HYPHEN – ITS HISTORY AND ITS STORIES

When two water sports enthusiasts become parents,  it is highly likely that their offspring will become real “water rats,” too.   When that happens, what can be more fun than surf and sun? The reality, though, often does not match the promise, even if we try very carefully and very positively to steer our kids in our direction: The water’s too cold; the wind’s too strong and the driving sand’s too painful; the sunscreen’s too sticky; “my t-shirt’s tooo clammy”;  the sunscreen intended for the beach is at home and so it goes on, as night follows day, with the stresses of sunburn, itchy skin, ear ache, a runny nose and a suspected bladder infection!  In fact, vacations are an endless source of minor and major crises that we all conveniently forget until our next holiday comes around.  One thing, at least, we felt we could get to grips with was being cold.  Peter had been developing water sports’ clothing and accessories for many years, so after we had failed dismally to buy really well-fitting neoprene shorties for our kids, Peter stepped up to the plate as a proper Dad should, and, in the twinkling of an eye, had some prototypes made.

Our fabrics overcame their most difficult challenge, and we easily achieved the UPF 50+ Australian standard, although what we really wanted was the UV-Standard 801 certification. This meant that all materials had to deliver the certified sun protection factor, whether wet or stretched, and for a long period of time.  hyphen wear achieved UV Standard 801 certification UPF 20 to UPF 40 right at the start. The hyphen team did great work: Andreas Ullrich created a really exciting concept for the graphics and the design with Peter Reinschmidt; Dascha Strohmeier and Dorothea Hugle made superb use of their skills as product manager and cutting designer to turn ideas into special sportswear; Ina Röpcke supported me closely with dedicated and creative PR work that helped introduce hyphen successfully into the market. At Jako-O, the sun protection pioneer Bettina Peetz and her team took us on board – as a large and demanding purchaser – in our first year, and laid the foundations for a very fruitful and collaborative partnership. Thrilled by our ideas, many other supporters contributed to a successful market entry in the summer of 2001. Jako-O’s summer catalogue presented the first “hyphen for Jako-O” collection, and, in addition, other interested parties ordered a specially slimmed-down hyphen childrens’ collection for their pharmacies.

Selling sportswear in a pharmacy was certainly a somewhat unusual undertaking. Yet in terms of good, well-informed advice which included the importance and benefits of textile based sun-protection, especially for sensitive skins (e.g. neurodermatitis), this sales route seemed to us to make a lot of sense and we made an effort to obtain approval for the sale of our products in pharmacies in general. Just in time for the start of the summer season, hyphen products were deemed to be of the required pharmacy standard due to the high quality of the sun-protection and the Öko-Tex Standard 100 Class 1 certification.

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

High demand in the 2003 season led us to produce, for the first time and earlier than planned, clothing for both teens and adults.  This new collection was also sold in this same season by Carpe Diem (now Qiéro), a sister company of Jako-O.

Expanding our distribution through specialist retailers proved to be astonishingly difficult. Sports retailers, in particular, were extremely sceptical about the subject, but when personal experience meets professional understanding, then things look completely different.  Amongst our first customers were the sailing enthusiasts and parents, Sanny and Frank Schönfeldt of  Clown Sails in Hamburg, as well as diving instructor Cordula Stenzel from the Dolphin Watersports Center on Kanuhura in the Maldives.  Medics, however, understood the need much more clearly. The airport pharmacies in Frankfurt and Munich successfully sold hyphen products, and the Austrian medical device specialist Ferdinand Menzl expanded its range for allergy sufferers under the motto of “Cloth rules!” with hyphen sun protection.

In Austria, the municipality of Gallneukirchen, became a pioneer in sun-protection when its mayor, Walter Böck, became aware of a small girl who had to wear a t-shirt because of her skin problem.  When she was expelled from a local swimming pool due to the strict dress code and hygiene regulations, he decided to provide suitable sun-protection apparel at the reception (as reported in OÖ News 17.06.03).

We worked alongside LTU with their club journal, and with TUI we equipped the activities staff at the TUI Family Hotels with hyphen shirts and caps. These partnerships were for us a clear signal that the awareness of staying safe in the sun was growing in the tourism industry.

