‍

A few years ago, Tina Lutz, a fashion luminary, returned home. The fashion designer, who was born in Germany and trained at ESMOD Paris, first worked for Issey Miyake in Paris and Tokyo before moving to New York in 1992, where she was hired as a senior designer at Calvin Klein — during the heyday of American fashion. After further stops, she co-founded the luxury knitwear label Lutz & Patmos in 2000, which became particularly well-known through collaborations with Julianne Moore, Jane Birkin, Carine Roitfeld and Sofia Coppola. After years abroad, she launched Lutz Morris in 2017, a label for timelessly contemporary, luxurious and environmentally conscious handbags made in Germany. A conversation about dying craftsmanship, international design promotion and sustainability.

‍

FCG: You lived in New York for many years. Why did you actually return to Germany?

‍

Tina Lutz: We decided to move to Germany in 2015 because my parents weren't feeling well. We actually only wanted to stay for a year, but it quickly became clear that there wasn't enough time. My husband and son also felt more and more at home in Berlin, and the city is becoming more international anyway. So we're still here. Luckily, so are my parents.

‍

FCG: Lutz Morris was launched in 2017. Did the idea grow out of the move?

‍

Tina Lutz: For the first six months in Berlin, I still had brand consulting commitments in New York and flew back and forth regularly. That would have been difficult to do in the long term. For my first Christmas in Berlin, my husband gave me a leather box made in Germany for storing pens. It had an attached frame construction, similar to the one I now use for my bags. Something about the box inspired me so much at the time, I didn't even know that such a thing existed. Suddenly I had lots of ideas for bags in my head. At first I thought I couldn't do that, my background is in tailoring and knitwear. The label actually found me, not the other way around.

‍

FCG: Your bags are only produced in Germany, where there is a long tradition of leather craftsmanship.

‍

Tina Lutz: Nevertheless, my research here was initially very sobering and depressing. There is a lot of know-how in Germany, but hardly any support for the companies. In my search for suitable partners and production facilities, I visited many factories that you could see had once been much bigger - with some of them it was already known that they would close in a few years. Because the operators are retiring and cannot find new talent.

‍

FCG: In the end, the search was successful?

Tina Lutz: Exactly. Today, 98 percent of the leather used comes from Germany, the other two from Italy - novelty leather that simply doesn't exist here yet. The tannery is just around the corner from the leather factory, and the boxes for my packaging come from the same town in the Rhineland. Everything is deliberately as close together as possible. All the chains come from the Black Forest, the frames from near Offenbach.

‍FCG: You also take an environmentally conscious approach with your bags.

‍

Tina Lutz: For me, this is an important topic, perhaps because I grew up in Germany. Sustainability has been taught here for decades. I moved to New York in 1992, and at that time they didn't separate their garbage there - in Germany, this was already common practice. I can still remember how much it hurt to throw everything in the same container. I've had my own labels for 21 years. In my professional life, I've always tried to think environmentally consciously.

‍

FCG: In what way?

‍

Tina Lutz: For me, there are three important things in this context. Firstly, supporting artisans and thereby keeping a craft alive. In the past, I have particularly tried to network and work with women in developing and emerging countries and thereby support them. This led to the creation of macramé in Bolivia and embroidery in Kabul. Now I support German craftsmanship.Secondly: produce as responsibly as possible. I deliberately prefer to call my approach responsible rather than sustainable because I believe that nothing that is produced can be sustainable — we don’t really need anything. So sustainable would be not producing anything at all.Thirdly: give something back. I have supported aid organizations in the past. For Lutz Morris, ten dollars from every bag sold goes to Every Mother Counts, an NGO founded by my long-time friend Christy Turlington that works to improve medical care for pregnant women around the world.

‍

FCG: With materials like leather, does the question of responsible sourcing of resources and production actually arise all the more?

