Last year you could feel that something was changing and this year it took shape: real questions on the sun and tanning. Sun worship was slowly being changed in our general consciousness to a focus on healthy skin. In the media, celebrities were proud of being “pale.” Kim Basinger, Julio Iglesias and Liz Taylor were very open about their personal experiences of suffering from skin cancer. More and more stars and models showed themselves in public either slightly tanned or with a genteely pale skin, so the hope was high that they would set an urgent precedent, in order to prevent a lot of suffering in others.
At the beginning of the year, I was invited by the Textile Research Institute at Hohenstein to speak about quality and (product) ethics at a seminar on “functional clothing with ultra violet radiation protection.” Our attitude has always been clearly defined by quality and ethics, yet this was still no easy task. It meant dealing with a very complex and also quite sensitive issue, particularly when discussed in the context of a demand for economic efficiency. All too easily you can get into the position of being either too naïve, out of touch with reality or even of being unprofessional. Our position at hyphen was that, for a product such as UV protection clothing, working ethically was – and is – an absolute prerequisite:
“UV radiation eludes our sensual perception. I feel and see the undesirable consequences of ‘ too much‘ when it is already too late. The truly (life-) threatening consequences only become apparent years or decades later. If a product simply promises me protection, it is very difficult for me to check the veracity of that promise. Buying something is a matter of trust. This makes the the manufacturer and the seller accountable, so that what they tell their customer about the characteristics of the product is comprehensive and honest, and what they deliver is of an appropriate quality. If this is not done, then this is extremely unethical, as the health of the customer will be endangered … “ (Christiane Hess/Seminar Hohenstein)
Although at the time we were completely unaware of it, the next few months would make plain to us the very different attitudes of our competitors in a market intoxicated by the slogan “Meanness is the Mostest” (Geiz ist Geil). These circumstances led us to question whether the future, healthy economic development of hyphen was possible, if we insisted on retaining our standards. The timing, and the nature of this disturbing change, was critical as the 2006 summer season had just begun and our collection for 2007 was already being prepared. Cheap UV protection clothing from the discounters; competitor goods vaunted with product characteristics that did not match; label fraud right up to the promotion of non-existent certifications; consumer disinformation about quality and about the actual situation behind a company’s espoused philosophy … The list went on…