CCB Magazine

Sema Gedik and Jan Siegel: "Our goal is normalization"

Photo: © Auf Augenhoehe

Auf Augenhoehe is the first fashion label for persons of short stature in Germany and even worldwide. Behind it are the founders Sema Gedik, Laura Knoops and Jan Siegel. We met Sema and Jan in their production office at the HTW Berlin and wanted to know how to launch such a label. A meeting at eye level in Berlin-Oberschöneweide.

 INTERVIEW Monja Remmers

CCB Magazine: Hello Sema and Jan, we are sitting here at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) in Berlin. What exactly is this place all about?

Sema:Our office is located in the HTW. This is where we work, I also study fashion design here, basically all our threads come together here. This also means that we create our pattern designs here and produce the first prototypes. But we are also in contact with the mentors and professors on site. My mentors and professors even accompany our upcoming developments. The fact that we can use the rooms here is due to a grant from the Berlin Startup Scholarship, which is very helpful.

CCB Magazine: You are the first fashion label for persons of short stature in Germany and even worldwide. How did you get the idea to found a fashion label for short stature?

Sema:The idea first came up in context with my family. My cousin Funda is small. Over all these years I had to learn how complicated it is for her to find suitable clothes. In my fashion design studies I then dealt intensively with clothing for small people. And that's when I realized how important a label can be for them. In addition, there was no label or brand that explicitly produced fashion for men and women of short stature.

Jan: My approach to the subject was initially business administration, I studied business administration. I have known Sema for four years. Her story has touched me very much. Then Sema and I thought about how we could start a fashion label for this.

CCB Magazine: In a sense, you are a social enterprise with a whole new focus. Do you also take other social or ecological aspects into account during production? For example, chemical-free fibers or fair wages for other employees?

Sema: When we produced our first collection, we initially concentrated on research and development. In the future, however, we will also focus more on certified materials. So we will also look at other processes of social or ecological production, we are only at the beginning. But we are already producing locally and working with local designers. In addition, we involve our target group from the very beginning - this also has a sustainable and social aspect.

The biggest challenge is to first capture the appropriate proportions. Up to now, there is no ready-made size table or cut constructions for persons of short stature. There are not even corresponding templates - that's why I have developed everything myself

CCB Magazine: You not only design your own clothes, you also design the clothing sizes for short people, which were not available before. What are the biggest challenges in this process?

Sema: The biggest challenge is to capture the right proportions in the first place. Up to now, there is no ready-made size table or pattern designs for short people. There are also no corresponding templates, for example from books, which could have been used for orientation. Therefore, I have developed the pattern constructions and ready-made size table all by myself. For this purpose I had to measure small persons, afterwards I could calculate everything and finally I developed the first sizes. We are also talking about the most common form of dwarfism, achondroplasia, where the proportions are completely different: The arms are shorter and differently shaped, the buttocks are much stronger. It is a great challenge to take all this into account when creating the cut constructions and to measure the standard.

CCB Magazine: Could you please describe your work process?

Jan: In the beginning there is the idea. Then it's a matter of concretization, and that alone is a democratic process: We get feedback from all directions, from the short people themselves, who are always being measured again, but also from our environment. The result is that in our first collection we have cardigans, treggings, blouses and tights for women; and for men we have shirts, chinos and college jackets.

Sema: We also work together with photographers, communication designers and local tailors, also with associations and laboratory engineers from the university, who help and support us when we have questions. The good thing is that we are widely networked, even beyond our university. For example, we just had a cross-media project with Dekra University, which helped us to make a name for ourselves internationally. We also developed our pantyhose packaging with Dekra University.

Sitzt perfekt: die neue und erste Kollektion von Auf Augenhoehe. Foto: © Anna-Spindelndreier

CCB Magazine: Which distribution channels do you choose? 

Sema: We reach our customers primarily through our online store, which is currently under construction. We want to launch the store in April/May at the latest. But we also market our collections offline, mainly through the associations and through annual meetings for young people, which we attend.

