mizzi. Interview: Kathi Macheiner, sixxa

austria’s number one brand for ladies that ride is called sixxa. the brand has been around since 2004.
sixxa is focussing on producing locally in europe, reducing the carbon footprint and using organic cotton. of course, everyone involved in production and sales is treated fair.
the founder, Kathi Macheiner, is a snowboarder, skater and surfer herself.
she also organizes events for women from time to time, for example the sixxa miniramp sessions.

to find out more about Kathi and sixxa, i interviewed her for you.

Kathi riding the sixxa miniramp. pic by Nicole Fleck.

how was the idea to start a shop born?
The shop just happened by chance. Workmates were looking for someone how would rent their shop during the time they worked abroad and so we took the opportunity and started with 20 m2 and called it “sixxa dinghy store”. After one year they came back and as we’ve been fallen totally in love with our own shop we searched for a new one in the same area. Lucky us we found a bigger one in the same street, but better location. We really like the Kirchengasse because of the nice community there!

what kind of education do you have?
I studied Psychology, but broke up before the final exams, because I went to graphic design college, which I finished in 2002.

when did you open up your shop / when did you start your brand?
We opend the “sixxa dinghy store” in 2008 and the “sixxa store vienna” in 2009. I founded my clothing label sixxa in 2007 officially, but was already doing it as a side project with handmade stuff since 2004.

what advice can you give others who might want to start their own brand / open their own shop?
Better not to start it alone. It’s hell a lot of work and best would be to have distribution, design and marketing done by different people.

which sports do you participate in yourself?
Snowboarding since more than 20 years now, and a bit of running, skateboarding, basketball and surfing

any final words / shout outs?
As Patrick would say: I take it easy when I’m dead…

the sixxa store vienna is located here:
kirchengasse 22
1070 vienna

http://sixxa.com/

Dec 4, 2011

posted by steph

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mizzi. Interview: Alexander Frischauf, longboardalm.at

the austrian longboard scene is lucky to have it’s own hardware provider – longboardalm.at offers all the stuff you need to set up and maintain your own board, aswell as protective gear, dvds and longboard apparel.
one very special thing about the longboardalm is the testcenter. it can be set up at many longboard spots, so people can try and buy boards on location.

Testcenter

the longboardalm is doing a lot for the austrian longboard scene, so i thought it was time to give back a bit of support and introduce the owner of the longboardalm to you!

Alexander Frischauf

enjoy the interview with Alexander Frischauf and make sure to check out longboardalm.at, buy your gear there and support Alex aswell!

how was the idea to start a shop born?
i have been organizing worldcup races and the “König der Berge” cup-series since 2007. during that time, i noticed that the longboard scene was growing and that there was a certain displeasure with the austrian shopping opportunities. that was the reason for me, to start an austrian onlineshop in the summer of 2009.

what kind of education do you have?
after school, i collected about 20 years of experience in the field of warehousing and logistics, aswell as in retail.

when did you open up your shop / when did you start your brand?
the online shop was launched at the beginning of 2010, but the start-up phase had already been running since august 2009.

Verdicchio

what advice can you give others who might want to start their own brand / open their own shop?
it might be best to open a “normal” skateshop, where 90% of sales are made up of fashion, because it’s really hard to make money by focussing on selling hardware.

which sports do you participate in yourself?
streetluge and classic luge on worldcup level, downhill standup longboarding just for fun and smaller races like for example the “Parkhausrennen” in graz (styria) or the “König der Berge” Cupseries in ramsau, lohnsburg and so on.

any final words / shout outs?
a big thank you goes out to
Dan, my webmaster, without whom i’d be really lost at times
Doro, for standing by me, even if things are not going well sometimes
and to my teamriders Mike, the flying Dentist, Flo, Gali, Georgi and Clem (hope your knees will be fine again soon!)
and the most important thing about longboarding – HAVE FUN!