On the occasion of the first branch of the Fashion Council Germany outside Berlin localONE in Mannheim, we spoke with Nico Hoffmeister, Community Manager of TEXTILEREI / NEXT Mannheim, and our managing director Scott Lipinski.

About TEXTILEREI:

TEXTILEREI creates tailor-made starting points for fashion, textile and lifestyle startups. Mannheim is an agile location for the fashion industry. Well-known brands such as Dorothee Schumacher, Goldgarn Denim, Trauth Design, Melina Bucher and BELLE IKAT operate from here. In this creative environment, TEXTILEREI offers ideal conditions for beginners. The centrally located start-up center in the Mannheim squares advises, networks and supports - from the vision to market readiness.

1. NEXT and especially TEXTILEREI specialize in fashion start-ups. What criteria must entrepreneurs/designers meet to become part of the community?

Nico Hoffmeister: First and foremost, they must be interested in starting up a business in Mannheim or establishing their company headquarters here and, in terms of TEXTILEREI, they must be able to be assigned to the submarkets of the fashion and textile industry. Otherwise, the criteria are very low-threshold; a scalable and stringent concept as well as the necessary vision and personal passion/competence for entrepreneurship are important, but no specific training or certificates are required, for example. Basically, we check whether we also have the appropriate environment and infrastructure as well as the necessary expertise and networks on our part to support the designer or entrepreneur in the best possible way in the start-up or growth phase. Through the cooperation with the FCG, we will now be able to meet these criteria a little more freely and specifically promote exchange with companies outside Mannheim as well.

2. What is the potential of the Mannheim location for aspiring entrepreneurs/designers (compared to Hamburg, Munich, Dresden, Ingolstadt, etc.)

Nico: In Mannheim, distances are short and, as a suburban company, we can quickly and unbureaucratically mediate with economic development and/or network partners, external professionals and potential investors. Thanks to the existing ecosystem with a total of eight start-up centers and the resulting immediate proximity to the cultural and creative industries as well as the technology scene, contacts can be quickly made, bridges built and synergies developed "internally" that are important in every phase of a company. From brand and logo development, to programming a homepage or online shop, to photo shoots, film productions, music productions for fashion shows and external textile productions, we can mediate very agilely. In the TEXTILEREI in particular, in addition to the offices and studios that can be rented at a subsidized rate, there is a fully equipped workshop with industrial sewing machines, ironing presses, special machines and accessories in order to be able to map the process of prototyping up to small series in-house and without intensive acquisition costs. In addition, we maintain intensive exchanges with existing retailers, such as the Engelhorn fashion house, and have our own pop-up store format called "Hometownglory" in the inner city in the Q6Q7 district. On 400 square meters, we enable our brands to present themselves in a prime location, gain experience at the POS and sell their goods immediately. And we are a UNESCO City of Music, so you can find something to suit your taste here and experience cultural diversity outside of the office, both during the day and at night.

3. The program of NEXT Mannheim and TEXTILEREI is varied. What other areas are you planning for the future?

Nico: In Mannheim, an extremely strong eCommerce culture and competence has developed intrinsically, which is reflected in major players such as Rosental Organics, Purelei, Snocks, Bitterliebe and Paul Valentine. We would like to focus even more on this existing know-how and this extremely important topic in order to be able to set significant course in the area of ​​our advice and support and thus give the Mannheim location another field of expertise. In this context, we are very pleased to soon be launching our own online shop for the pop-up format Hometownglory Mannheim, which will also give regional brands from the lifestyle environment (fashion, accessories, beauty/skincare, jewelry, art & culinary arts) a digital face and presence. At the same time, with the TEXTILEREI we would like to focus more on craftsmanship and give it a greater profile in Germany, thus making Germany an attractive location for production in our own country.

But there will also be a lot of movement in the tech environment. For example, a new "Green Tech Hub" has already been approved, which will be developed over the next 2-3 years and will focus even more on sustainability and alternative technologies. But topics such as AI, VR & NFTs, digital transformation, new work or the FUTUraum project, which is used to fill temporary vacancies in the city center, are also on our agenda.

4. Why was Mannheim chosen as the location for the first localONE by FCG?

Scott Lipinski: The excellent geographical location in the southwest of Germany was just one of the reasons why we chose Mannheim as our first branch office. The catchment area with cities such as Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Baden Baden and Karlsruhe, all of which can be reached within a radius of about 30 minutes by train, appeals to many potential and existing members. Mannheim is particularly attractive as a location, especially because of the established cultural and creative industry scene, with NEXT Mannheim and the associated creative centers such as the TEXTILEREI. Mannheim's mayor Dr. Peter Kurz and his team have set up the creative location in an authentic and pioneering way and are one of the few in Germany to have established it institutionally in such a way that it not only has an impact on the city itself, but also on the entire catchment area and encourages the establishment of other industries.

Nico: The FCG and we with the TEXTILEREI ultimately pursue the same goal, namely to give Germany more visibility as a fashion location. Based in Baden-Württemberg and with direct connections to Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, we are in a strong catchment area with the metropolitan region. Due to the close proximity to corporates from the DAX environment and the existing infrastructure of our centers, with office space on more than 37,000 square meters and the support of around 320-350 startups every year in our centers alone, we have an optimal starting point and expertise to form a productive axis between Berlin and us and to act as a contact for fashion companies from the neighboring federal states.

5. What are the goals of the first localONE in Mannheim?

Scott: Our overarching goal is to expand outside of Berlin for the first time. We want to increase our presence throughout Germany and offer a local contact point, especially to members based outside of Berlin. This allows us to respond even better to the individual needs of our members and offer a personal contact on site. With Nico Hoffmeister from NEXT Mannheim, we have had a well-connected fashion expert at our side for many years who shares our values ​​and visions. As the responsible localONE manager, he will look after our members on site with confidence in the future. However, we don't want to overstretch Nico's capacity. We will be strengthening the location with another full-time employee over the course of the year in order to meet the requirements.

Nico: With localONE, we want to combine the existing structures and competencies of both FCG and NEXT Mannheim and offer them to the fashion and design community across national borders in order to intensify the range of quality offers as well as the proximity to companies and interested parties from other cities outside Mannheim and Berlin and to promote exchange. The potential in our country is varied and diverse, we are only at the beginning here and the possibilities for textile and fashion progress and cooperation are immense.

We would like to thank Nico Hoffmeister and Scott Lipinski for the interview.