hyphen – History and Stories

If two water sports enthusiasts become parents, whatever they give birth to is likely to be a real “water rat” – right? And you won’t expect any problems while you surf, in the sun, having fun now with your kids? Not always true! In our everyday holiday life, some attempts, as lovingly as they are realistically approached, to reconcile children and their own passion stress-free often turn out to be an illusion. The water is too cold, the wind is too strong, the sunscreen sticky, the t-shirt wet, the flying sand pickers, you forgot to aplly cream before the walk on the beach – all this is often seamlessly followed by sunburn, itchy sun allergies, ear ache, bladder infections, nose running and stress … an unlimited pool of small and large annoyances that we somehow luckily forget until the next holiday confronts us surprisingly … again. But at least the cooling out topic should be tackled if, like Peter, you have been developing clothing and accessories for water sports for many years. After we failed to find really well-fitting neoprene shorties for our kids, Peter being a dad through and through, has prototypes made for them without further ado.

Our fabrics have reached the most difficult hurdle. UPF 50+ like the Australian standards are easy to achieve, but we want UV-Standard 801 certification. In other words, all materials must also be wet and stretched and must still provide the certified light protection factor in the long term. In the first step, hyphen clothing is certified with UPF 20 to UPF 40 according to UV Standard 801. The hyphen team has done a great job. Andreas Ullrich has created an exciting concept for graphics and design with Peter Reinschmidt, also Dascha Strohmeier and Dorothea Hugle have made excellent use of their skills as product manager and cutting designer to turn ideas into special apparel. Ina Röpcke has supported me with a dedicated and creative PR work and helped introduce hyphen successfully into the market. At Jako-O, the sun protection pioneer Bettina Peetz and her team gave us the chance to supply a large and demanding customer in the first year and laid the foundation for a very cooperative and successful cooperation. Thrilled by the idea, many other helpers contributed to a successful market entry in the summer of 2001. Jako-O’s summer catalogue presents the first “hyphen for Jako-O” collection and is also available to interested parties to find a still modest hyphen collection for children in their pharmacy.

Offering clothing in pharmacies is certainly a somewhat unusual undertaking. But in terms of good and expert advice as well as the importance and benefits of textile provided sun protection, especially for sensitive skin (e.g. neurodermatitis), this sales route seems to us to make a lot of sense and we are trying to obtain approval for sale in pharmacies in general. Just in time for the start of the summer season, the hyphen products are confirmed in an expert opinion to be ‘pharmacy customary ‘ due to the high quality of sun protection and the certification according to Öko-Tex Standard 100 Class 1.

In October 2001, we took the opportunity to deepen our knowledge of ultra violett radiation exposure and protection. Invited by Prof. Dr. Breitbart, Association of Dermatological Prevention, we take part in the 2nd Euroskin conference “Children under the sun – UV Radiation and Children’s Skin” in Orvieto/Italy and also present hyphen to an international forum.

Due to the high demand, we are also offering clothing for teenagers and adults for the first time in the 2003 season, earlier than originally planned. This collection will also be offered in the summer of 2003 by Carpe Diem (now Qiéro), a sister company of Jako-O.

Expanding distribution through specialist retailers is proving to be astonishingly difficult. Sports retailers, in particular, are extremely sceptical about the issue. However, when personal and professional experience are met, it looks different. Our first customers include sail-loving parents Sanny and Frank Schönfeldt with their sailing shop Clown Sails in Hamburg, as well as diving instructor Cordula Stenzel with the Dolphin Watersports Center on Kanuhura/Maldives. In the medical field, the understanding of needs is much greater. The airport pharmacies in Frankfurt and Munich offer hyphen products successfully. Austrian medical device specialist Ferdinand Menzl is expanding its range for allergy sufferers with the theme “Hau(p)tsache Textile” (meaning: clothing preferred!) to include hyphen sun protection.

In Austria, the municipality of Gallneukirchen and its mayor Walter Böck are becoming pioneers in terms of sun protection. After a little girl wearing a T-shirt because of her skin problems was expelled from the swimming pool, recalling the dress code and hygiene regulations, the mayor decides to provide appropriate sun protection apparel at the checkout, as of the OÖ News on June 17th reports in 2003.

