GmbH on what’s next after their Berlin show

Sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts. The chaos of the 2024 Paris Olympics drove GmbH back to its hometown, Berlin, to show its Spring/Summer 2025 collection. Beyond logistics, the homecoming was emotional for co-founders Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Isik, who set up the brand in 2016. “When we were speaking to the French fashion federation about organising a show during the Olympics, it seemed like there was so much red tape and additional work, so pragmatically we thought maybe it’s not worth it this time,” Huseby explains ahead of the show. “It was also quite emotionally and politically driven. Living in Germany and seeing how the political climate is, we feel now more than ever that it’s important to show our community and culture and push that narrative in a German context.” The collection, titled ‘Resistance Through Rituals’, was presented on the first day of Berlin Fashion Week at iconic Berlin events venue Tempodrom. The show was held for half an hour as a downpour hit the city; guests sheltered under the protruding sections of the building. The duo brushed it off: “it adds to the atmosphere,” Huseby said backstage after the show. (It also rained during GmbH’s first Paris show.) The collection featured boxer shorts and blazers with lapels that wrapped around the head to form a hood, inspired by what boxers wear into the ring. A coat of arms “GmbH: Love and Justice” (the phrase comes from anime show Sailor Moon) was attached to bomber jackets, styled with schoolboy-style tailored shorts. The womenswear offering was bigger this season, featuring dresses with asymmetrical and handkerchief hems. The SS25 collection marked GmbH’s foray into footwear; the brand developed its own sneakers this season (they had previously partnered with Asics to experiment with the category). Also present in the SS25 collection are a number of re-edited archive looks — some of which were made during Covid and had never been worn. GmbH is best known for its roots in Berlin’s queer club scene, through its inclusive casting and thematisation of multiculturalism, migration and marginalisation. Bestsellers include trousers (particularly vinyl trousers) and riding boots, while tailoring is a strong revenue-driver via direct-to-consumer (and the founders say returns are rare). The brand’s key markets are Germany, France, the UK, Italy and South Korea, and it’s stocked in around 40 retailers including Printemps, LN-CC, Browns and Ssense (wholesale makes up around 60 per cent of sales, while direct-to-consumer accounts for 40 per cent). Annual revenue has been stable for the past two years and sits at seven figures. Huseby is of Pakistani and Norwegian heritage and was a photographer prior to co-founding the brand, while Isik is Turkish and German with a background in fashion design. Less than a year after launching the brand, the pair secured a spot at Paris Fashion Week for its SS18 menswear show, where they have been showing ever since. And in 2018, the brand was shortlisted for the LVMH Prize. The co-founders were named as creative directors of Italian label Trussardi in May 2021, but stepped down in March 2023 amid turmoil at the Italian heritage brand. GmbH was invited to show at Berlin Fashion Week under ‘Intervention’, a platform for presenting exciting designers with international scope or potential, hosted by communications agency Reference Studios. Intervention launched last season with brands like Shayne Oliver’s Anonymous Club and Yeezy Gap graduate Marie Lueder’s namesake brand, which are both returning this season. Reference Studios invites a range of brands it admires from its inner circle for the programme, looking for a strong design language, an understanding of the zeitgeist as well as ties to Berlin’s culture and strong international potential. “[GmbH is] a relatable, purpose-driven values-first brand, which resonates particularly well in Berlin, the place they are based out of. This translates into their identity also from an aesthetic point of view,” says Mumi Haiati, founder of Reference Studios, which is based in Berlin with offices in Milan and London, and whose clients include Gucci, Acne Studios and Gentle Monster. “They have a huge significance for the city of Berlin. Personally I hope they will continue to show here, as well as take on a role at a house. It feels to me like the perfect combination.” A political brand? The collection name Resistance Through Rituals originates from the title of cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s book about the post-war youth’s reaction to cultural change. For GmbH, the collection is a reaction against political repression and the far-right, as well as a show of solidarity for the queer, brown and diverse communities GmbH