[:de]This is the story of virblatt. The story of what became our business. The story of our life and what it became the past couple of years….

As many others, we wanted to see the world, so we figured Asia would be a good start. As four young travelers, we did what many other travelers do: We booked a flight to Bangkok – the gateway to Asia. To make it really exciting for us – and our parents – we didn´t book anything else in advance. And it turned out to be a good idea. When spending days in Bangkok you meet the greatest variety of travelers that you can think of. All of them have their story to tell. And of course, they also share their routes, so you can finally make up your mind where you to spend your holidays. So we ended up passing some nights in busses and night trains (saving time and money for a night in a real bed in a bungalow) to see nice beaches, eat every kind of food the food stalls have to offer, visit national parks, viewpoints, waterfalls, elephants, snake shows, monkey shows, crocodile shows – there are shows for nearly everything… and yes we saw that one as well.

Meanwhile we filled up our backpack with cheap clothes that would last until our next journey. And there was one thing no traveler seemed to miss: the most comfortable clothing ever. Drop crotch pants made their way into our lives.

Until this point nothing differs from a journey to Thailand that many tourists experience year by year. But we returned home with an idea that would change our lives in the long run. While we were studying and working, we bought some more harem pants with the plan to sell them in the internet.

We did everything for the first time: We shipped a box of harem pants to Germany, we imported them, we counted and categorized them, we made photos and created offers for them. We started with less than 100 pants that we bought in a shop in one of the big shopping malls in Bangkok putting them in ebay auctions to see what people would be willing to spend on them. And it worked… we reinvested everything to buy new pants to set up a small Online Shop to create the brand bonzaai. We did this for a very long time, working for fun and not for money.

While our brand was growing we were always curious about one thing: Where do our products come from? So travelling soon became a mission. We met the people behind our clothes: We met Thai families that set up tailoring facilities in their backyards and Asian hill tribes in remote areas, that are known for the weavings and embroideries used for their traditional clothing. Meeting the people behind our products also gave us the chance to design and create our own styles combining alternative clothes with traditional elements creating a unique style.

We not just expanded our sales of harem pants but also our travel radius. Actually, we only wanted to go trekking in the mountains to get away from the business life we created around us – not to mention that we were still caught up in studying and working to earn our livings (our own business was still exclusively our passion). Nepal seemed like the perfect place to get out of the fast-moving daily business with its great Himalayan mountain ranges. And it turned out to be a perfect place for alternative clothes as well. Suddenly we found ourselves in the Nepalese business world: faster, louder and dirtier than in Thailand. After getting to know the Nepalese tailors – we also wanted to know where the products in the streets of Kathmandu come from – we were offered Nepalese hospitality when we were invited to our new friend’s home for dinner.

Since our suppliers became more international, we figured we can do the same. We expanded our sales internationally and created a new brand: virblatt. virblatt is for people like us. People with an alternative lifestyle. People that care where their products come from. Do you want to know where your product comes from?

virblatt – think about it.[:nl]Dit is het verhaal van virblatt. Het verhaal over hoe onze business is ontstaan. Het verhaal over ons leven en wat het de afgelopen jaren is geworden…

Als zoveel anderen wilden we de wereld zien, dus dachten we dat Azië een goed begin zou zijn. Als vier jonge reizigers deden we wat veel andere reizigers ook doen: we boekten een vlucht naar Bangkok – de toegangspoort tot Azië. Om het echt spannend voor onszelf te maken – en trouwens ook voor onze ouders – hadden we van tevoren verder niets geboekt. En dat bleek een goed idee te zijn. Wanneer je dagen in Bangkok doorbrengt, ontmoet je de grootste verscheidenheid aan reizigers, die je je kunt bedenken.

