Martina Feer - Fashion yourself

For Martina Feer, everything seemed crystal clear: She wanted her own fashion label. With collections designed in-house, growing popularity and steadily increasing quantities. The Lucerne-based designer had already seen first-hand how to make this type of vision come true: at the Swiss label Elfe11, her first workplace after her fashion design studies.

“My time at Elfe11 was fantastic for me. I gained deep insight into all the practical aspects: from designing the clothes, to creating patterns and purchasing fabrics, to setting up production.”

So Martina Feer was almost a seasoned pro when she launched her own first label in 2014. “FeerFourSeasons” offered seasonal clothing and accessories. As she gained experience, her courage grew. In 2016, Feer ignited the next stage: She found a production partner in the Netherlands and changed her brand name to “Martina Feer”. The philosophy: simple, beautiful “favourite clothes” for everyday life. 

The brand and the products were all set – now she only needed to earn money with them. With this goal in mind, Martina Feer contacted Creative Hub and finally signed up for Creative Link coaching.

“At first, I just wanted to find out how to get my company on track financially. But my coach, fashion consultant Arinda Bouman, sensed that there was more to clarify: Is this really what I want, a constantly growing company with more and more investments and responsibility? During the very first coaching session, I realised that I wanted to do more than ‘only’ push new collections onto the market.”

And it was Arinda Bouman who, in the course of the coaching, encouraged Martina Feer to consider fashion workshops: opportunities for women and men to revive their discarded clothes – in the spirit of conserving resources and living sustainably. Feer: “No old-fashioned sewing classes, but young, creative events.”

As a trained primary school teacher, transmitting knowledge came naturally to Feer. And combining that with her great passion, sustainable fashion – jackpot! Together with her coach, Martina Feer developed a three-pillar approach consisting of collections, services, and workshops.

At the end of 2018, she offered her first events – and the response has been overwhelming ever since. Feer explains: “The workshops meet the great need of many people to be more conscious and sustainable in terms of their clothing. The participants are enthusiastic and recommend me to others, which is of course fantastic.”

But word of mouth alone is insufficient – Martina Feer knows that. That’s why she is currently investing heavily in marketing, including Facebook and Instagram. In addition, Feer has made contact with the international network “Fashion Revolution”, which supports eco-conscious, people-friendly fashion – just like she does. 

Feer summarises: “Everything is still under construction, and nobody knows whether I will ultimately be successful with it. But I’m 200% behind it, and that feels good.”

We keep our fingers crossed that this feeling will last for a long time to come.