WHAT'S THE STORY
Do B e t t e r – O m n i ta i l
TEXTILEREI MANNHEIM
START-UPS GENERATE FREQUENCY Desolate neighbourhoods, an exodus of industry, retailers, and customers - many cities face very similar challenges. Mannheim has decided to do better. Incubators promote start-ups and invest in urban development. Text: Ina Köhler. Photos: Textilerei
M
annheim takes action. A company called Mannheimer Gründungszentren GmbH, a subsidiary of the municipality, has started establishing target group specific business start-up centres. They don’t merely focus on the fashion and textile industries, but also on music, tech, medical technology, and other subsectors of the cultural and creative industries. A total of 28,000 square metres have been made available. Today, this centre alone supports approx. 300 young businesses. Nico Hoffmeister, the Community Manager of Textilerei, joined Startup Mannheim in 2015. Back then, the founding and competence centre for the fashion and textile industries opened in a listed building in the heart of the city. Eleven companies on 400 square metres - that sounds a little cramped at first glance. The focus is, however, on bundling know-how and developing infrastructure. Hoffmeister and two consultants cover the fashion segment. The consultants were made available by the gig7 competence centre for women in business. “More often than not, founders don’t know where and how to start. We can support their self-marketing measures by offering knowhow, workshops, and seminars, as well as conveying trade contacts. They can sell their products at Textilerei and we help them, for example, with trade fair appearances, as well as in terms of marketing and sales.” Hoffmeister benefits from his many years of professional experience in the fashion industry at Falke and, most recently, at Sixty Group. Textilerei offers workshops and machinery for the manufacturing of products in small batches. Another vital factor is the development of networks with local companies and retailers such as Quartier Q6Q7, Engelhorn, Trendfabrik, and Luxury Loft. The support of Textilerei is, however, limited in time. Leases run for two years and cannot be extended beyond five years. This ensures a healthy rotation of start-ups. After all, every business model should be scalable to guarantee that the founders can eventually stand on their own two feet.
Start-ups rejuvenate retail areas. In addition to pop-up concepts such as those in Mannheim’s Q6Q7, Textilerei also operates its own concept store.
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