Ze hebben allemaal hun eigen verhaal te vertellen en natuurlijk delen ze ook hun routes, zodat je eindelijk kunt bedenken waar je je vakantie wilt gaan doorbrengen. Dus brachten we enkele nachten door in bussen en nachttreinen (om tijd en geld te besparen voor een nacht in een echt bed in een bungalow) om mooie stranden te zien, om het lekkere eten te eten, dat de vele eetstalletjes te bieden hebben, een bezoek te brengen aan nationale parken, uitkijkpunten, watervallen, olifanten, slangenshows, apenshows, krokodillenshows – er is voor bijna alles een show… en ja, die hebben we ook gezien.

Ondertussen hadden we onze rugzak gevuld met goedkope kleding, die de hele reis met ons mee zou gaan. En er was één ding waar geen reiziger omheen kon: het meest comfortabele kledingstuk ooit. De harembroek werd in ons leven geïntroduceerd.

Tot nu toe verschilt onze reis bijna niets met een reis naar Thailand, die veel toeristen jaarlijks ervaren. Maar we kwamen terug met een idee, dat ons leven op de lange termijn echt zou veranderen. Terwijl we studeerden en werkten, kochten we nog wat meer harembroeken met het plan om ze op het internet te gaan verkopen.

We hebben alles voor het eerst gedaan: we verzonden een doos met harembroeken naar Duitsland, we hebben ze ingevoerd, we hebben ze geteld en gecategoriseerd en we hebben foto’s en aanbiedingen voor hen gemaakt. We begonnen met minder dan 100 broeken, die we in een winkel in één van de grote winkelcentra in Bangkok kochten en op eBay zetten, om te zien hoeveel mensen bereid waren om hieraan te besteden. En het werkte… we herinvesterden alles om nieuwe broeken te kopen en om een kleine online winkel op te zetten om het merk bonzaai te creëren. We hebben dat heel lang voor ons plezier gedaan en niet zozeer voor het geld.

Terwijl ons merk groeide, waren we altijd naar één ding zeer nieuwsgierig: waar komen onze producten eigenlijk vandaan? Zo ontstond er al snel een missie. We ontmoetten de mensen achter onze kleren: we hebben Thaise families ontmoet, die in hun achtertuin naaimachines hebben staan en Aziatische bergstammen in afgelegen gebieden, die bekend staan om hun stoffen en borduurwerk, die voor hun traditionele kleding wordt gebruikt. Het ontmoeten van de mensen achter onze producten gaf ons ook de kans om onze eigen stijlen te creëren en een lijn te ontwerpen, die alternatieve kleding combineert met traditionele elementen voor een unieke stijl.

We hebben niet alleen onze verkoop van harembroeken maar ook onze reisradius uitgebreid. Eigenlijk wilden we alleen in de bergen gaan rondtrekken om ons even los te maken van het bedrijfsleven, dat we rondom ons hadden gecreëerd en om ons even te ontspannen, omdat we nog steeds studeerden en werkten om ons geld te kunnen verdienen (ons eigen bedrijf was nog steeds uitsluitend onze passie). Nepal leek met zijn geweldige Himalaya-gebergte de perfecte plek om even aan het snelle dagelijkse leven te ontsnappen. En het bleek ook een perfecte plek voor alternatieve kleding te zijn. Plotseling bevonden we ons in de Nepalese zakenwereld, die nog sneller, luider en smeriger was dan die in Thailand. Nadat we de Nepalese kleermakers leerden kennen, wilden we ook weten waar de producten in de straten van Kathmandu vandaan komen. We raakten met de Nepalese gastvrijheid in aanraking, toen we werden uitgenodigd voor het avondeten in het huis van onze nieuwe vriend.

Aangezien onze leveranciers internationaal werden, dachten we dat we hetzelfde konden doen. Wij hebben onze verkoop ook internationaal uitgebreid en een nieuw merk opgericht: virblatt. Virblatt is voor mensen zoals wij. Mensen met een alternatieve levensstijl. Mensen die zich zorgen maken over waar hun producten vandaan komen. Wil jij weten waar jouw product vandaan komt?

virblatt – Denk erover na.[:en]This is the story of virblatt. The story of what became our business. The story of our life and what it became the past couple of years….