We cooperate with LTU as part of their club journal and for TUI we equip the animators of the TUI Family Hotels with hyphen shirts and caps. This collaboration is an indication to us that awareness of a healthy stay under the sun is also growing in the tourism industry.

In a first small test to check the quality of sun protection clothing, the hyphen products perform excellently. (MDR, 08.08.2003, 15:47 p.m.)

We are particularly pleased that we are able to help little Johanna. She still has to wear pressure bandages after severe burns to her arm and thigh and must not get ultra violet rays on the skin. With hyphen cloth cuffs protecting the arm and hyphen shorts she spends a very ‘normal’ summer and can even go swimming. This was made possible thanks to the commitment of Adelheid Gottwald, one of the founders of Paulinchen – an initiative for burn-injured children. We are impressed by the work that is done there on a voluntary basis and will continue to support Paulinchen in the future.

We have been able to improve our fabrics further. Lightness and breathability remain equally high, the UV protection increases to safe UPF 40 even with all bright colors, even if the fabrics are wet or stretched. In the Czech Republic, hyphen is represented by Farma.cz s.r.o from this season on and for Finland the experienced pharmacist Finn Thesslund and his dedicated wife Päivi have discovered hyphen with their company meditex for their customers.

In Munich, we rented additional rooms in the spring and now, with our own warehouse and shipping department, we ensure a faster and more flexible processing of orders. The hotline is no longer cared for by external services, but by our Munich team. We are looking for direct contact with our customers, to whom we want to offer the opportunity to access competent contact partners in the future.

The summer of 2005 brings good news: K-Tip No.12 of 15.06 2005 and the show “Kassensturz” of the 07.06.2005 on the Swiss television SF 1 publish their test under the title: “Which sun protection dresses are worth their price”: “Kassensturz” has swimsuits and shirts for children with sun protection tested. The results are sobering.

Only the products from the Jako-O children’s catalogue protect what they promise. “With a test and 3 notes distance from all other test products is a shorty from our collection ‘hyphen for Jako-O’. In two other products, chemical filters are found in children’s clothing. All others fall far short of the claimed sun protection in use. Those responsible must be told by Jean Pierre Haug, head of the Swiss test institute TESTEX: “I expect a garment with declared sun protection to be met under all possible conditions. That is: After care, when it’s wet, when it’s stretched a bit and even when it gets older. “

This year, we can guarantee our customers the safety of UPF 80 UV protection for all swimwear. The development work with our fabric producers paid off.

New fabrics and cuts are shown by our sportswear collection with polos, jackets and long lightweight trousers, which can offer safe and fashionable sun protection in many leisure and leisure sports activities. We are particularly proud to have developed fabrics for these styles, which are also highly comfortable to wear on hot summer days.

On 1 January, VAT will be increased by 3. We do not decide to pass on this increase in price.

This year, for the first time, we are supplying our new trading partners Rita Manso in Portugal and Dorelies Woortmann in the Netherlands. In Portugal, we are planning a small exciting cooperation with Rita Manso for 2008 with the young Lisbon designers of STORYTAILORS.

Together with Dorothea Hugle, our editing direct trice of the first hour, who is now studying social work, we are implementing a project with the approach of using and promoting young people with asylum backgrounds and those with poor training opportunities in internships. The aim is to give them a “sniff into practice” and to provide an additional qualification through an internship certificate. The personal support and guidance of Dorothea Hugle, who makes the project the content of her practice semester, also provides the young people with concrete support for their future careers.

In 1986, the Chernobyl disaster left people worldwide deeply shaken and frightened. An appeal for donations, which we receive from the help for Belarus Achim e.V., draws our attention to the people there, who do not experience the real catastrophe until many years and decades later. Disease and poverty dominate in the red zone left by the reactor disaster. For political reasons, almost no official international aid is possible and few private individuals have not forgotten the people there. Twice a year, the association manages to bring a 40t truck with relief supplies to Beresino and Mozyr, where the belongings are distributed to schools and hospitals. Virtually everything is needed and even 2nd divisizing is a small bright spot. Since clothing is needed and the children there have neither sports nor bathing suits, we can also contribute and thank the helpers from Achim for their tireless efforts. We hope that many companies will continue to follow the calls for donations in the future.

