From leading aircraft manufacturer to fashion startup
(Interview from 2020)
Dagmar Möbius
Karen Rauschenbach is a talented linguist. Instead of studying tourism as originally planned, she switched to logistics after her "Vordiplom" intermediate examination. The transport economist spent 16 years working as a manager for Airbus. An old denim suit is to blame for her setting up a sustainable business in Switzerland in 2018. Although she "doesn't know anything about fashion," the international project is looking promising.
Karen Rauschenbach
Karen Rauschenbach from Leisnig spent a year at a US high school in St. George in 1993/94. That was when she decided to study tourism. "Languages came easily to me, foreign countries interested me, and traveling fascinated me," explains the 44-year-old. However, the leading international trade fair for the tourism industry, of all things, cast doubt on her plans. Did she really have to study for that? A transport economics student at TU Dresden from 1995 to 2001, Karen Rauschenbach then started focusing on logistics. "This will give me such a wide range of skills that I could go to any company operating in an international environment. And then I can travel, too," she thought at the time. She was to be proved right.
Alongside her studies, she worked, did a number of internships and was able to try out various different things. A year in Alicante, Spain, with the Erasmus program in 1998/99 also left a lasting impression on her. Her language skills helped her a lot. "But dealing with different mentalities and cultures is just as important," she says. "Most projects, jobs, and exciting challenges take place in an international environment, where those soft skills are essential."
A seminar on strategical corporate management – alliances in aviation and the founding of EADS (now Airbus) finally set her on course for her current role. "Aviation was an entirely new field for me, but I found it genuinely fascinating." Karen Rauschenbach wrote her final-year dissertation in Munich on supply chain management potential analysis in aviation. Her supervisor was Prof. Sebastian Kummer, who now works at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Immediately after graduating, Rauschenbach completed a one-year trainee program at Airbus. Every three months, she changed site: Munich, Hamburg, Hong Kong, and Toulouse. "The selection process was very tough," she recalls, but her first project for the world's largest aircraft manufacturer was a major transportation project that attracted national attention: "Huge A380 components were shipped along the Elbe from Hamburg to Dresden."
Karen Rauschenbach is often asked how she came to this project as a young graduate. "They were looking for someone, I knew Dresden, its mentality and applied." As she says, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." After returning to Dresden for just under a year, she shifted away from logistics. In the years that followed, she managed a number of challenging international Airbus projects from different cities in Germany and France. On average, she relocated every three years. The mix of business management, economics, and technology she acquired in her degree was always useful. Plus, "joined-up thinking across multiple systems is something I've always needed and I learned that at TUD.
From aviation logistics to fashion design
A move from Airbus to another company was never something she considered. "Development opportunities were always there." Doing something for herself, giving meaning to her work, solving social and environmental problems, however, was something that occupied Karen Rauschenbach, who is the mother of 12-year-old twin girls. "I asked myself, where does Airbus end and where do I begin," she says. After 16 years, she resigned from the company and went back to academia in 2017. She studied design thinking, social entrepreneurship, and creative leadership at THNK School Amsterdam and Oxford University.
In March 2018, she founded The Blue Suit GmbH, an international sustainable fashion label based in Zurich and Amsterdam. Laughing, she tells us "I don't know anything about fashion." The idea had taken shape over a number of years, but was sparked by a very mundane situation. "I had a denim business suit I really liked. When it wore out, I couldn't find anything similar and decided that someday I would make one myself." The notion stayed with her, and she explored it over the course of her sabbatical until she had a concept that could be implemented. In Amsterdam, she found a business partner, the designer Yvonne Vermeulen. In the two-woman startup, Karen Rauschenbach has to drive things forward herself – unlike in the past. "In an organization, other people are pushing you." Having her own routine and deciding whom she works with and sharing her values is something she very much appreciates. Still, she admits that she would not have done it on her own. Adding, "if I were a single parent, it wouldn't work."
The Blue Suit launched its first sustainable collection in the fall of 2018. The garments were produced by a small family-run business in Italy and are carried by ten stores in Switzerland and two stores in the Netherlands. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a delay in the planned launch in Germany. "We are currently focusing on online platforms and collaborating with various fashion suppliers," Karen Rauschenbach tells us. She is on the board of an association that supports new fashion labels through knowledge sharing and joint marketing. They can share skills and resources in a pop-up store with other designers, for example. The businesswoman also teaches at the Textilfachschule (Swiss textile school) in Zurich.
The Blue Suit is also an option for Christmas gifts
"I've never regretted what I learned. It's a journey; I'm optimistic." She describes her learning curve over the past few years and her personal growth as considerable. Karen Rauschenbach wonders whether there are alternatives to the current economic system, which is always focused on growth. The circular economy and compostable fashion are two areas she is engaging with. "You can't keep taking new material; we need to completely rethink production," she says. Karen Rauschenbach enjoys visiting her home region of Saxony and is proud of where she comes from. She thinks an exchange with her former university would be great. "I would like to see what TU Dresden has to offer on the topic of doughnut economics and the circular economy. That would be really exciting, and I could combine it with my current business."