As many others, we wanted to see the world, so we figured Asia would be a good start. As four young travelers, we did what many other travelers do: We booked a flight to Bangkok – the gateway to Asia. To make it really exciting for us – and our parents – we didn´t book anything else in advance. And it turned out to be a good idea. When spending days in Bangkok you meet the greatest variety of travelers that you can think of. All of them have their story to tell. And of course, they also share their routes, so you can finally make up your mind where you to spend your holidays. So we ended up passing some nights in busses and night trains (saving time and money for a night in a real bed in a bungalow) to see nice beaches, eat every kind of food the food stalls have to offer, visit national parks, viewpoints, waterfalls, elephants, snake shows, monkey shows, crocodile shows – there are shows for nearly everything… and yes we saw that one as well.

Meanwhile we filled up our backpack with cheap clothes that would last until our next journey. And there was one thing no traveler seemed to miss: the most comfortable clothing ever. Drop crotch pants made their way into our lives.

Until this point nothing differs from a journey to Thailand that many tourists experience year by year. But we returned home with an idea that would change our lives in the long run. While we were studying and working, we bought some more harem pants with the plan to sell them in the internet.

We did everything for the first time: We shipped a box of harem pants to Germany, we imported them, we counted and categorized them, we made photos and created offers for them. We started with less than 100 pants that we bought in a shop in one of the big shopping malls in Bangkok putting them in ebay auctions to see what people would be willing to spend on them. And it worked… we reinvested everything to buy new pants to set up a small Online Shop to create the brand bonzaai. We did this for a very long time, working for fun and not for money.

While our brand was growing we were always curious about one thing: Where do our products come from? So travelling soon became a mission. We met the people behind our clothes: We met Thai families that set up tailoring facilities in their backyards and Asian hill tribes in remote areas, that are known for the weavings and embroideries used for their traditional clothing. Meeting the people behind our products also gave us the chance to design and create our own styles combining alternative clothes with traditional elements creating a unique style.

We not just expanded our sales of harem pants but also our travel radius. Actually, we only wanted to go trekking in the mountains to get away from the business life we created around us – not to mention that we were still caught up in studying and working to earn our livings (our own business was still exclusively our passion). Nepal seemed like the perfect place to get out of the fast-moving daily business with its great Himalayan mountain ranges. And it turned out to be a perfect place for alternative clothes as well. Suddenly we found ourselves in the Nepalese business world: faster, louder and dirtier than in Thailand. After getting to know the Nepalese tailors – we also wanted to know where the products in the streets of Kathmandu come from – we were offered Nepalese hospitality when we were invited to our new friend’s home for dinner.

Since our suppliers became more international, we figured we can do the same. We expanded our sales internationally and created a new brand: virblatt. virblatt is for people like us. People with an alternative lifestyle. People that care where their products come from. Do you want to know where your product comes from?

virblatt – think about it.[:fr]C’est l’histoire de virblatt. L’histoire de ce qui est devenu notre affaire. L’histoire de notre vie et ce qu’elle est devenue au cours des dernières années …

Comme beaucoup d’autres, nous voulions voir le monde, alors nous pensions que l’Asie serait un bon début. Comme quatre jeunes voyageurs, nous avons fait ce que beaucoup d’autres voyageurs font : nous avons réservé un vol vers Bangkok – la porte d’entrée vers l’Asie. Pour le rendre très excitant pour nous – et nos parents – nous n’avons pas réservé d’autres voyages à l’avance. Et cela s’est avéré d’être une bonne idée. Lorsque vous passez des jours à Bangkok, vous rencontrez la plus grande variété de voyageurs que vous pouvez imaginer. Tous ont leur histoire à raconter. Et bien sûr, ils partagent également leurs itinéraires, afin que vous puissiez enfin décider où passer vos vacances. Nous avons fini par passer quelques nuits dans les bus et les trains de nuit (économiser du temps et de l’argent pour une nuit dans un vrai lit dans un bungalow) pour voir de belles plages, manger tous les types de nourriture que les stands de nourriture ont à offrir, visiter les parcs nationaux, les points de vue, les cascades, les éléphants, les spectacles de serpents, les spectacles de singes, les spectacles de crocodiles – il y a des spectacles pour presque tout … et oui, nous l’avons vu aussi.