‍

Tina Lutz: Of course. It was a big dilemma for me at first — should we even use leather anymore? After intensive research, it is more responsible to work with certified leather than with plastic artificial leather. I only work with environmentally certified factories, which is particularly important with regard to tanneries. For me, running a responsible label also means that we recycle everything in the office, for example. Our shipping boxes are also recycled. We explain this to our customers. Incidentally, the topic of sustainability is of interest to all of our buyers today, not just those from Germany.

‍

FCG: With Lutz Morris, you are pursuing a conscious as well as an aesthetic approach - both together were unthinkable for a long time. Why actually?

‍

Tina Lutz: I have just visited a leather fair in Milan, and the topic of sustainability was present everywhere. However, it is always more expensive. Many manufacturers and consumers are therefore not yet ready to change their minds. But fortunately, that is constantly changing.

‍

FCG: Commitment to the environment is now being rewarded. You recently won the Fashion Group International Sustainable Award in New York.

‍

Tina Lutz:An award like this is of course an important signal for the topic of sustainability in general and an opportunity for a young label like Lutz Morris. I hope that people will see how much effort we put in every day. Awards also promote ideas.

FCG: Speaking of support: you have been a member of the CFDA, the US fashion chamber, since 2006 and recently also a member of the Fashion Council Germany. How do you experience the support of designers in the USA compared to Germany?

‍

Tina Lutz: It is of course difficult to compare, after all the CFDA has been around much longer and is much bigger. Institutionalizing was perhaps easier for American designers than it is here - in the USA, at least back then, everything fashionable was still centered in New York, here fashion is scattered across the entire country. Germany also lacks Calvin Kleins, Ralph Laurens and Donna Karans.

‍

FCG: You took on active roles in the CFDA for several years.

‍

Tina Lutz: I was a member of various committees, one for sustainability and for seven years the one for the admission of new members. From the annual applications, we selected those that met the criteria - the CFDA checks to what extent brands actually have serious intentions or whether they are just sudden ideas. Young labels must have been active for around three years and show where they are represented in stores. This is a form of quality assurance: the CFDA has long been something of a brand in itself.

‍

FCG: What can Germany learn from this?

‍

Tina Lutz: I believe that an institution like a fashion chamber helps in principle. It is always important to exchange ideas and support one another. I myself taught fashion design at the Rhode Island School for four years - passing on my knowledge was very important to me. I see the same thing with the CFDA, which checks and recommends manufacturers, and young brands benefit even more from this. In general, I think Germany should have more confidence in itself. There is often a mistrust of new ideas here. You can also see this in consumer behavior; unknown labels often have a harder time.

‍

FCG: Do you also see this in Lutz Morris' customers?

‍

Tina Lutz: In fact, most of my customers are in the USA, followed by Great Britain, the Middle East, and then Germany. But I think that's also because after 25 years in New York, I'm simply better known there and have a larger network.

Young labels from Berlin and Germany often don't lack good ideas, but they do lack the ability to commercialize them. You launched your brand directly with a sales start on Matchesfashion, and quickly gained dealers in various countries.

‍

FCG: What do you do differently?

‍

Tina Lutz: I think it helped that I worked for other labels before setting up my own business. Nowadays, many people start their own business straight after university, without having gained any experience.

‍

FCG: Lutz Morris is still a young label. Where do you want to go in the future?

‍

Tina Lutz: Of course I want to be able to make a living from what I do. Apart from that, I hope that my factories can stay open in the future, that I create solid jobs and that I continue to support women around the world with Every Mother Counts. In the long term, I can also imagine expanding Lutz Morris to include other product lines. In the fall, there will be a collaboration with the eyewear label Barton Perreira, which has similar values ​​to us.

‍

FCG: What role does Berlin actually play in this?

‍

Tina Lutz: Interestingly, the city plays a rather subordinate role for me, at least as a creative environment. What I enjoy about Berlin is how quickly I can get anywhere, whether it's London, Paris or Milan; all of these are strategically important centers for me and much harder to reach from the USA. Although I miss New York, one thing is certain: I don't miss the jet lag.