The German Founders Award is the most important award for outstanding entrepreneurs in Germany. FOND OF was able to assert itself as a clear and award-winning ‘upstart’ in 2017. Did winning the German Founders Award help you on your way to becoming an internationally successful brand company?
The German Founders Award is an appreciation of the fact that we built our company starting with the school bag brand ergobag. Of course, we benefit from such initiatives. Just the preparation, the presentation and the feedback from the jury... that has always broadened our horizons. The most important thing is to get in touch with other young companies. Especially with ‘Neues Unternehmertum Köln’ or the ‘Deutscher Gründerpreis’ there were many good quality discussions.
You have won even more prizes. In 2016, FOND OF was honoured with the German Sustainability Award. What are you doing in 2018 to increase your responsibility?
Our most important goal is transparency, to say where we are sustainable and where we are not. By the end of the year, we also want to have launched the first completely ‘bluesign-certified’ product from our portfolio. The bluesign standard is based on consumer and environmental protection standards worldwide and covers the five aspects of consumer protection, waste water, exhaust air, occupational safety and resource productivity. It is a huge challenge to meet these standards: there are 120 suppliers behind a backpack. Getting all suppliers to work together and make a product that meets this standard is very complex. We will achieve this with our youngest brand, AFFENZAHN.
Other companies and competitors have also recognised this, haven't they?
We are celebrating the fact that we are also putting pressure on other companies, which are then taking the issue of responsibility more seriously! The higher the pressure, the sooner the standards will change.
How do you interact with each other in the company? Is it true that you travel together with your employees?
As far as our employee philosophy is concerned, I am sure that no one is happy just because they are given a holiday, eat fruit for free or do sports, even if we offer all that... I only go home happy when I have had a sense of achievement, given a good presentation or acquired a customer... We want to treat our employees as equals. In September, we will all go sailing together on a ship. In this case, it is important for us as founders to develop something that cannot be bought with money. Similar to our trip to Vietnam a few years ago... We had very good experiences with that.
‘FOND OF’ means ‘to be enthusiastic about’. What do you love about Cologne?
I used to wonder when people said that the Rhinelanders are so open... When you grow up here, you don't notice it. But when I came back to Cologne after three years in Berlin, I experienced the difference. That's why I would say that I really appreciate the openness and sociability. Also for us as a company. You can feel it with colleagues who move here for us – from southern Germany or from abroad. It has never been a problem for people to move to Cologne. Adidas in Herzogenaurach has difficulties getting creatives there... We don't have that at all – people are happy to come to Cologne. And they can hit the ground running here too! This openness and warmth, the way people live their daily lives, is beautiful and we also benefit from it as a company.
Further information about FOND OF can be found at www.fondof.de/.