Inside Maloja - Creating Clothing With a Difference
Driving up to Maloja's headquarters you realise they are going to do things a little differently. The truth is that most of the time when you go to a company's offices they are grey, industrial buildings somewhere. There's good reason for that - industrial units are practical and affordable. So when you turn off the main road and turn up the lane to Maloja and find yourself climbing towards an old, wood-beamed farmhouse the natural reaction is apprehension, waiting to turn a corner and see the grey concrete block hiding behind the trees somewhere. That moment never comes. As you pull outside the wooden-beamed farmhouse, straight out of a Visit Bavaria postcard it's clear that they aren't like most companies.
Founded ten years ago when founder, Peter, became fed up with the mountain bike clothing on the market at the time, they emerged from a time in our sport when the options available to riders were limited, at best. Today we are accustomed to most clothing companies offering a full range of kit to cater to whatever style of riding takes your fancy, but back then it was either horrific lycra or shameless moto derivatives. When Peter decided he could make something better himself, he realised he needed some help. He was sure he could produce the clothing, but he wanted advice on running a business. Some years before he had met Klaus, who at the time was working in finance, and from their first meeting he knew that he was someone who would be able to help him realise his ambitions. So he stored him in his phone as "Klaus Future", a name he is still saved as today. With his idea for Maloja he met Klaus and explained his plan, and asked Klaus if he would help give him advice on how to run a business. Klaus, however, refused. He looked Peter in the eye and told him, "I do not want to advise you. I want to be your partner in this." And so Maloja was born. In those ten years they have forged their own path; sticking to a unique, distinctive style for their clothing; trying to keep the quality high and bring production back from Asia to Europe; striving to uphold the highest environmental standards; putting a focus on design that is maybe unmatched in mountain bike clothing. Their headquarters on a farm is simply another symptom of their desire to run the type of business they are passionate about, one that clearly doesn't put profit ahead of their beliefs.
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www.maloja.de
 | We could be two or three times bigger than we are, but money isn't the most important thing to me. Peter, founder |
Founded ten years ago when founder, Peter, became fed up with the mountain bike clothing on the market at the time, they emerged from a time in our sport when the options available to riders were limited, at best. Today we are accustomed to most clothing companies offering a full range of kit to cater to whatever style of riding takes your fancy, but back then it was either horrific lycra or shameless moto derivatives. When Peter decided he could make something better himself, he realised he needed some help. He was sure he could produce the clothing, but he wanted advice on running a business. Some years before he had met Klaus, who at the time was working in finance, and from their first meeting he knew that he was someone who would be able to help him realise his ambitions. So he stored him in his phone as "Klaus Future", a name he is still saved as today. With his idea for Maloja he met Klaus and explained his plan, and asked Klaus if he would help give him advice on how to run a business. Klaus, however, refused. He looked Peter in the eye and told him, "I do not want to advise you. I want to be your partner in this." And so Maloja was born. In those ten years they have forged their own path; sticking to a unique, distinctive style for their clothing; trying to keep the quality high and bring production back from Asia to Europe; striving to uphold the highest environmental standards; putting a focus on design that is maybe unmatched in mountain bike clothing. Their headquarters on a farm is simply another symptom of their desire to run the type of business they are passionate about, one that clearly doesn't put profit ahead of their beliefs.
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 Admit it, we'd all like to work in an office that looks like this... |
Inside it just gets better too - the old barn offers high ceilings that open the space up to the light. Their desire to minimise the environmental impact lead to them refusing to buy any new furniture for the new office (except for a few Ikea bookcases for storage), it all came from flea markets and the German equivalent of the Salvation Army, or in some cases was made from wood that used to be parts of the barn.
The biggest part of the building is the design area, and for good reason. With 18 designers working for them they have what they are confident they have the largest design team in mountain biking working on their range. To put it into perspective, many of the more well-known brands in our sport may only have a couple of people working on their whole collection. Part of the reason for needing so many people is that they do not carry clothing over from previous years - with each collection they start from a clean slate. When Peter says he that money is not the most important thing, you can see that ethos in practice here. If he employed fewer people and carried lines over he could without doubt increase profitability, but it is not the way he chooses to do things.