Pendant ce temps, nous avons rempli notre sac à dos avec des vêtements bon marché qui dureront jusqu’à notre prochain voyage. Et il y avait une chose à laquelle aucun voyageur ne semblait manquer : les vêtements les plus confortables du monde. Les pantalons à l’entrejambe bas ont fait leur chemin dans nos vies.

Jusqu’à ce point, rien ne diffère d’un voyage en Thaïlande de ce que beaucoup de touristes vivent année après année. Mais nous sommes rentrés à la maison avec une idée qui changerait notre vie à long terme. Pendant que nous étudions et travaillions, nous avons acheté un peu plus de pantalons sarouel avec le projet de les vendre sur Internet.

Nous avons tout fait pour la première fois : nous avons expédié une boîte de pantalons sarouel en Allemagne, nous les avons importés, nous les avons comptés et catégorisés, nous avons fait des photos et créé des offres pour eux. Nous avons commencé avec moins de 100 pantalons que nous avons achetés dans un magasin dans l’un des grands centres commerciaux de Bangkok, les mettant dans les enchères eBay pour voir ce que les gens seraient prêts à dépenser pour eux. Et cela a fonctionné … nous avons réinvesti tout pour acheter de nouveaux pantalons pour mettre en place une petite boutique en ligne pour créer la marque bonzaai. Nous l’avons fait pendant très longtemps, travaillant pour le plaisir et pas pour de l’argent.

Alors que notre marque prospérait, nous nous posions toujours la question : d’où viennent nos produits ? Ainsi, les voyages se sont rapidement transformés en mission. Nous avons rencontré les gens qui produisent nos vêtements : nous avons rencontré des familles thaïlandaises qui ont mis en place des installations de couture dans leurs arrière cours et les tribus asiatiques des montagnes dans des régions éloignées, connues pour les tissages et les broderies utilisés pour leurs vêtements traditionnels. Nous avons rencontré les personnes derrière nos produits, ce qui nous a également donné l’occasion de concevoir et créer nos propres designs combinant des vêtements ethniques avec des éléments traditionnels pour en faire un style unique.

Nous n’avons pas seulement élargi nos ventes de sarouels, mais aussi notre rayon de déplacement. En fait, nous voulions seulement faire du trekking dans les montagnes pour nous éloigner de la vie professionnelle que nous avons créée autour de nous – sans oublier que nous étions encore pris dans l’étude et le travail pour gagner notre vie (notre entreprise était encore exclusivement notre passion). Le Népal a semblé être l’endroit idéal pour sortir de l’activité quotidienne rapide avec ses grandes chaînes de montagnes himalayennes. Et il s’est avéré aussi être un endroit parfait pour les vêtements originaux et ethniques. Soudain, nous nous sommes retrouvés dans le monde des affaires népalaises : plus rapide, plus fort et plus sale qu’en Thaïlande. Après avoir appris à connaître les tailleurs népalais – nous voulions également savoir d’où proviennent les produits dans les rues de Katmandou – on nous a offert l’hospitalité népalaise quand nous avons été invités à la maison de notre nouvel ami pour le dîner.

