Things have now gone full circle in the Vogtland region for fashion designer Saruul Fischer, who comes from Mongolia

“My Vogtland region,” says the entrepreneur – and she does not have to think for long – “is my family.” For Saruul Fischer, it is quite simply the central theme. She is familiar with this from her former home, Mongolia. Life there left its mark on the large family for more than a decade. Horse riders and goats on the streets of the capital Ulan Bator were quite normal. However, the panorama changed in 1986: they moved to Forst on the Polish border, then to Berlin shortly afterwards and later to Hohenstein-Ernstthal – and Plauen has been home since the end of the 1990s. It is the focal point for her own family and the centre for her “edelziege” fashion label. 

Everything has come together so well, even if she initially experienced “culture shock”. “The children here were strange, impolite and cheeky,” the young 10-year-old Saruul thought; she was put in the first grade at school again in her new home, East Germany. “We grew up with more respect. Objecting to what adults said was out of the question.” In this sense, there were no discussions about changing their place of residence every six months with their father, who had studied in Freiberg and then moved through East Germany as an interpreter and a supervisor for trainees. “He had always gone into raptures about the order and tidiness at great lengths anyway; so Germany was still the country of wonderful things for us.” The nomadic-like existence of the Mongolian family came to an end in the Erzgebirge Mountains. Saruul passed her school-leaving exams and began her university studies in communications science, Romance studies and the history of art in Dresden nearby.

“It was my goal to become a foreign correspondent. I really just wanted to travel a lot. But it was impossible to earn much money while I was studying.”

So she jobbed in the Hohenstein disco on the side. One day, she travelled to the “Linde” disco in Leubnitz near Werdau once again. “The guys from the sailing group in Pöhl were there too…”

However, it is not easy to crack open Vogtland people – and they are not renowned for being sophisticated conquerors either. “The charm of the Vogtland people is not always visible immediately,” says Saruul, summarising things, and laughs, describing the moment when love took half a look longer to fully catch on. They moved into a flat together in 1997; their first child arrived in 2003 and the second in 2008. At that time, the “edelziege” label was just one year old and it was the logical consequence of what came naturally. “I was simply over-qualified as a secretary and was therefore interested in creating my own job.” Mongolia is well-known as the world’s greatest cashmere producer; the fine material had thrilled the young family’s group of friends for some time anyway. “It would have been too mundane for me to just import finished goods,” Saruul decided in 2007 and she flew back to her old home again with her son for the first time. She soon found a knitting mill that could handle the designs of the fashion-conscious lady, who settled in Germany by choice; it can still handle them, even if it is not her only business partner now. Customers from all over Europe have been purchasing “edelziege” goods for some time – and the first orders from overseas have been arriving too. 

So things have gone full circle. “I now travel a good deal with my work, which was always my wish, and Plauen and the Vogtland region are an ideal location for that. But I have this feeling of security at home and the clarity that I value very much; I have a good selection of nurseries and schools for my children too. Of course, it’s impossible to compare the region with the vast expanses of the Mongolian steppes, but the hills and the many green areas remind me very much of my early childhood. Perhaps that’s why I felt so much at home here straightaway. It’s a very beautiful and varied region to live in – and to be in love.”

About „edelziege“

"edelziege" is a young fashion label with direct roots in Mongolia - the country of origin of the finest of all natural products, cashmere wool. Whether classically elegant or stylishly cool - any woman or even any man feels special in clothes and accessories made of pure, wonderfully soft cashmere. "edelziege" stands for 100% cashmere, top quality and comfort - for a luxurious sense of well-being.

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