Founded by Laura Sänger, La Katz offers the most elegant silk pieces that will elevate your everyday dressing.
Apart from the collection are contemporary-meets-classic silhouettes from blouses, blazers, and dresses to coats and sweet accessories in the form of the most luxe of hair ties. There are classic hues of emerald, vibrant red, dark blue, and that’s set against pale lilac, white, and mellow yellow right in time for spring dressing.
At the very heart of the brand is silk, and this is teamed with acute attention to detail and quality to provide pieces that are utterly timeless and that you’ll love forever. We are very lucky to have Laura Sänger share her brand story with us.
What inspired you to start your own company?
The desire for beauty and meaningfulness. With La Katz, I create aesthetics through timeless design and at the same time rethink fashion by being the first silk label in the world that really produces sustainably. The starting point for this is skin-friendliness. This means that we only manufacture clothing that meets biological criteria, and we completely do without pollutants and plastic. So the inspiration was the vision of doing something better and creating beautiful things at the same time.
Which was the first piece you designed?
The first piece was the silk coat. Still the La Katz signature piece. It is reminiscent of the look of old Hollywood film divas, elegant and somewhat opulent – but at the same time absolutely suitable for everyday use, for example, by wearing it as a dress or with jeans and a shirt. Most silk coats either have a kimono-like cut with wide sleeves or are full of prints. I dreamed of a classic cut, similar to a trench coat, and selecting the most beautiful colors. That is why the coat is also available in seven different colors.
How would you sum up the signature aesthetic of your label?
Colorful elegance.
What is it about silk that you love?
Silk is still the ultimate expression of elegance. It is one of the highest quality and most expensive natural materials, plus our silk is also certified organic silk. This means that we do not refine it with additional chemicals, and our silk can develop its natural effect in this way. Silk supports healthy skin. Unlike cotton or synthetic materials like polyester, silk does not remove moisture from the skin. On the contrary, it hydrates it. Silk is the only textile with an anti-aging and lifting effect.
Do you have a favorite piece from the current collection?
I love the oversized silk blouse. It is the perfect counterpart to our silk dress or coat when you stand in front of the wardrobe in the morning and don’t have a head for a chic or elaborate look. Looks especially good with jeans and boots.
What is your 5-year plan?
After the initial phase as a pure online boutique, the next step will be retail. And that worldwide. As a luxury brand, in particular, it is important that customers can experience the products. Silk also lives very much from its feel. This will be the next big milestone. In four years at the latest, I would like to have my own boutiques. Even more important, however, is that La Katz should be perceived as a disrupter in the luxury industry: Most brands sell a promise of quality but use the same materials as fast fashion companies. La Katz stands for a new kind of quality and, therefore, a new kind of luxury.
What would be your advice to any budding designers?
Don’t underestimate the complexity of a fashion label. The best design is worthless if you don’t know how to communicate. Building a brand identity, your own visual language. Especially at the beginning, you are almost exclusively an entrepreneur and have to calculate and make constant decisions from production, logistics, sales, marketing, accounting, etc. It’s a lot and requires a lot of specialist knowledge.
A businesswoman told me shortly before the launch of La Katz: be patient. As abstract as it sounded at the moment, I can only agree with her. The fashion industry takes a long time to adopt new brands. Be patient and love what you do.
