Merz b. Schwanen is a German clothing company known to produce on original loop-wheelers with organic materials in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

Originally, Merz b. Schwanen was founded by Balthasar Merz as "Balthasar Merz beim Schwanen" on the Swabian Alps in 1911 and remained a family owned business until 2008. Globalization processes dominated the following decades of the 20th century, which caused a decline of the German textile industry because of both, foreign companies and domestic companies, that outsourced parts of their value chain to low-wage countries. Eventually Balthasar Merz beim Schwanen could not keep up with those companies and was forced to close its gates in 2008 due to a lack of orders.

Relaunch

After finding an original Balthasar Merz beim Schwanen Henley shirt at a flea market in Berlin, menswear designer Peter Plotnicki and his wife Gitta teamed up with one of the last remaining textile factories in Albstadt, a small town on the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

. After reevaluating the traditional way of production by using the same old loopwheelers and receiving the rights to utilize the name "Merz b. Schwanen" from descendants of Balthasar Merz, the brand made was relaunched in 2011. The first Menswear collection was shown at the Bread & Butter (tradeshow) tradeshow in January 2011 in Berlin. All products are designed by Peter and Gitta Plotnicki in Berlin, where the company´s headquarter is based. The production is still located in Albstadt. Since its release, Merz b. Schwanen is sold in more than 35 countries. The brand has been collaborating with brands and designers like Nigel Cabourn,

Junya Watanabe Junya Watanabe (born 1961) is a Japanese people, Japanese fashion designer, a protégé of Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo. He continues to work for Comme des Garçons: His atelier is located on the second floor of its Tokyo headquarters, ...

, Rowing Blazers and

Monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens placed in front of the eye and held in place by the eye socket itself. Often, to avoid losing the monoc ...

Products

The company produces

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s, Henley shirts,

sweatshirts A sweatshirt is a long-sleeved pullover shirt or jacket fashioned out of thick, usually cotton, cloth material. Sweatshirts are almost exclusively casual attire and hence not as formal as some sweaters. Sweatshirts may or may not have a hood. A s ...

, sweatpants,

undergarment Underwear, underclothing, or undergarments are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer clothing from being soiled ...

s and socks for men and women with styles referencing vintage workwear and sportswear to contemporary garments. The shirts have been praised by fashion insiders such as Nick Carvell from British GQ as one of the most comfortable, as well as best-looking shirts, one will own. Most garments are made of 100% organic cotton from Greece without chemical finishings, with different thicknesses or alternatively of cotton blends with

Viscose Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has the same molecula ...

or Merino wool. Another characteristic of Merz b. Schwanen garments is the woven label which is manufactured with a hand-made punch cards on historical looms from the 19th century.

Ethical sourcing

In 2025, Merz b. Schwanen signed a brand letter of intent calling on the Australian wool industry to end the practice of mulesing.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merz b. Schwanen Clothing brands of Germany Underwear brands Companies based in Baden-Württemberg German brands Clothing companies of Germany