Jan:   We are still a small label. We are not yet established on the market. That's why we first want to test out certain things and develop ourselves over them. But it is our goal to become bigger in the foreseeable future. We want to expand our range. Then we will also look for further possibilities of marketing and distribution.                                  

CCB Magazine:The designs of your clothes are modern and timeless. Where does your inspiration come from?

Sema: We are inspired by the many conversations we have with persons of short stature. For example, we ask: Where are the problems? Tell us something about your problem zone. Where do you fail with your purchase? Is it really so difficult to find existing standard sizes for your body shape? In our conversations we usually find out that there are no three-quarter sweaters, tights, matching shirts or blouses for short people.

Jan:It's important to us that our collections are of high quality. They may be simple, but they are of high quality. The detail, the cut, the material, everything has a high standard with us, the cuts should make people look good. The colors should be appealing, the clothes should simply fit perfectly.

Simple, timeless, modern. This is what the collection of Auf Augenhehehe looks like. Photo: © Anna-Spindelndreier

CCB Magazine: Do you think that once there are common sizes for short people, one or the other big fashion company could follow suit? And what would be the consequence? Will you become superfluous as a label if, for example, Zalando has clothing sizes for short people in its range?

Jan:That would not bother us at all, on the contrary. We would be happy about it. It would not only be a sign that we have made a discourse possible and named a problem in society. It would also mean that fashion for little people has arrived in the conventional fashion industry. We could even imagine cooperating with larger labels.

Sema: When larger corporations and fashion labels imitate us and develop the same, we are happy that we have made a start. That is then also a big compliment to our work. And it increases the possibility for short people to just shop like everyone else.

We do not want to separate. We want to create accesses. The goal of Auf Augenhoehe is to show how to promote inclusion through fashion and design

CCB Magazine:In Germany, there are about 100,000 people of short stature. Have there been reactions that have found the exclusivity of clothing only for short people to be discriminatory? For example, have there been small adults who feel discriminated against by your label?

Sema: No, that has not existed until now. Why should there be? Instead, the feedback was: "Hey, cool. Finally someone is doing it and finally we are being noticed in the fashion industry". There were even reactions from short people that they wanted a label that produced clothes for both short and normal-size people.

Jan: We do not want to stigmatize with the label. We don't want to say: "Hey, these are the short people here and they are going to get a special collection". Our collection is timeless precisely because it's supposed to be cool clothes and doesn't put short people in a corner, but makes clothes look egalitarian. The aim of our label is to promote integration as a whole and to counteract divisions. 

Sema:The goal of Auf Augenhoehe is to show how to promote inclusion through fashion and design. We have also tried to communicate this in our crowdfunding campaign. We do not want to separate with Auf Augenhoehehe. We want to create access.

Jan:The goal of Auf Augenhoehe is normalization. At the end of the day, short people should have the opportunity to buy off-the-peg fashion.

Photo: © Anna-Spindelndreier

CCB Magazine:Your target group is limited. Does that mean that you as a company can only expand to a certain extent?

Jan:Yes, so far that is the case. But from the very beginning, our goal was not only to serve the German market, but to be active throughout Europe. This means that when we expand, we can only do so across national borders, and at some point we will offer collections that make sense for other target groups.

Finally, short people should have the opportunity to buy fashion off the rack

CCB Magazine:Sema and Jan, what are your goals? What else do you want to achieve and where do you see your fashion label in a few years?

Jan:At the top of our agenda at the moment is to deliver the orders we received from the supporters of our first crowdfunding campaign. We have raised 13,000 Euros through our first crowdfunding campaign, now it's time to make it happen. We are hoping to get new positive feedback about this.

Sema:We want to establish ourselves. And for our label that means that you know that when you see the clothes of Auf Augenhoehe, they fit perfectly, the quality is great, the customer recognizes himself in them and feels comfortable. But we also want our clothing to have social relevance. We want to further develop our idea of inclusion fashion and our label and thereby increase our reach. The goal is that even non-small people open up to the processes we initiate through our work. For this reason, our range will soon include products for non-small people as well.

CCB Magazine:Sema and Jan, many thanks for the interview.

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