From Stuttgart to New York: Tobias Ulmer on Launching HYACYN

First of all, hello, how are you feeling? 

TU: Hello, salut. Amazing, thank you.

Hyacinth, like the flower? Where did the idea for that name come from?

TU: My grandmother is actually the name giver, so she wanted my mom to choose the name Hyacinthus. That's the Latin word for hyacinth for that flower, which she wanted to be my name. So my mom was like, No, I can't do that. I don't want my son to get bullied in school, like the name Hyacinthus is too much. So later, when I was looking for a name for my project, I thought it should be personal, but not my name.  Not that I dislike my name, I just think it is not a phonetic name and doesn't even look that good when written. I wanted it to be something personal. My brothers teased me sometimes with this name because it sounded silly and that became a nickname. I started with the English version of that flower's name. Actually, for the first six months, the brand's name was Hyacinth, and then I thought to trademark it. Because I thought, hey if I put a lot of energy into this now for the next 2,3,5, years, I want it to be safe. It was maybe too early to trademark, but I thought it was better safe than sorry. And then I found out that it's difficult to actually trademark the name of a flower, so I had to come up with something new, without changing it completely. After playing around on paper, deleting a letter, removing the TH, and changing the I into the Y it finally looked good whilst sounding the same. I looked up HYACYN, no taken domain, so I could trademark it. 

Impressive story, now shortly for the people who are not as familiar with your work. Could you just introduce yourself briefly? 

TU: My name is Tobias Ulmer. I'm a native German person. I was born in Stuttgart, in the south of Germany. My background is in creative direction in marketing. I founded an advertising agency in Stuttgart. I worked a lot in the digital fashion world. I was the digital global leader agency of Hugo Boss for 18 years. And then my husband, he was born in New York, and we met in New York, but then we moved to Germany. We always thought about moving back to New York but I knew that in that case, I’d have to sell my agency which I didn't want to do immediately. Finally, in 2019 we decided to move back to New York. So I gave up my job, sold my agency, and then I was already in New York when unfortunately the pandemic hit four months later.

How was the pandemic in New York?

TU: It was brutal, really brutal. I think the outside world read about it in the newspaper or online, but if you lived there it was harsh. We had curfews, for us the highlight was to go out to the balcony at five o'clock and knock on pots and things. That was the thank you to all the workers in the hospitals because we couldn't do much. I only had a letter that said I'm allowed to go out at 8 pm because I have a dog so that allowed me to go outside and walk my dogs. 

Well since you say that you started in creative design, and marketing, and founded your agency, meaning you have been working in fashion, with fashion companies for quite a while. How did you deviate from that and transition into your brand?

TU: Well if you work for them you obviously get an insight into the fashion world, their rhythm, and calendar of shows. You know they have shows, you know how they sell things, when and how to coordinate campaigns accordingly. You don't know how to create clothing, but you kind of know how to sell it.  I believe that helped me to make my transition from a classic marketing background to really creating clothes. Initially, that wasn’t planned. I didn't come to New York to found a fashion brand, that came organically as before the pandemic, I went into a workshop to learn sewing. It was not a regular workshop either. It was a workshop where you learn how to sew shoes and sneakers, it was amazing. After three days, I was holding my own pair of shoes in my hand. I couldn't believe it. Everyone else who took the course by day 3 was holding their little baby. We were so proud of our creations. Later everyone in this workshop kind of started an Instagram page for their new hobby, so I decided to follow suit. I bought a sewing machine and started to customize shoes. During the pandemic, some of these custom sneakers I made went viral, without me promoting them. To this day I have no idea how they went viral or who popularized them. I can't recreate that, but that was when the account started to gain followers, thousands of followers. By the end of the pandemic, I was wondering if I really wanted to do this. If this is going to be my job? I then realized I didn't want to customize shoes for a living. It was fun, but it was not a complete visualization of my world. 

One moment, the custom shoes page was pre-HYACYN?

TU: Actually, I already called it HYACYN, but it was not an idea of a brand. It was more like a project. I gave it a name so that these customized shoes have a name to be associated with. Yeah, I also sold them so that I have something to do. I think then I realized that I had a following and I had already met a lot of people through that page, so my marketing heart pushed me in the direction of creating a fashion brand out of it. That was actually a dream of mine, but I never really thought about it seriously until I had this opportunity.

Did New York somehow influence that decision, apart from you taking up the sneaker customization course? 

TU: Definitely. I think New York gave me the community, I couldn't do that in my hometown.

The move to New York during the pandemic must’ve been a nuanced experience and could’ve also served as an obstacle in many ways. How do you deal with creative obstacles or blocks? 

TU: For me to be honest being creative is the easiest part. This is my strength, my big muscle. I love to create. That’s when I feel myself, especially in the late night, that's where I feel safe. The difficult part where the blockade comes is, how fast I have to be, how patient I have to be with an idea and letting it grow as well as giving people the time to recognize my work. Consolidating the right environment can be hard as I sometimes feel too impatient. I could already do another collection. 

You describe it as a downside, yet in the fast-paced, pressuring environment of fashion that demands constant output, this trait could actually be a benefit. 

