MAN/WOMAN Conversations #07 – By Sprezza
- December 13, 2025
- 6:42 pm
Mots de Clayton Chambers
There’s something magnetic about Merz b. Schwanen. The fabric. The fit. The story. You feel it when you wear one of their loopwheeled tees. They’re the kind of pieces that don’t try too hard. They just are.
But what makes Merz compelling isn’t just the product—it’s the people behind it. Peter and Gitta Plotnicki are the married duo who revived this century-old German brand from the ashes. It started with a flea market discovery and turned into a full-blown resurrection project powered by belief, risk, and vintage machinery.
We sat down in Paris to talk about how it all began, what it means to build a business together, and the moment when Jeremy Allen White (yes, from The Bear) accidentally broke their online store.
A flea market in Berlin
Gitta: It really started with a Henley. We found it at a flea market in Berlin—this old, beautiful piece with little details we’d never seen before. The fabric felt different. It didn’t seem like anything made today. Peter took one look and said, “This is special.”
So we started researching. Eventually, we discovered it came from a nearly 100-year-old production site in southwest Germany. Not only that, but it had been made on loopwheel machines—these massive, finicky, pre-war knitting giants that barely exist anymore.
Betting everything
Peter: We traveled to the original factory, and by some miracle, the old loopwheelers were still there. Not working—but there. So we said, “Let’s do it.”
Gitta: That’s when I asked him, very casually over coffee, “How exactly are we going to pay for all this?” He looked at me and said, “Simple—we sell the apartment.”
So we did. We sold our home. Took the money. Put it into getting the machines working, developing the product, learning how to build something from scratch.
Peter: We launched the first collection in January 2011—Bread & Butter in Berlin, then Capsule in Paris and New York. No business plan. No five-year roadmap. Just two people trying to make something they believed in.
From freelance to full-time
Gitta: Both of us had worked in fashion for a long time. We studied design, freelanced for other brands, helped with logos, marketing, strategy—even brand names. For nearly 20 years we helped others build their vision. And of course, we always dreamed of doing our own thing one day.
Peter: But making a t-shirt is very different from running 100-year-old machines. We didn’t know how to use them. Still don’t, to be honest. That’s why we brought in retired craftspeople—people who still had the knowledge, the muscle memory, the ear for the machine’s rhythm. You don’t program these things. You feel them. You hear when they’re right.
The Bear effect
Clayton: At some point, everything shifted—and suddenly a new generation found you.
Gitta: Yes. It was surreal. One morning we came into the office, and our website was down. We thought it was an IT issue. But our team said, “No—it’s not broken. It crashed because of traffic.”
Turns out The Bear had dropped, and Jeremy Allen White was wearing one of our tees. People were obsessed with figuring out where it was from. When the stylist finally said “Merz b. Schwanen,” our shop exploded. Everything sold out overnight.
Peter: That wasn’t a campaign. It wasn’t a product placement. It just happened. And we’re so grateful. Because people weren’t just interested in the tee—they wanted to know the story behind it.
From Canal Street to full circle
Gitta: That moment is one reason we opened our store in New York. We kept hearing from customers in the U.S. who wanted to touch and feel the fabrics. You can’t do that over email.
We were visiting New York for the MAN/WOMAN show and met up with our friend Andrew from Knickerbocker. His store on Canal Street had a space next door, and he offered to connect us with the landlord. Two hours later, we had a meeting. A few months later, we had a store.
Peter: The funny thing? When we were young students, we once walked down Canal Street and said, “Wouldn’t it be amazing to have our own shop here one day?” And then we forgot about it. Until it happened. Totally full circle.
Family and future
Clayton: It’s a beautiful arc. So now that the brand has grown, what’s next?
Gitta: We want to grow in the U.S.—slowly, intentionally. Maybe more stores. Our son and son-in-law just moved to the States, and our son helps run the New York shop now. So it feels like the right time.
Peter: We’re also growing our wholesale in the U.S. We have an amazing team there, and the energy feels strong. But we’re not trying to build something massive. We want to stay true to the heart of what made this special in the first place.
Clayton: It’s powerful—building something together, through all the ups and downs.
Gitta: Yes. It hasn’t always been easy. But we wouldn’t change a thing. You see the finished product, but no one sees the nights, the stress, the risks. But if it’s heart-driven, it’s worth it.