Comme nos fournisseurs sont devenus plus internationaux, nous avons pensé que nous pouvions faire de même. Nous avons élargi nos ventes à l’international et créé une nouvelle marque : virblatt. virblatt est destinée à des gens comme nous. A des personnes ayant un style de vie alternatif. Les gens qui se soucient de l’origine de leurs produits. Voulez-vous savoir d’où provient votre produit ?

virblatt. Penses-y.[:it]Questa è la storia di virblatt. La storia di cosa è diventato il nostro business. La storia della nostra vita e cosa sono stati per noi gli ultimi anni…

Come molti altri, noi volevamo vedere il mondo e decidemmo di partire dall’Asia. Quattro giovani viaggiatori che fecero come molti altri fanno, comprammo il biglietto per bangkok – porta d’accesso per l’Asia. Per rendere il viaggio più eccitante – e le nostre famiglie – non prenotammo niente in anticipo. Ed alla fine fù proprio un’ottima idea. Quando passi alcuni giorni a Bangkok incontri la più grande varietà di viaggiatori che nemmeno t’immagini. Ognuno di loro ha la propria storia da raccontare. In più condividono la propria strada, e tu riesci a metter insieme le idee e decidere dove passare le vacanze. Finimmo così per trascorrere diverse notti sugli autobus e sui treni notturni (salvando tempo e soldi per una notte in un letto in un bungalow) per vedere le spiaggie, mangiare ogni tipo di cibo che si puo’ trovare sulle bancarelle, per visitare i parchi nazionali, punti panoramici, cascate, elefanti e spettacoli con serpenti, spettacoli con scimmie, spettacoli con coccodrilli – ci sono spettacoli per tutto circa..e si, abiamo visto anche quello li.

Nel frattempo abbiamo riempito i nostri zaini con vestiti da poco che sarebbero durati fino al viaggio successivo. E c’era una cosa che sembrava tutti i viaggiatori avessero: i più comodi dei vestiti mai utilizzati. Pantaloni cavallo basso che entrarono nelle nostre vite.

Fino a questo punto nulla di diverso da un qualsiasi viaggio in Thailandia che molti turisti fanno ogni anno. Ma noi tornammo a casa con un’idea che avrebbe potuto cambiarci la vita per lungo tempo. Mentre studiavamo e lavoravamo, comprammo altri pantaloni alla turca con l’intenzione di venderli su internet.

Per la prima volta dovemmo fare tutto: Spedimmo un pacco di pantaloni alla turca in Germania, li importammo, li contammo e li dividemmo in categorie, fotografammo i prodotti e creammo delle offerte per questi. Iniziammo con meno di 100 pantaloni che comprammo presso un negozio di un grande centro commerciale a Bangkok, mettendoli su E-bay, volevamo vedere quanto la gente avrebbe pagato per averli. Funziono’…reinvestimmo i soldi guadagnati per aprire un piccolo negozio on-line e creammo il marchio bonzaai. Questo lo fecimo per un bel po, lavorando per divertimento e non per soldi.

Mentre il nostro marchio cresceva, siamo sempre stati curiosi di sapere una cosa: da dove vengono i nostri prodotti? Viaggiare nuovamente divento’ la nostra missione. Incontrammo le persone che ci sono dietro ai nostri pantaloni. Conoscemmo famiglie thailandesi che avevano la loro sartoria in giardino e conoscemmo le tribù asiatiche di montagna che vivono nelle aree più remote, le quali sono conosciute per le tessiture ed i motivi tradizionali dei loro vestiti. Conoscere le persone che si nascondono dietro ad i nostri prodotti ci diede la possibilità di disegnare e creare il nostro stile combinando l’abbigliamento alternativo con elementi tradizionali, creando così un stile unico.

