Dancing into the next season: Sonja Balodis – with Marc Cain into a new age

Sonja Balodis is “the new one” in Marc Cain’s team. The managing director of the long-established company was at the Berlin Fashion Week and presented the company’s latest collection with her colleagues. It was unusual, because instead of a normal catwalk there was a dance performance, choreographed by Eric Gauthier, the man who will soon put on a gigantic show in the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin. It is the founder of the brand, Helmut Schlotterer “It is important to set the course again, especially in these turbulent times.” Sonja Balodis speaks to ntv.de about the brand, fashion and Made in Germany.

ntv.de: You are quite new to the “Marc Cain” company, Ms. Balodis, you certainly don’t want to do everything differently than the managing director, but you also want to do your thing, right?

Denise Schindler, 2021 Paralympis medalist in track cycling, wears Marc Cain.

(Photo: imago images / Future Image)

Sonja Balodis: (laughs) In any case. I want to encourage my team to take the courageous path they have already taken. To do this, I first had to get to know the company’s DNA. We organized workshops and asked ourselves what makes the brand special, which customers do we have, which ones do we want to win. And I really wanted to preserve the brand’s heritage. I also asked myself what drives Helmut Schlotterer as a founder and owner. It is important to me that we remain true to ourselves – for example, we have our knitting factory in Bodelshausen, which is definitely part of the brand’s DNA.

Made in Germany …

… yes, that is very important to us. It was fascinating for me to see in the first few months how much passion the employees put into product development. For me, that now means continuing to encourage everyone to reflect on the strengths that make us what we are. If we bundle these strengths, then we can bring Marc Cain into a new age with our spirit. Then we consciously dare to be different from other brands.

“Keep on Dancing” is a wonderful motto for a collection, because dance means freedom. And to bring a dance show instead of a catwalk as part of Berlin Fashion Week – how did you come up with that?

Sonja Balodis: It just made sense to take a look around our direct neighborhood in Stuttgart and the Swabian Alb and we quickly came across Eric Gauthier. The aim was to express the joie de vivre that our new collection is supposed to convey.

The choreographer and dancer can actually soon be seen with the show “Arise” in Berlin’s Friedrichstadtpalast. And why Kate Bosworth as a Marc Cain testimonial?

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Kate Bosworth and Helmut Schlotterer.

(Photo: imago images / Future Image)

Kate Bosworth has close ties with Marc Cain, she was with us four years ago, and that has created a nice relationship with the brand and with our owner Helmut Schlotterer. Kate Bosworth is a personality who knows how to encourage young women with her positive charisma and with what she says and does.

Who is the “Marc Cain” woman? The company is long-established and has reinvented itself over and over again over the years. And, accordingly, I have already seen a lot of changes.

The “Marc Cain” woman loves to underline her personality. She is confident and has a character of her own. She loves to express something special – also through her clothes. We deliberately want to appeal to many different women, which is why we also have bolder designs on offer (laughs). There is always a special twist in our fashion that can be quite inspiring. We also always show unusual colors and prints. When developing our collection, we think above all of women who have a message themselves and want to underline their personality.

So for a feminine, positive woman who knows what she wants. Is “Marc Cain” ageless?

Marc Cain is for modern women, age doesn’t matter to our collections. I think we are getting more and more diverse.

What advice do you have for women in the business world – you hold the coveted post of CEO (marketing, product and sourcing) that not many women hold. In recent years we have been talking a lot about the “women’s quota”, which is apparently necessary at the upper level.

I don’t think the quota is actually the issue. It should be much more about networking and about empowering one another. Women should believe in themselves even more and understand from the outset what added value they have in a business, not only when it comes to fashion. Our team is balanced with Helmut Schlotterer, Dirk Büscher, Diana Brajkovic and me and I find that very pleasant working together.

So balance is important …

… yes, a balance that brings a certain wealth of facets to a corporate culture. I believe that makes you successful.

What do women lack most so that they can position themselves better in the economy, in companies?

We must continue to encourage women to take on this role. To say, “I can do this, I want this!” That is my topic and my message, to the young employees, to the young customers. My support is to encourage them to be fresh and free to take the initiative. This is important.

Another big topic is digitization, which you are committed to. How can you imagine that in a fashion company?

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The entire company is innovation-driven, I would almost like to say that it has an incredible ambition to be innovative (laughs). We also have Helmut Schlotterer to thank for that. That’s his finger print. For several years now, “Marc Cain” has been investing in a 3D design team, and I’ve actually never seen anything like it in this form. We have trained and studied designers who have focused on driving digital product development, something Marc Cain has been doing for five years. And that pays off. How much is created in advance in technical product development, for example through digital pattern creation, that is really far ahead. This is used across interfaces for a digital order tool, which has already helped us a lot in the difficult Corona phase to maintain customer contact, also in e-commerce. This way of thinking, which interlocks step by step, is very pronounced in our company.

How is Germany doing in the fashion world?

I think events like those shown at the Berlin Fashion Week have to take place much more often, because here we prove how creative and innovative we are. I have great hope that you will now question yourself again and think about new concepts.

Sabine Oelmann spoke to Sonja Balodis for n-tv.de.

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