There are stories that come into being overnight. Not so ours: It tells the exciting story of the development of the Karl Moese company – a family story spanning four generations, a story of people with strengths and weaknesses! When I think about it, it’s surprising that the company still exists! Now you’re rightly wondering what I mean by that. I’ll tell you:
My great-grandfather Karl Moese was an extremely correct, stylish man with a great sense of quality and beauty. Unfortunately, he had one flaw: he was not very business-minded! On February 15, 1908, he was full of confidence and wanted to put his idea of producing the world’s best ties into practice, but this venture would probably have failed if it hadn’t been for my great-grandmother Gertrud. She was the one who knew exactly what ensures the survival of a company. With a lot of skill and dedication, she managed to grow the young company through two world wars and a global economic crisis, while still looking after her husband.
Gertrud also gave Karl three children, of whom young Erwin in particular developed a strong interest in ties. It was he who visited the world-famous Ascot horse race on a trip through England in the 1940s, which gave him the idea of registering it as a brand name. From then on, the company was called ASCOT Karl Moese, and as you know, this is still the case today.
My grandfather Erwin was a cheerful and generous man who knew how to combine the beautiful with the useful. He was able to create the most beautiful collections, but above all he was an excellent salesman. Stinginess and thrift were foreign to him, and sometimes that became a problem: many customers were more like friends to my grandfather than business partners. What I mean by that is that a customer visit was usually followed by a long evening or even a long night.