Non solo abbiamo ingrandito le vendite dei pantaloni alla turca ma anche il nostro raggio di viaggi. In verità, stavamo solamente andando a fare un po’ di trekking in montagna per evadere dal busuness da noi creato – per non menzionare che ancora oggi stiamo studiando e lavorando per guadagnare la nostra vita (il nostro business era esclusivamente la nostra passione). Il Nepal ci sembro’ il miglior posto dove poter staccare dalla frenesia di tutti i giorni con le sue bellissime montagne Himalaya. Si dimostro’ anch’esso un posto ideale per i nostri vestiti alternativi. Improvvisamente ci trovammo nel mondo del lavoro nepalese: più veloce, più rumoroso e più sporco della Thailandia. Dopo aver conosciuto i sarti nepalesi – volevamo sapere anche da dove venivano i prodotti di strada che trovi a Kathmandu – fummo ospitati e invitati a cena dai nuovi amici nepalesi direttamente a casa. Nel momento in cui i nostri fornitori diventarono più internazionali, creammo un nuovo marchio: virblatt. virblatt è per le persone come noi. Persone con uno stile di vita alternativo. Persone che hanno l’interesse di sapere da dove derivano i prodotti. Tu vuoi sapere da dove vengono i tuoi prodotti?

virblatt – pensaci[:es]This is the story of virblatt. The story of what became our business. The story of our life and what it became the past couple of years….

As many others, we wanted to see the world, so we figured Asia would be a good start. As four young travelers, we did what many other travelers do: We booked a flight to Bangkok – the gateway to Asia. To make it really exciting for us – and our parents – we didn´t book anything else in advance. And it turned out to be a good idea. When spending days in Bangkok you meet the greatest variety of travelers that you can think of. All of them have their story to tell. And of course, they also share their routes, so you can finally make up your mind where you to spend your holidays. So we ended up passing some nights in busses and night trains (saving time and money for a night in a real bed in a bungalow) to see nice beaches, eat every kind of food the food stalls have to offer, visit national parks, viewpoints, waterfalls, elephants, snake shows, monkey shows, crocodile shows – there are shows for nearly everything… and yes we saw that one as well.

Meanwhile we filled up our backpack with cheap clothes that would last until our next journey. And there was one thing no traveler seemed to miss: the most comfortable clothing ever. Drop crotch pants made their way into our lives.

Until this point nothing differs from a journey to Thailand that many tourists experience year by year. But we returned home with an idea that would change our lives in the long run. While we were studying and working, we bought some more harem pants with the plan to sell them in the internet.

We did everything for the first time: We shipped a box of harem pants to Germany, we imported them, we counted and categorized them, we made photos and created offers for them. We started with less than 100 pants that we bought in a shop in one of the big shopping malls in Bangkok putting them in ebay auctions to see what people would be willing to spend on them. And it worked… we reinvested everything to buy new pants to set up a small Online Shop to create the brand bonzaai. We did this for a very long time, working for fun and not for money.

While our brand was growing we were always curious about one thing: Where do our products come from? So travelling soon became a mission. We met the people behind our clothes: We met Thai families that set up tailoring facilities in their backyards and Asian hill tribes in remote areas, that are known for the weavings and embroideries used for their traditional clothing. Meeting the people behind our products also gave us the chance to design and create our own styles combining alternative clothes with traditional elements creating a unique style.

We not just expanded our sales of harem pants but also our travel radius. Actually, we only wanted to go trekking in the mountains to get away from the business life we created around us – not to mention that we were still caught up in studying and working to earn our livings (our own business was still exclusively our passion). Nepal seemed like the perfect place to get out of the fast-moving daily business with its great Himalayan mountain ranges. And it turned out to be a perfect place for alternative clothes as well. Suddenly we found ourselves in the Nepalese business world: faster, louder and dirtier than in Thailand. After getting to know the Nepalese tailors – we also wanted to know where the products in the streets of Kathmandu come from – we were offered Nepalese hospitality when we were invited to our new friend’s home for dinner.

Since our suppliers became more international, we figured we can do the same. We expanded our sales internationally and created a new brand: virblatt. virblatt is for people like us. People with an alternative lifestyle. People that care where their products come from. Do you want to know where your product comes from?

virblatt – think about it.

Merken[:]