TU: I know and maybe what I’m about to say now will sound like the complete opposite of what I just said. I feel that I appreciate how some things don’t move as fast and that you can give them time, especially considering that my pieces are not meant for just one season or just one trend. I try to create my own world and the people who are interested in this world understand that these pieces are meant as specific ideas of silhouettes. I create with the idea of my pieces being timeless, so you could wear a silhouette in 2025, 2027, and so on. Similarly to Japanese culture, I don't think that their specific ideas of silhouettes have something to do with Fall/Winter or Spring/Summer and that's how I feel about fashion. 

If you're overflowing with ideas of what you want to work on, it must eventually lead to a point of selection. How do you know when you choose, that this idea is the one?

TU: It relates to the question about creative blocks, I think choosing is the hardest part. I’ve discussed this with a lot of people. I think everyone is creative. I think everyone has ideas in this world, that's what makes us human. We have ideas, but the difficult part is to choose the best. In my case, in fashion, you may have 50 different looks in your head and you like them all. Or musicians who record many songs and then have to choose around 10 for an album. I think that's why a lot of musicians struggle to bring or launch their next record, some of them rate 5,6,7 years like Frank Ocean. Not because they have some block or they don't know what to do, but rather because they struggle to piece their body of work together.

In the case of Frank Ocean it's such a vision for perfection, so every album that he makes, every song on there, is not just good but perfect. Not a single skip, every song contributes to the concept of the album in full harmony. 

TU: Yes, it must be hard for him to not just produce these songs, but in the end, really decide. Fashion is the same, it's not just about 50 ideas and you pull down to 10. These 10 should still communicate with each other cohesively. There has to be a struggle because otherwise it would be too easy and everyone would do it, it’s part of the process. When you work this hard, in the end, you have something that has the power and the magic that people feel. You can feel the energy or the power of these eight songs, or, in my case the power of these 20 or 25 outfits.

How do you balance the creative and the commercial aspects of your work?

TU: My background comes from this marketing world. I think both worlds exist, and they have to coexist. If you're an artist, you may be completely free from commercial ideas or commercial pressure. But clothes are commercial, you have to buy them, they are a necessity. So you have to think about both worlds, that's a part of the adventure.

TU: It's a struggle. I think it starts already with an item or fabric, once you figure out what technique you are going to use. You can do that for one piece easily, you can even create a piece in one night. Once you start contemplating on how you will recreate it, that’s where the struggle begins. That’s when you start thinking commercially. Not just thinking about  “What can I sell?”, but also having to think “How can I produce? “Is it a one-of-one piece or is it possible to recreate?”. I do not make one piece or one-of-one garments. The idea is to reproduce it and to be honest, I also want to see people on the street wearing it. Thinking of having my clothes hung up in retail stores excites me. I constantly seek to do something new, challenging for me, yet indicative of my world, how I would like to dress, and what my world of menswear should look like. 

You mentioned a few times that you like working at night. What makes the night so special to you?

TU: I think during the daytime, I’m constantly preoccupied with errands, like having to call this person, write an email to this person, or attend this meeting. During the daytime, I have so many interruptions, whereas during the night, I finally have eight or six hours just to myself. 5000 years ago people had to hunt during the daytime and survive, only the night was reserved to sit around a fire and look at the stars.

Based on your background and the skills you have acquired, do you still feel that you are becoming better at what you do?

TU: I hope so. Of course, I have found friends and a community and people who are so much better than me in specific things like pattern making, sewing techniques, styling and and I'm lucky for that. They embraced me too, and they kind of helped me to create my vision and my idea. I could not do that completely on my own. Of course, I'm learning from them. I'm looking over the shoulder, asking, doing things myself, just trying it out. I'm a big believer that you have to try and continue trying, even if in the end it doesn't seem perfect. The process helps you to understand specifics that bring you closer to understanding reality. I learned to be honest with this project. 

So, now that you have finally arrived here to showcase everything, what pieces would you highlight? 

TU: I think it's the bomber balloon jacket. It has a tight waist, and then the volume comes out. We have construction in the shoulder, and even in the front, in the back, we have extra padding. And then the balloon-like sleeves—removable sleeves that turn it into a vest. It’s the signature piece right now that encompasses the story of the silhouette. Then also, the camouflage set. It actually went viral in China, Europe, and all over the world. I think that’s because it tells the story of rebellion, but made it into a silhouette. It's not a copy of something in the '80s that people would wear. It's just inspired by the '80s, then transformed into a new visual language.

Would you like to share any goals or aspirations you have for the coming year or the longer future? What can people expect?

TU: I would like to grow with this brand to a point where I have a platform where I can develop ideas that I can't develop right now because I don't have maybe the budgets, or the community yet, or the people are not interested yet. I would like to find a stage where I can maybe even involve more people in a creative way and then do performances, more clothes, and collaborations, but not in a commercialized, forced way.

Lastly, is there anybody you'd like to collaborate with if you could?

TU: Someone asked me that. Obviously, I have heroes and idols. I think it's even more interesting to find people whose work I haven’t seen before, but that I feel have a power or talent. I meet a lot of these people and I would love to already start working with these people. But as I said, maybe it doesn't make sense yet because the platform is not yet ready to involve other people.