All is well and all is good! We can deliver the first and complete production on time. Our own production now enables us not only to control the quality of our products, but also to ensure the quality of our workplaces. We have greater flexibility in planning and more accurate cost control. This allows us to forego a price hike this year, for the eighth year in a row, despite rising costs.

Our second big project is finally finished, our new internet shop can go online. Many months of work is stuck in the shop and the relief is great as everything works equally (almost) smoothly.

Together with Mr. Prenting from the Munich-based XP support group, we develop a method to attach sun protective foliage to our Protec Caps in such a way that they protect against ultra violet radiation even when playing and exercising. When a doctor then goes to Nepal to visit a family in which four children suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Mr. Prenting provides them with a large care package and of course the first ones go with some improvised caps for everyone.

A very special year for us and the right reason to take stock: A lot has moved on in terms of UV protection in these 10 years. Even though there is still a risk here and there with the implementation, about the dangers of too much sun and the possibilities of protecting themselves well, almost everyone today is aware. Especially for children, the textile UV protection is already widely accepted as the safest option. Reliable clothing is on the market and customers can check safety with the help of certification.

Hyphen GmbH has performed well, as has the quality of our clothing. Our certifications meet the strictest standards available. Our materials come from selected companies, almost exclusively from Europe. In this way, we can be sure not only that the products are (humanely) ecologically sound, but also that the production conditions meet social requirements. In addition, we avoid long and polluting freight routes due to this election.

Peter Reinschmidt and I are happy about good and long-standing business relationships, about the trust of our customers and, of course, about the competence and commitment of the entire hyphen team. Although there have been repeated changes in the 10 years on the way of life of individuals and, by extension, in the team, it has always been and always is great when you can and do work with people who are engaged and like to look outside the “box.” Despite the growth of the hyphen gmbh, it is still possible to move a lot with a compact team and to stay in direct contact with our customers. Yes, it is a cause for rejoicing and we also take it as a good time to formulate the goals for further development.

We open the season with a particularly lovingly designed catalogue and are thrilled about our Munich customers, who were with a lot of fun as models at the photo shoots. Thank you again for that.

Because many people also rely on UV protection in everyday life, we have developed the hyfive line. It consists of colour-discreet functional linen, which can be worn like a second skin under any normal and non-protective clothing.

A somewhat spectacular chance to “show flag” while at the same time testing the hyphen clothing under really hard conditions of use is the sponsorship of the crew of the sailing yacht FRENCH KISSmit hyphen sportswear. The FRENCH KISS is one of the fastest representatives of the 12 meter class and was built for the 1987 America’s Cup. In 2007, owner and skipper Markus Daniel saved the athletic lady from retirement. He and his crew made sure she is fit again now-even for taking part in regattas.

Mursko Sredisce, the location of our production, is located in a region with textile traditon in the north of Croatia. Our team there is highly competent and we rely on the existing know-how and our understanding of quality and sustainability – which we also offer other brands and companies. To this end, it is necessary to further expand production. New systems are being built and with the construction of our own printing plant is now also the complete production of sun protective clothing under one roof.

Good start in this year. We have won an ISPO New Brand Award for our Stüdlgrat vest. This is a nice confirmation, but we are even more pleased by the super response of knowledgeable critics and some of the comments are also reflected in the posts on Facebook. This year, for the first time, we gave our dealers and journalists the opportunity to watch our production for two days. It means a lot to us to show that we are serious about our statements on quality and ethics and sustainability and how they are implemented. Not only were these days interesting for everyone, but we enjoyed it a lot and we will definitely repeat it.

I was particularly pleased with an e-mail from Jeanette Kühn, Chair of House of Hope, She writes:

Do you remember the many hyphen parts you gave me to Sri Lanka for the children there? I revisited Laleen, who had lost his surf station at the time after the tsunami. And what can I tell you: The young you still wears your hyphen parts and they look top. Unbelievable after the long time …

A small bear’s job is to explain to children with XP in England and other english-speaking countries how to protect themselves best from ultra violet radiation.
We are also happy to support this project from the Teddington Trust Foundation and provide the fabric for the bears’ clothing.

2015 comes to an end and in production everything deals with the new models for hyphen sun protection wear. And hyphen starts her new winter collection – have a great year and here are some great pictures from one of our favourite photographers, Stefan Leitner – setting the perfect mood for the upcoming winter season.