Many have seen a bride’s dream come true when she finds her very special wedding dress at CRUSZ Berlin on the German reality television show, “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen”. Or maybe you have even stumbled across their Instagram page with models twirling in front of their shop almost every day in breathtaking evening wear.
Bridal Times had the opportunity to meet Dirk Pfeiffer, CEO of Crusz Berlin to talk about the development of the company over the years and his view on the latest trends.
What inspired you to open your bridal shop and how long have you been in this business?
My partner and I started in 2003. At that time, she designed evening dresses for friends in her small studio. A business idea quickly developed and due to the increased demand, we gradually bought clothes that corresponded to our understanding of sophisticated, innovative evening wear. It didn’t take long for customers to come to us with requests for bridal wear. As a result, wedding attire was added to our core business of evening fashion.
CRUSZ has made a name for itself in Berlin. What do you think were the main criteria for the success of your bridal business?
As a businessman who had worked in agencies for years, it quickly became clear to me that marketing should not be underestimated in the textile sector either. To this day, marketing with a special focus on an online strategy has a high priority at CRUSZ.
Regardless of whether in terms of new social media platforms, product range and service: in many places we are more modern and faster than other competitors. A good example is our collaboration with the US label, Sherri Hill. Here, we recognized great demand in Berlin and all of Germany at an early stage, and brought the world-famous prom label with Germany’s largest selection to us on the Spittelmarkt. Since then, Sherri Hill fans from all over Germany have come to us every day. Another really important part of our ongoing recipe for success is our overt pricing transparency. Our reliably fair prices are valued by our customers.
What does it mean to be a “CRUSZ Girl” or a “CRUSZ Bride”?
Every customer who decides to come to the Spittelmarkt enjoys excellent all-round service and competent, relaxed advice beyond the department store and boring online shops. If you really want to shine at a one-off occasion, come to us. As a CRUSZ Girl or CRUSZ Bride, women can be sure to be elegantly and spectacularly dressed.
Tell us what the bride can discover in your bridal shop. What special features can you offer?
The CRUSZ shopping experience consists of the two key elements of offer and service. Personal wishes, clothing size, pregnancy: It is our goal that every bride has a broad selection of different models to try. When it comes to advice, we rely on competent warmth without falling into excessive kitsch. Feel good, yes – ‘feel-good fairy tales’, no. By the way, we have a team with a wonderfully mixed background and can advise in several languages. CRUSZ stands for cosmopolitanism. Our open, transparent nature is very much appreciated. Our service not only includes advice and our in-house tailoring, but also the atmosphere in our store. By making an appointment, each bride reserves their own bridal seminar, where they can enjoy the occasion with a glass of sparkling wine and snacks together with their companions.
Are there any preferred styles or trends that you have noticed with the brides?
The boho trend remains on the rise, with boho moving further and further away from classic vintage elements. Elegantly spectacular wedding dresses are in demand, still with light materials, but combined with glamorous glitter and ultra-feminine elements. The long-loved hippie barn wedding look is no longer up to date, or is increasingly losing appeal.
CRUSZ Berlin has a huge selection of evening and ball dresses. How did you start? First with a small selection that then grew due to demand, or did you dive in?
As already described, we started the other way around. CRUSZ has always stood for exceptional evening wear. The topic of bridal fashion came later. Our store reflects this weighting: on 700sqm, bridal takes up around 300sqm.
Which colors or styles do you find most beautiful in the evening dresses this spring?
The current trend away from classically rich colors such as navy blue and bordeaux to soft, light shades is great. Eye-catchers in any case are evening dresses with cleverly used transparent elements.
CRUSZ Berlin continuously puts new clothes and styles on social media. Has social media enriched your business, or maybe also advanced it more?
Whether ‘enriched’ or not is probably not the question at all. No company can survive today without a modern online presence. Especially in the fashion area. Accordingly, Facebook, Instagram and Co. are just as much part of our everyday work as merchandise management and the cash register system.
Tell us about your web shop.
Actually, we have no great ambitions with regard to the web shop. This only serves as a shop window for our store on the Spittelmarkt, so that interested customers can get a first impression of our offer together with our website. Most of our clothes are too delicate to be sent on trips. In addition, the effort in relation to a ‘true’ online shop is immense: articles must be selected, photographed and then added. Orders have to be processed, additional customer inquiries have to be answered. For us, this is not a cost-benefit ratio. Only a few evening dresses can actually be bought online. CRUSZ Berlin continues to stand for real shopping with advice in-store on the Spittelmarkt.
If you could give advice to a bride before looking for a wedding dress, what would it be?
Today, brides are more emancipated and also more informed thanks to the internet and access to a lot of online knowledge. The buying process has changed accordingly. On the one hand, this can be an advantage, on the other hand, many brides get too caught up on a certain dress that they found somewhere in the depths of the World Wide Web. My advice would be very clear not to understand the Internet as a huge catalog that serves to choose a specific model. The probability of finding this supposed dream dress is almost zero. Instead, the internet is a great source of inspiration.
What was the best advice you got as a bridal shop owner?
Always know your numbers.
For more information, visit Crusz Berlin