Don’t blame yourself if you’ve never heard of Credible Crew. This German brand has stayed out of the internet realm purposefully. That’s why if you google Credible Crew, you’ll see there’s little – a website that says ‘Coming Soon’ – or nothing to find about the brand. It’s a mystery.
Patrick Backhaus, the brains behind CC, is a friendly, humble man who prefers not to brag about what they do. And there’s a good reason for that. Patrick is more about doing than saying. The abrasive marketing favoured by other brands, he contends, is fast food to CC’s fine dining. He knows these strategies are successful but he prefers to play underground, thus sticking to a low profile.
Still, we convinced him to sit down with us for an interview, so we can tell his story, as these are the type of growing brands we love to support at Delogue.
Patrick has been working in the garment industry since 1996 –when he was 19– and things in the industry are quite different now.
During his career, Patrick worked in Bangladesh for two years with his partner Ani, a garment technician and a tailor, who is CC’s right hand.
Since 2012 they’ve been back in Germany, and that’s where they founded CC, but they haven’t lost touch with Bangladesh, and that’s where they produce 95% of their products.
“Bangladesh does not have a great image in the fashion world due to various incidents, but our company couldn’t be further away from mass production, so it’s different. It is our home and we have great people making our products at our factory,” says Patrick.
“After living there for two years, our goal is to give the people something back, for example by providing training and social activities such as picnics – a traditional activity for Bangladeshis.”
Patrick feels strongly about transparency and likes to call his factory an “open factory”. He welcomes customers to visit it and is totally transparent about its activities, as his goal is to eliminate the cliches that exist about producing garments in Bangladesh.
“We have 150 people working at our factory, which by Bangladesh standards is very little. Factories usually have over 2000. But that doesn’t prevent us from producing 100.000 pieces of a garment in a month for example.”
Plus, as locals of Bangladesh, they have a network who they support themselves if they suddenly have bigger orders.
Credible Crew also produces very small custom-made garments that only require 100 pieces – they work flexibly and are not interested in the “discount business”.
“We do high-quality products with reasonable prices at a European-minded factory that knows we need to meet certain parameters,” explains Patrick.
CC work with different types of customers and are able to produce a range of products; they do not shy away from experimenting with new materials or styles. They’ve worked with brands like Fila and Alpha industries, several car-tuning brands and German hip-hop musicians – and also with our recently-acquired customer Live Fast Die Young.
Patrick has worked on both sides of the industry, as a buyer and as a manufacturer, so he is very proactive with his customers. And he always keeps up with trends by attending fairs for fabrics, designs, embroideries and trims, so he can offer new ideas to CC’s current customers.
“Ani was the one that found Delogue. I wasn’t too sure at the beginning, but now I am very happy with the decision."
CC are currently starting to onboard their staff at the Bangladesh factory to incorporate Delogue in all ends of the production chain.