Who this is
Vivien Wysocki and Larissa Schmid run Saint Sass out of Berlin, a fashion and lingerie brand that started with statement tights and now also sells briefs and bodysuits. Vivien modelled for ten years, founded a student startup at 15 and was active on Clubhouse during the pandemic, pitching ideas to an audience of around 5,000 followers. That is how an investor found her: he wanted to reposition a tights brand aimed at hotels and flight attendants, and her concept became Saint Sass. Larissa had previously founded two fashion startups, a marketplace for sustainable fashion and her own clothing label, and worked in management consulting during her master's. At the time of recording, the team had five people, according to Larissa.
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FAQ
What is Saint Sass?
Saint Sass is a Berlin-based fashion and lingerie brand that sells online worldwide. It started with tights printed with statements and now also sells underwear such as briefs and bodysuits. It is founded and run by Vivien Wysocki and Larissa Schmid. To the episode →
What does Clubhouse have to do with the founding of Saint Sass?
During the pandemic, Vivien pitched ideas on Clubhouse and built up around 5,000 followers. An investor noticed her in a D2C talk and contacted her on LinkedIn. He was looking for someone for an existing tights brand whose target market, hotels and flight attendants, had collapsed during the pandemic. Vivien's concept became Saint Sass. To the episode →
How did Saint Sass develop new product categories?
After a flop with belly chains launched without any customer research, the team researched the lingerie expansion in stages: exploratory sessions with customers in the office, one-on-one interviews and a quantitative survey with almost 2,000 participants, plus early previews on social media. They also deliberately carried over the fabrics, statements and visual language of the tights. To the episode →
Does Saint Sass work with paid influencers?
Hardly. According to Larissa, Meta accounts for almost 90 percent of paid spend, because there you can measure what each euro returns. Well-known people wearing the products is mostly down to Vivien's network from ten years of modelling: she deliberately seeded the products with fashion insiders who influence the mainstream. To the episode →
How did Saint Sass expand into the US?
Very lean: the team mirrored its best German Meta ads into the US, starting at around 100 euros a day, before sorting out customs, taxes or warehousing. Those came once it was clear the market worked. By the end of the year of recording, Larissa says, the US is as big as Germany. The business is still run from Berlin. To the episode →
What is Moritz Blees's role at Saint Sass?
Moritz Blees, co-host of this episode, says he has been an investor, part-time adviser and board member at Saint Sass for about two years, and he discloses this himself at the start of the episode. He also came up with the statement on the current bestseller. To the episode →
Quotes
„Für uns ist es super wichtig, dass jeder Euro, den wir investieren, einen bestimmten Umsatz bringt.““For us it's crucial that every euro we invest brings in a certain amount of revenue.”
„… es ist jetzt wirklich so, dass USA jetzt Ende des Jahres wirklich gleich groß ist wie Deutschland dieses Jahr.““By the end of the year, the US really is as big as Germany this year.”