Phew, we fell into a little hibernation after the Christmas markets.
What a wonderful time! We are still buzzing from the wonderful Christmas season and the wonderful Christmas markets. Now we're starting the new year with fresh energy!
What are our plans for 2025?
After the Christmas markets, the last active task of the respective stall managers is to bring all the goods and equipment from the stalls to Aachen. There, everything is stored in the warehouse in Wirichsbongardstraße in our shop and/or in the warehouse in Moltkestraße. The goods are then ready for the annual stocktaking. This is carried out by seven hard-working employees in one day. At the same time, the inventory is also carried out in the Berlin pop-up store. Experience helps us here and we have developed routines that help us to maintain a good overview.
We also calculate the repeat orders directly after the Christmas markets and shortly before Christmas. Even though we try very hard to estimate the right quantities, you like some sock colours so much that we urgently need to reorder them. We have sent our orders on their way and in spring our shelves will be completely filled again, so that all goods should be available for you by autumn 🐫🐑🐃. As you read in our last article, our bulk order for the coming winter peak season will be placed in April/May.
What else has happened in the last few weeks after Christmas?
We attended Innatex for the first time in mid-January! Innatex near Frankfurt am Main is the largest trade and order fair for sustainable and fairly produced textiles and offers a unique sales and communication platform in this sector. We presented our products there for three days and met many new potential sales partners. Of course, our first time at a trade fair was not without its rookie mistakes. Malte had unfortunately forgotten to book the trade fair stand lighting package and so a trip to IKEA was needed to restore sufficient lighting and cosy vibes. However, the result was surprisingly cosy and we stood out quite well with our self-installed IKEA lamps. Visitors to the trade fair came up to us and were impressed by our products (and the lighting concept 😉). This is not the only reason why there will be some new shops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland where you can find steppenstrolch products. Am Montag reisten wir also mit vielen neuen Vorbestellungen für die kommende Wintersaison im Gepäck ab.
Wer von euch ebenfalls die Idee hat, dass unsere Produkte auch in eurem Lieblingsladen angeboten werden sollten, kann sich gerne an den Lieblingsladen wenden oder send us a message directly.
And finally, we would like to introduce you to our new products:
After many requests and a long period of planning, we finally have camel wool clothing for the little ones!
Fluffy trousers, jumpers, but also baby blankets and onesies should keep your children cosy and warm from now on.
Outlook: In March, we'll finally be travelling to Mongolia again! So next time we'll have news from our team around Malte and Lennart from the least populated country in the world. We will be visiting our producers in Ulaanbaatar and travelling in a small group to the very west of Mongolia. This is where the Gobi Biosphere Reserve Gobi-B is located in the southern Altai, a UNESCO nature reserve that is home not only to wild horses, wild donkeys and camels, but also to the nomadic families who produce the wool for our children's clothing and sell it as a cooperative.
If you don't want to miss our Mongolia trip, you should definitely follow us on Instagram or Tiktok .
Start of the New Year: From inventory to Innatex to Mongolia.