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

Johanna: she had to wear pressure bandages following severe burns to her arm and thigh, and had to avoid any sun contact on her skin.  We provided hyphen cloth sleeves to protect her arms and hyphen shorts to shield her legs, so that she was able to enjoy a very ‘normal’ summer, and was even able to go swimming. We were very pleased to have been able to help her, and were particularly impressed with the work done by Paulinchen – an initiative for burns affected children.   The commitment of Adelheid Gottwald, one of the founders of Paulinchen, was instrumental in helping Johanna, and, as their work is undertaken on a voluntary basis, we will very happily support them in the future.

We improved our fabrics still further. Lightness and breathability are still key elements, but the UV protection increases to a safe UPF 40 including light colors, when the fabrics are wet or stretched. In the Czech Republic, hyphen was represented by Farma.cz s.r.o from this season on and for Finland the long-term pharmacist Finn Thesslund and his dedicated wife Päivi have made hyphen available to their customers through their company meditex.

In Munich early that year, we took on additional space to run own warehouse and shipping department, and thus ensure faster, more flexible order processing. The hotline is run now by our Munich team, and no longer by an external provider, as we wanted direct contact with our customers.

The summer of 2005 also brought good news: K-Tip No.12 (15.06 2005) and the programme “Kassensturz” (Sales Frenzy – 07.06.2005) on Swiss TV channel SF 1 published their tests under the title: “Which sun protection dresses are worth their price?”: “Kassensturz / Sales Frenzy tested children’s sun-protection swimsuits and shirts. The results are sobering.

Only the products from the Jako-O children’s catalogue protect what they promise.”  Included in the test, and with a result well-ahead of the other brands, was a shorty from our collection ‘hyphen for Jako-O’.  In two of the other products, chemical filters were found in the children’s clothing. In use, all the others fell far short of their promised sun-protection.  Those responsible were admonished by Jean Pierre Haug, Head of the Swiss Test Institute TESTEX: “I expect from a garment with a declared sun-protection factor, that this sun-protection is effective under all possible conditions. That means: when it has been laundered when it is wet, when it is under tension and even when it has been well used. “

This year meant that we were able to guarantee our customers the safety of UPF 80 UV protection for all our swimwear. The development work with our fabric producers had paid off.

We presented new fabrics and styles in our sportswear collection of polo shirts, jackets and long lightweight trousers, which would offer safe and fashionable sun protection for many leisure and sporting activities. We were particularly proud to have developed fabrics for these pieces, which were also very comfortable on hot summer days.

On 1^st of January, VAT was increased by three percent, but we decided not to to pass on this price increase.

We supplied two brand new trading partners: Rita Manso in Portugal and Dorelies Woortmann in the Netherlands. In Portugal, we also planned a small but exciting cooperation with Rita Manso for 2008 with the young Lisbon designers, STORYTAILORS.

Alongside Dorothea Hugle, who was our cutting director at the beginning and who was by this time studying social work, we implemented a project focused on supporting with internships either young people from asylum seeker backgrounds or those who have missed training opportunities. The aim was to give them a taster of practical work and to provide an additional qualification through an internship certificate. The personal support and guidance of Dorothea Hugle, who made the project the content of her practical study, also provided the young people with concrete support for their future careers.

In 1986, the Chernobyl disaster left people worldwide deeply shaken and concerned. An appeal for donations, which we received from the Help for Belarus-Achim Association, drew our attention to the people there, who actually experienced the after-shock of the catastrophe many years and decades later. Disease and poverty dominated in the red zone left by the reactor disaster. For political reasons, almost no official international aid had been possible and only a few private individuals stepped up for the people there. Twice a year, the association managed to take a 40t truck with relief supplies to Beresino and Mozyr, where the contents were distributed to schools and hospitals. Virtually everything was desperately needed and even second quality items were welcome. Since clothing was needed and the children there had neither sports gear nor swimming things, we were able to contribute.  Our thanks to the helpers from Achim for their tireless efforts. We hope that many companies will continue to follow their calls for donations in the future.

And all shall be well! We were able to deliver our first and completely self-produced collection on time. Our own production enabled us not only to control the quality of our products, but also to ensure the quality of our working methods. We attained greater flexibility in planning and more accurate cost control. This allowed us to forego a price hike for the eighth year in a row, despite rising costs.

