Zusammenland – Strength through diversity

As an international company, we at Talbot Runhof support the #Zusammenland campaign, an initiative that was launched by the leading German media titles Handelsblatt, WirtschaftsWoche, Die Zeit, Ströer, Tagesspiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

 Listening to the revelations of a meeting where people openly fantasized about the expulsion of millions of citizens and refugees from Germany, we were all shocked to the core, and deeply affected in ways beyond our comprehension. 

 t’s only been five years since we were sitting in the bright sunshine at Bellevue di Monaco, a social project in our neighborhood where refugees can live, get help with bureaucratic matters and other issues, and enjoy all kinds of recreational activities. This was a project that was close to our hearts. We really wanted to work with them, and their sewing studio was a natural fit. Two refugee women, both trained seamstresses, quickly showed interest in making elaborate patchwork pieces for us using leftover fabric. After the traumatic experiences of fleeing their country, this was their first step back to normalcy and self-sufficiency.

presentation of the talbot runhof x bellevue couture capsule collection in munich

That’s how – under the patronage of Claudia Roth, Federal Minister for Art and Culture – the Talbot Runhof + Bellevue Couture collection was born, along with another exciting collaboration for Munich’s Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, the city’s state theater. Here, the beautiful patchworks were incorporated into our costume designs for the ballet production Giselle. The collaboration between Talbot Runhof and Bellevue Couture was finally able to provide permanent employment to the two seamstresses Mariam Monga and Sediqe Musawi in September 2021. Now, all the optimism and hope for a peaceful coexistence that we felt after these wonderful projects seem to have been extinguished in the wake of the terrible revelations of the last few weeks.

The costumes for the ballet production “Giselle” at Munich's Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz were also created in cooperation with Bellevue Couture (photo: Marie-Laure Briane)

Years ago, we were recognized during Paris Fashion Week for sending one of the most inclusive model casts down the runway. An almost questionable award, since we hadn’t even ‘consciously’ decided to do it. After all, diversity, variety and inclusion were – and continue to be – a very simple and natural part of life at Talbot Runhof. One of our designers, Johnny Talbot, is from the USA and has found his home in Germany. He has always appreciated Germany for its openness. Other colleagues of ours come from China, Romania, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Italy, Switzerland, Iran, and many other countries around the world. And in all of these countries, we have loyal customers with whom we have developed professional relationships and often close friendships.
In our company, people born in Germany work with people with immigrant backgrounds, heterosexuals work with queer people, people with disabilities work with people without disabilities, older people work with younger people – people work with people... The structure of the company just evolved naturally like that because it has never mattered to any of us where someone comes from, who loves whom, or what age they are. There is no place in our company for racial discrimination or intolerance. 

 We hope that our country will continue to be the open-minded, peaceful, reasonable, democratic, diverse, and colorful country that inspired Johnny to move to Munich over 30 years ago and never leave. Because at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is a strong, diverse society living together in Zusammenland!