The eco fashion market leader in German-speaking countries has a new boss: Stefan Mues will be in charge of Hess Natur-Textilien GmbH & Co. KG based in Butzbach from March.

The company just announced this to its employees.

Mues is an economist.

Until last autumn, he worked as a digital director at Calida Holding in Sursee, Switzerland, and as managing director of the e-commerce division of the underwear retailer in Stephanskirchen near Munich.

Thorsten Winter

Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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According to Hess Natur, the new boss has been working in internet retail for two decades.

He is a proven e-commerce expert.

The extent to which Mues has experience with so-called fair fashion remains to be seen.

However, his task is clearly formulated: He is to further expand Wetterauer's position as "European market leader for fair fashion".

The change at the top of the company became necessary due to the surprising departure of Andrea Ebinger.

Ebinger left the company in December.

A goodbye out of nowhere.

And that after a record year.

Neither she nor the medium-sized company commented on the reasons for the departure, which Ebinger announced via the Linked-In contact platform.

"The Advisory Board and the investor Capvis would like to thank Ms. Ebinger for her commitment over the past five years and wish her all the best for the future," says Hess Natur-Textilien GmbH & Co. KG.

In the hands of financial investor Capvis

The company has belonged to the Swiss financial investor Capvis for almost ten years.

This takeover had caused a lot of resentment among the workforce and also provoked protests from customers.

As a result, Hess Natur went through some difficult years and lost sales, also due to controversial moves to things like recycled polyester and business apparel.

Ebinger quickly put an end to that.

She managed to get the eco-fashion pioneer back on the road to success of earlier years from deep in the red.

The return to non-toxic natural fibers is paying off.

In the financial year 20/21, the company made sales of more than 100 million euros for the first time, as Ebinger told the FAZ in July last year.

She put the increase across all sales channels at 30 percent.

She has been running the business alone since the end of 2017.

Since her departure, the company founded by Heinz Hess in 1976 has been run by an interim management.

This team consists of Kristin Heckmann (Sustainability), Kathrin Schneider (E-Commerce), Christina Pöttner (Human Resources), Patrick Götz (Product) and Philip Tönnies (Finance).

The Chairman of the Advisory Board, Reiner Pichler, is at your side.