Our second big project was also finally finished: our new internet shop went online. Many months of work went into the shop and our relief was palpable, as everything worked (almost) smoothly from the word go.

In conjunction with Mr. Prenting of the Munich-based XP support group, we developed a method for attaching sun protective foil to our Protec Caps in such a way that they protected completely against ultra violet radiation, even when the wearer is playing or exercising. When a doctor then went to Nepal to visit a family in which all four children suffered from Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Mr. Prenting provided her with a large care package and, of course, the first improvised foiled-caps for each of the kids.

This was a very special year for us and was time to take stock: over the past 10 years a lot has happened in the world of UV protection. Even though things were not perfect, pretty much everyone knew about the dangers of too much sun and about what you needed to do to protect yourself properly.  Particularly for children, textile UV protection was already widely accepted as the safest option. Reliable clothing was available in the market and customers were able to check its safety through recognised certification.

hyphen GmbH has progressed well, as has the quality of our clothing. The certifications we have achieved have met the strictest standards. Our materials have come from selected suppliers, almost exclusively from Europe and in this way, we have been sure not only that our products are ecologically sound, but also that the production conditions meet social requirements. In addition, we have avoided long and polluting freight routes.

Peter Reinschmidt and I were very happy with our positive, long-standing business relationships, the trust of our customers and, of course, the competence and commitment of the entire hyphen team. Although there have naturally been changes during these 10 years in the lives of each individual and, by extension, in the team, it has always been – and always will be great – when you work with people who are very engaged and able to think outside of the box.  Despite the growth of hyphen gmbh, it has always been possible to remain agile with a compact team and to stay in direct contact with our customers. Certainly, it was a real reason to be cheerful and we were also able to take this anniversary as a positive point in time to formulate our future goals.

We opened the season with a particularly nicely designed catalogue and were thrilled with our Munich customers, who were a lot of fun as our models during the photo shoots. Thank you all so much!

Due to the fact that many people rely on UV protection on a daily basis, we developed the hyfive line. It consists of functional, neutrally coloured underwear, which can be worn like a second skin under any normal, non-protective clothes.

A spectacular chance to fly the flag, whilst at the same time testing hyphen clothing under really hard conditions, was the chance to sponsor the crew of the yacht FRENCH KISS with hyphen sportswear. FRENCH KISS was one of the fastest 12 meter  yachts and was built for the 1987 America’s Cup.  In 2007, owner and skipper Markus Daniel brought back the athletic lady from retirement. He and his crew made sure she was made fit again – and regatta ready.  

Mursko Sredisce, the site of our production facility, is located in a region of northern Croatia with a strong tradition in textiles.  Our team there is highly competent and we decided that we could offer the combination of existing know-how together with our understanding of quality and sustainability to other brands and companies. To this end, it was necessary to expand our production:  we built new systems and, with the construction of our own printing works, were able to bring the complete production of sun-protective clothing under one roof.

This particular year started well, as we won an ISPO Brand New Award for our Stüdlgrat vest. This is was a nice confirmation for our efforts yet we were even more pleased by the super response from knowledgeable reviewers, many of whom posted their comments on Facebook. This year, for the first time, we also gave our dealers and journalists a two day introduction to our production facility. It meant a lot to us to have been able show live that we were serious about our statements on quality, ethics and sustainability and how they are implemented. Not only were these days interesting for everyone involved, 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 the House of Hope (see above). She wrote:

“Do you remember the many hyphen items yousent with me to Sri Lanka for the children there? I revisited Laleen, who had lost his surf station following the tsunami. And would you believe it: the new, young up-and-coming surfers still wear your hyphen clothing and they look great.  Amazing after such a long time …”

A small bear explained to children with XP in England and in other english-speaking countries how to best protect themselves from ultra violet radiation.

We were very happy to support this project at the Teddington Trust Foundation and provide the fabric for the bears’ clothing.

2015 came to an end with our production concentrating on the new models for hyphen sun protection wear. The fun continued with hyphen’s new winter collection and I closed the year with a few great pictures from one of our favourite photographers, Stefan Leitner – setting the perfect mood for the winter season.