my feet in the office, watch customer’s children
create a makeshift slide out of the ramp at the warehouse dock and have a sweet
little girl crawl up on my lap in the workshop tent as if I were some familiar
auntie, I have to admit that there is a certain something “just like that” about
Swafing. It is a business, but it is the business of creative expression. So
maybe that is why Swafing is something different.
“Hausmesse ist wie
Klassentreff,” sage Anke Müller, die Designerin hinter Cherry Picking, “Du
siehst deine Kunden, die wie Freunde geworden sind, Jahr für Jahr, auf der
Hausmesse. Swafing ist einfach so.” Währen ich die zwei Hunden von
Geschäftführer Hans-Gerd Swafing am Kopf streichele während sie neugierig um
meine Füsse herumschnüffeln, beobachte wie die Kinder der Besucher aus der
einst Lagerrampe den eigentlichen Rütschenzweck entdeckt haben, oder während so
ein süsses Töchterchen eines Kundens auf meinem Schoss will, als wäre ich ja
eine bekannte alte Tante, muß ich auch zugeben, das es ein gewisses “einfach
so” bei Swafing gibt. Gewiss: Swafing ist ein Business. Aber dies ist das
Geschäft des kreativen Könnens. Vielleicht ist deswegen Swafing etwas anderes
und “einfach so.”
“Swafing is just ‘Stoffhimmel’ ,” explains another smiling customer,
pushing past with her cart and who doesn’t have time for my silly questions
when beautiful exclusive designer fabrics are just waiting to be snatched up.
Fabric paradise, indeed!
“Swafing ist
Stoffhimmel,” sage eine weitere, mit Wagen vorbeifahrende Kundin, die für meine
doofe Fragestellungen keine Zeit hat, denn da drüben die schönen
Designerstoffen greifbar liegen.