On the upstairs of the design area the creatives, who produce the designs, graphics and colour schemes for each collection. Unlike many mountain bike industry companies, Maloja doesn't just attract people who have only ever follow bicycles, the design team includes people who have worked for companies as diverse as Vivienne Westwood and BMW. It is clear that Peter is still a very active part of the design process too, staying very hands-on in producing Maloja's collections.
Downstairs the emphasis switches to getting the clothing made. Sven undoubtedly has one of the hardest jobs in Maloja - he is responsible for the material they use and the colours those materials are dyed. Some of his responsibilities are obvious, like testing the materials to find out how durable they are, or whether they are as waterproof as the manufacturer claims they are. It is the colours that complicate his life most though, and the difficulty is one many people have probably never considered. When you have a range of clothes using different materials you have to male sure the colours are consistent between the materials, which is no small feat. The composition of a fabric can totally change how it reacts to a dye, so for each fabric the dye has to be formulated specifically to produce the desired colour, or as near as they can get to that colour, and that the colour does not vary under different lighting conditions. This process usually means approaching several suppliers, and with completely new summer and winter collections each year needing every colour and fabric combination to be sourced to the highest possible standard, it's a vast undertaking.
Once an item is designed and has been put together from the correctly-sourced materials, fit is the next major concern. It is another meticulous process because every item is fitted at every stage of production - from the prototypes, then the photo samples, the dealer samples and finally the pre-production samples. At each stage the clothing is fitted on models to make sure it hangs in the way it was intended. It is painstakingly measured and checked, then any amendments are noted and sent to the factory for amendment, usually with photos of the changes to make sure there is no language barrier in communicating what they need doing.
It may be a bit dated to take out on the trails these days, but this faithful companion is still perfect for looking at how the clothing fits in the saddle.
Upstairs is the showroom where Maloja keep their entire range for a year. Here again they do things differently - they invite their dealers to come and view the forthcoming collection and make their order for the following season, those orders help make up their production for the year, they don't hold excess stock and once the dealers have sold their stock those items are gone. On the evidence, this model works well for them. Of the 100 dealers they originally began working with in 2005, they are still with 60 of them and the business continues to grow slowly but steadily to just over 800 dealers in Europe alone.
Lunchtime is a big deal at Maloja. When the company started they used to take it in turns each day to cook for each other, but as the company grew they eventually had to concede that this was no longer practical. Today, this lady comes in every day to prepare a freshly cooked meal for staff - when we were there it was Thai-style noodles with chicken and vegetables.
One part of lunchtime that has remained unchanged as the company has grown is that they eat together - Peter and Klaus too each day, there is no executive lounge here.
Mr Maloja, Peter (when we were there Klaus was out of the office for the day, so we didn't get to meet him). He's definitely not your archetypal CEO, but anybody who is familiar with Maloja clothing will know that it's not your run-of-the-mill clothing either - it has always stood out from the crowd, just as Peter planned it.
www.maloja.de
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Member since Oct 29, 2006
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unfortunately 99% of their costumers are kind of joeys (mostly on liteville 301s) who talk esotheric shit all day long about flow, some mtb skill courses they just booked and wether the sick freeway they just managed to ride down while non-stop braking is rated S3 or S4 on the singletrailskala.
Whenever i see somebody in the woods wearing a full maloja-kit i try to avoid riding with them because they would freak me out within minutes.
I got a few pieces of their kit last summer, and the quality is superb - having great ethics, cool vibes and an interesting story is the make or break for me if everything else is equal.
Now just to hope a good retailer is carrying them (MEC did last few years).
www.mec.ca/shop/?q=maloja
www.pinkbike.com/news/alpinestars-launches-2015-cycling-collection-2015.html
**********Notice how they show pics of their products, and list MSRP's??
seems like you like beer and good food as well :-)
Was always impressed by their stuff, now:
a) I'm a fan
b) I'm sending my CV in!!
(But if we are talking tire size..... Fatbike has it covered....)