I have been I have been a customer of format, a beautiful little boutique for women of a certain a certain age. I have always received good service and good advice and and you are allowed to leave without having bought anything. I therefore wanted I wanted to know the background to the philosophy of store owner Pia Grüninger and and asked her to talk to me and answer my questions.

After many years of working in the fashion industry, Pia Grüninger took the plunge into self-employment in 2009 at the age of 49! What what courage! And yet: if you look at her current business model, it is understandable that she dared to take this step.

Pia Grüninger is committed to socially responsible and ecological fashion. What exactly does that mean?

She buys nothing, absolutely nothing, from Asia. She designs the patterns herself and selects the fabrics according to ecological criteria. Her dresses are often made of silk or cashmere, and the suppliers are based in Europe (Germany, Italy and Belgium). Mrs. Grüninger works with four different manufacturers in northern Italy and visits them unannounced. It is important to her that the workers in these workers in these factories receive a decent wage. Pia Grüninger also works Grüninger also works with two tailors from the canton of Basel-Landschaft. Only small quantities are produced per only small quantities are produced per model.

Our conversation also revolved around the fashion chains, which employ predominantly very young women in sales, at relatively poor monthly monthly wages and with little prospect of building up a decent pension fund for old age. for old age. Cheap prices for the fashion of the large corporations are not not only because of the low wages paid to employees, but also because production takes place in Asia. production in Asia. Sometimes under unspeakable conditions. Among other things the keyword child labor.

Mrs. Grüninger explains that she feels that she is getting more tired than before. From design to fabric purchasing, from unpacking to bookkeeping, As a generalist, she does almost everything on her own. That's why she is glad to have her her two employees, whom she can trust completely. From the very beginning Pia Grüninger has employed two part-time women to replace her. One of the women is already of AHV age, and the other will be soon. A "retirement" of the employees in the strict sense is out of the question for Ms. Grüninger. out of the question. She says she relies on a certain level of maturity on the part of the experience and sensitivity in dealing with customers, on reliability and also on enjoying her work. reliability and enjoyment of the work. The clientele of format customers range in age from 40 to 80. Mrs. Grüninger laughs and says: "I make fashion for grown-up women!". And why do without the expertise and and many years of professional experience just because they are on AHV? receive?

However, if one of the ladies wants to give up her part-time job would like to give up her part-time job, Pia Grüninger's first option would be to look at seniors@work and certainly not look at the university website, which students use to look for part-time jobs. and students are looking for part-time jobs. Nothing against students! But for a middle-aged clientele, a trained saleswoman with a lot of experience is more sustainable.

Incidentally, Ms. Grüninger tells me that she is already familiar with the seniors@work website and is pleased to see its increasing success in placing senior citizens. senior citizens.

The time with Pia Grüninger was extremely interesting. As an employer, she sets an example in my opinion, she sets an example by seeing her employees as people and not as people and not as "commodities" who are put on the sidelines when they reach AHV age. siding when they reach retirement age.

Thank you very much Thank you, Ms. Grüninger, for the frank discussion.