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A polymathic force in the fashion business, 032c is sleek, fiercely creative and has a uniquely German dose of hard-edged cool. Not dissimilar, then, to Maria Koch herself. The designer, whose husband Joerg founded 032c as a biannual magazine at the turn of the millennium, has in the past few years helped to expand the business into a fully fledged fashion brand.
Beginning with merchandise in 2018, 032c showed its first ready-to-wear collection off-schedule in Paris for the first time in January 2024. This week, under Koch’s creative direction, it joins the official schedule at Paris Fashion Week.
Koch, whose background includes Jil Sander, Mario Schwab and a consulting role at Yeezy, is a trained womenswear designer, but found the Paris men’s schedule to be more in-line with the brand’s DNA and sales — 032c’s menswear and womenswear sales are currently split 60-40. “As the magazine was founded by Joerg, it was always a little bit more men’s driven and the readership was more male, and when we started with the merchandise it was unisex but was also more [popular with] men,” Koch tells Vogue Business.
Beyond that, the men’s schedule is a more attractive place to stand out, she suggests. “It’s clear that the womenswear calendar is very full — men’s feels more open, younger somehow even.”
Still, Koch is a womenswear designer at heart and still sees the show as an opportunity to appeal to a wider female audience. She is working on “a strong line-up of women” curated by model Mona Tougaard and casting director Ben Grimes, with support from PR agency Lucien Pagès — a formidable network. Guest lists for the show may well include seasoned industry names like Bryanboy, Veronika Heilbrunner and Julie Pelipas, as well as rappers like Offset or Rich the Kid, and a smattering of artists, editors and photographers. “It’s a really nice mix of art, music and straight fashion industry in our audience,” says Koch.
Although the ready-to-wear label is a newcomer to the city’s schedule, it stands on the shoulders of 032c’s considerable legacy that took over two decades to build. “I’m really convinced by honest, hard work. I’m not so into believing in luck,” she says. “Of course, there are cute coincidences, but it really took a while. I mean, the magazine was founded in 2001, so to create this brand, this identity, has taken 23 years. To have the stamina to build this foundation, it’s really interesting.”
Building the brand
So why is 032c moving to the catwalk? “The company has naturally grown in a way that I was able to pull off a collection,” says Koch. “We worked for quite a while to find the right team and to build up a proper atelier.”
There are four members of the design team (not including Koch), six in production and three in pattern-making. In total, the company employs 30 people including a sales unit, a finance unit, general admin and the magazine editorial team. 032c’s cool cachet has continuously attracted talent. “[Our staff] have come from very big brands, and they were willing to come to Berlin [to work with us],” she says. “It’s like a little snowball system, and I felt that the snowball is now big enough to show in Paris.”
Across the company, revenue stands at “a very healthy seven-digit number” according to Koch, with the ready-to-wear line responsible for 68 per cent of 032c’s total business. “I think it could be much more,” she says. The trajectory is certainly upwards: direct-to-consumer sales have improved 37 per cent since the first Paris show in January, with a further 20 per cent year-on-year growth anticipated. Koch is optimistic that the on-schedule runway will help.
The brand has both a store and a gallery in Berlin, and is planning to open another post in Munich. Its largest market is Germany, with Japan and South Korea considered the fastest expanding markets. In April, 032c opened an exhibition space in the cool Seoul neighbourhood of Seongsu-dong, partnering with South Korean e-tailer giant Musinsa. “We understand how Europe works when it comes to business, but not Korea, so we made sure to have a strong partner,” she says.
In terms of wholesale, which makes up 76 per cent of the business, 032c currently has 100 stockists, including Ssense and Zalando. “We can shift numbers with them. They are very good platforms for us and very supportive,” the designer says. 032c also sells in high-end boutiques across Asia, such as Gr8 and Biotop in Tokyo, and B1ock in Hangzhou, China, alongside a number of small independent stores globally. “Even when they are too small to reach our minimum, sometimes they are super cool and the vibe is just right and helps with the understanding of the brand, so we really try to mix it up,” she says.
The 30-strong team is close, and Koch is cautious about hiring or growing too quickly. “It’s step by step. When I was at Jil Sander I was quite shocked [because] there was a designer who only [designed] women’s white shirts,” she says. “[That way of working] is so detached… I’m a fan of keeping the design team very close.” This approach extends to the rest of 032c. “From the content to the finances, the whole structure interacts with each other and supports one another, all under the same roof and with the same ambitions.”
The show, which is being staged in the centre of Paris at the Institut du Monde Arabe on 20 June, features a collaboration with Berlin-based artist Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, who allowed Koch to use one of her artworks as a print. For the first time the collection will introduce elements of embroidery. “This is new,” says Koch, “but I think in general, it’s still the same idea of what we do, which is something quite reduced, sexy, super precise and hopefully smart.”
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