L.A. New U.S. Home for German Outerwear Line

Los Angeles is physically and ideologically thousands of miles away from the Wellensteyn core customer—and yet, as the 60-yearold German company prepares to introduce its line of cold-weather outerwear to the U.S. market, it chose sunny Los Angeles as its headquarters.

Wellensteyn manufactures rugged coats worn by Northern European dockworkers. Over the past eight years, the family-owned company has been adding fashion to the mix, cultivating the customer who wants the authenticity of Wellensteyn’s heritage—even if he’s not fending off Nordic wind, rain and snow. The collection, which now includes heavy- and lightweight styles for men and women, blends Wellensteyn’s technical- and performance-driven expertise with a fashion focus for the outdoor lifestyle consumer.

The company was founded in Hamburg, Germany, by Adolf Wuttke as a manufacturer of deep-submerge mechanical instruments. Wuttke was soon outfitting the technicians and dockworkers with rugged, waterand wind-resistant workwear, including coats made from a heavy-duty, waxed sailcloth.

It took the second generation to add fashion to Wellensteyn’s collection. Wuttke’s son, Thomas, introduced the company’s new tagline, “Fusion of Fashion + Function,” eight years ago, when he began marketing the coats as a fashion collection throughout Europe.

The jackets have cold-weather features such as polar fleece–lined collars, heavy-duty zippers and welded seams. Other features include multiple pockets—including pockets that lock and inside pockets for cellphones. Women’s styles feature slimmer silhouettes, longer, hooded versions and coats with fur trim. Cold-weather styles feature names such as “Siberia,” “Cape Horne” and “Biarritz.” Lighter-weight styles have names such as “Cairo” and “Belair.” Each coat’s name is embroidered on the lining.

It was happenstance that brought the German company to Los Angeles, thanks to a connection between Wellensteyn and James Benton, the company’s new vice president of operations. Benton was introduced to the company by a mutual friend, Henner Jahns, just as the German company was looking to expand into the United States. Benton has worked on the finance side of the business, most recently with Jahns, who owns a product design company, Gecco Vision, in Los Angeles. Jahns’ childhood friend Ruediger Franke was working with Wellensteyn in Germany and was interested in expanding into North America. Ruediger, Jahns and Benton formed Wellensteyn U.S.A. Inc. to open up the U.S. market. Prior to forming Wellensteyn U.S.A., Benton worked with local accounting company Allied National Inc., nonprofit company Fashion Business Inc., LAShowroom.com and Ric Ross Inc., makers of the American Rock denim label.

In August, Benton took the Wellensteyn line to Las Vegas, showing the collection to buyers in a hotel room during the massive MAGIC Marketplace trade show. In September, he did the same thing during New York Market Week. The effort paid off when Macy’s placed a test order for its Midwest stores. This season, Benton is taking the line to a broader range of shows, including the recent Jan. 21–23 run of ENK’s Collective trade show in New York. For February, Wellensteyn will show at Level 8 in Chicago, the MAGIC Marketplace in Las Vegas and the Fashion Coterie in New York.

“My idea of the lifecycle process is to control distribution until you build buzz with the name, and then you can distribute it more fully,” Benton said.

The coats are primarily manufactured in China, with a few styles produced in Germany. The company stocks 8,000 jackets in Germany. Benton is looking for showroom space and warehouse space to stock goods locally for domestic shipment.

Wellensteyn will be exhibiting at MAGIC’s White Pavilion during the trade show’s Feb. 13–16 run. For more information, call (213) 291-1501 or visit www.wellensteynusa.com.—Alison A. Nieder