5 May 2022

Insights into 150 years fashion business in Austria: Former purveyor to the imperial and royal court Ittner with focus on day and night wear, swimwear, stockings and socks looks back in time and into the future

With a look at the 150-years history of the Ittner store located at the boutique boulevard Spiegelgasse in the Inner City of Vienna, the curtain rises on a piece of Austrian fashion history about the development of retail trade during the Habsburg monarchy, the growing importance of sports in fashion due tourism and about today's fashion business which makes the curated ranges selected with focus on sustainability additionally accessible via digital technologies.

Ittner was founded by Raimund Ittner in 1872 at the same address where the store is led today by the family in the fourth and fifth generation. In the early 1900s, Raimund ittner imported silk stockings from Great Britain and became a specialist for women's stockings. He opened a second store at the Kärntner Strasse where knitwear was sold. In 1917, ittner became purveyor to the imperial and royal court. The business was further extended in the 1920s by stores at the spa and sport resorts Semmering and Karlsbad where the range was expanded by swimwear and later by sportswear.

Today, the youngest family member active at the Ittner business Stefanie Michalek curates the range of day and night wear, stockings, socks and swimwear by brands like Hanro, Feraud, Falke or the recently to the Ittner range added German sustainable swimwear brand MYMARINI with pieces created from the love for nature, the sea and surfing. Stefanie Michalek brings fresh air also to the store's marketing and shop activities at ittner.at.

"I particularly enjoy the further development of our range. It is important to me to show that sustainability has a long tradition with us. The online shop and social media offer many opportunities to address a new generation of customers and convince them of us," says Stefanie Michalek (citation translated from German by Fashion.at).

Images, from left: Stefanie Michalek from the family led retail store Ittner at Spiegelgasse 2 in the 1st district of Vienna. Right: View into the Ittner store. Photos: © Elisabeth Lechner, www.elisabethlechner.at, @elisabethlechner.