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 | | The new world of Britta Steilmann | | |
She has been at times both the darling and the ‘enfant terrible‘ of the business world. As the daughter of textile mogul Klaus Steilmann, she launched in 1992 her own fashion collection and was named ‘Ecological Manager of the Year’ three years later. She was the first female manager of a football team in Germany’s Premier League. She took over her father’s company in 2001 and with it the responsibility for its 16,000 employees. Since June of this year, she has worked as an interior designer and operated an internet shop with her first furniture line for children. Her name is Britta Steilmann. Her (second) leave from the Wattenscheid, Germany-based clothing concern Klaus Steilmann came unexpectedly in 2003 and led to an unfamiliar stop. From 100 to zero. This decision, which she made on her own accord, came with great difficulty. Some nine months after leaving the company her father founded, the best known female representative of the German business elite opened an internet shop and launched her website for services encompassing living and interior design: www.brittasteilmann.com.
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A new mission
‘Creating living space’ is the motto of her design consulting company and with the new task she has created for herself a new challenge in life. The difference between her latest activity and past challenges could not be more glaring: from the leadership of a major concern to the realisation of individual home and living dreams. “In the past, I often assisted business partners in interior design,“ she explains. “Now I have made my passion into my career.“ Under her management, numerous projects in Germany and the USA have already been carried out. Britta Steilmann is convinced that her concept is working. “Particularly in difficult times, it is important for people to have a place to call home or a nest in which they can take shelter and comfort. We develop an understanding of our customers’ needs and lifestyle. ‘Form follows function’ in its clearest form. Our customers desire our support, but don’t want to be lectured or ‘cultivated’. They already have a style of their own and would like to augment and enhance it and look for a partner to handle this task.”
Depending on the needs of the customer, the Steilmann team handles the entire process from the initial design to the last unpacked box. Together with two designers, Eva Henning-Schiminski and Elisabeth Lehnert, she plans and carries out small projects as well as large-scale creations. The services are geared to both men, women, and families over 30 as well as the human resource departments of large companies. Britta Steilmann’s personal stamp is recognisable from a closer look at the colours, the choice of materials, and a style mixing both old and new.
Two long years, the meanwhile 38-year-old manager was active in the restructuring of the Wattenscheid-based company. Preservation was also her motto. Before her, ten other managers had sought to put the textile mammoth back on course and failed. From 2001 to 2003, instead of dealing with ecologically correct fashions, she was dealing with costs, sales figures, and balances. She had actually never intended to follow in her father’s footsteps.
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No shortage of ideas
After studying design, fashion, and marketing in New York, Paris, and Montreal, she enjoyed success early. Long an advocate for American Indians on the reservations of South Dakota, she created in her position for special collections at her father’s company, her ‘It’s one world’ collection. The production eliminated all things that are damaging to people and the environment, such as chlorine and bleach, and workers were given fair wages. She became a voice for environmental reform of the clothing and textile industries, visiting universities and schools. The oldest of the three Steilmann daughters was named ‘Manager of the Year’ and was in 1995, at the age of 29, the youngest German to be awarded with the Bundesverdienstkreuz. The award was little consolation for the family feud that resulted in her leaving her father’s business the first time shortly thereafter.
After serving as a football manager from 1994 to 1996, she turned her back on the world of fashion in 1999, becoming a business consultant. In 2001, on request of the board, she took over for her father’s sceptre. “I had the feeling that I had to take responsibility, though the decision was not easy as I took my new career choice and my independence seriously.”
Building her new company has caused her more headaches than earlier projects. “But I have become more courageous. In difficult times, you just have to keep moving. I am only down and unbearable when I imagine the worst and lose my love of working.” She has decided that in the future she will work more for societal and political interests as well as allow herself more room for volunteer projects and private projects. Britta Steilmann is clearly writing a new chapter in her life.
Sabine Hinnah
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© September 2010 - European Publications GmbH
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