represents. “Right now, the idea of resistance is taking on many forms. Particularly in the context of being in Berlin, there’s a lot of political repression and repression of freedom of speech. In German press and mainstream politics there’s a lot of racist, Islamophobic and anti-semitic rhetoric, there is a leaning towards very scary right-wing fascist ideas,” says Huseby. “Among our friends and family, in this very dark time there’s been great camaraderie and building a renewed sense of strength.” That’s resistance, but what about rituals? “A fashion show is a kind of ritual,” says Huseby. The SS25 show certainly was, featuring a live orchestra of traditional Middle Eastern instruments mixed with experimental electronic music by Berlin duo Labour, a long-time collaborator of GmbH’s. To mark the brand’s seven-year anniversary (the founders consider the number seven to be a spiritual number), Huseby and Isik released an album, ‘GmbH: An Anthology of Music for Fashion Shows 2016-2023 Vol 1’, in April, featuring artists who have created original show music for the brand. It’s not the first time the label has explored formats outside of fashion design; the duo have previously released a trio of films tied to their SS21 collection, created costumes for a dance performance in Berlin this year, and are working on an exhibition and book for the year ahead. “We’re thinking about what it means to be a brand,” says Huseby. “We would be bored if we were running a company that just produces garments, we need that [cultural] aspect to stay interesting,” adds Isik. The album was initially supposed to be released in November 2023. “We delayed a lot of the celebrative aspects of it because of the genocide happening in Gaza — it didn’t feel like a time to celebrate,” says Huseby. In January, the designers called for a ceasefire in Gaza at their Paris AW24 show. Huseby and Isik’s speech at the beginning of the show spoke to rising Islamophobia, anti-semitism and far-right ideology in Europe. “How convenient then to distract us, to make us believe there is really a struggle between two already marginalised people, when in fact, the struggle is between power and justice,” Isik said at the time. GmbH doesn’t shy away from being labelled as political. “Serhat and I have always been very politically engaged people, and GmbH is a reflection of how we live our lives,” Huseby says. “We’ve tried to bring our ethics into the brand. I don’t mind it being political — but that’s not the only thing we are, we’re also designers, we love fashion and we also have less serious aspirations like making people feel beautiful and strong in our clothes.” The brand’s strong values speak to their community. “GmbH is a brand that is rooted in queerness, politics and Berlin club culture,” says Eshaan Dhingra, menswear buyer at LN-CC. “They have been able to build a community around what they do that allows for their customers to authentically connect to what they stand for.” What’s next The co-founders are back to focusing on GmbH full time after juggling it with Trussardi. “I feel like their time at Trussardi was a great experience for them, but I feel that GmbH took the back seat for a while,” says Dhingra. “I am excited to see how they can refocus their energy fully and continue to push the boundaries of what it means to be a brand in today’s climate.” Huseby says it “feels good” to be focusing on GmbH solely. “It was our own brand that led us to Trussardi in the first place, it’s our baby,” adds Isik. One of the key learnings from the experience includes streamlining how the pair structure their workload. “Our calendar was chock-full of meetings and fittings, and I think that gave us a sense of corporate structure that was actually helpful for us,” says Huseby. “On the creative side, it really helped us align our vision for womenswear.” Would the pair ever go back to a big brand? “Maybe one day, why not?” Isik says. “There has been people approaching us for projects, but for us, we’d want to take a bit more time before jumping in,” adds Huseby, noting how challenging it can be to juggle two brands. In terms of the business, GmbH says exponential growth is less of a driver than cultural relevance. “Running an independent brand is pretty tough. There’s a partial collapse of wholesale, brands are disappearing, online shops are disappearing and many boutiques, impossible payment terms and shops not paying you for several seasons,” says Huseby. “With this economic turmoil we’re less thinking about [financial] growth — we even said this during the pandemic, growth isn’t necessarily a goal in itself, it isn’t something we see as an important driver. The process we’re much more interested in is cultural capital.” Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

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