Our story - our values - Carryboy Germany & Novisauto

As so often in life, a catastrophe comes unexpectedly. The decline of the German textile industry came slowly, but finally hit hard. Duttlinger specialized in very high-quality knitwear (T-shirts, underwear, men's underwear). For example, we are still using the Duttlinger undershirts in 2018 without any problems - around 50-60 years after they were made. It was comfortable, sturdy and warm. You won't find anything like that today. The knitwear had a very good price-performance ratio. Unfortunately, that was never seen again.

Since customers always wanted it cheaper and cheap textiles came from abroad, the German textile industry was pushed out. Duttlinger couldn't keep up. At the same time, the important B2B market collapsed. Large buyers such as retail chains and Co. no longer kept their contracts. They usually order a contingent for a year and access it throughout the year. This contract was ruthlessly broken. The goods piled up in the factory buildings - there were no longer any buyers. The market power of the big players was mercilessly exploited and suppliers were driven into bankruptcy. My dad tried to build up the luxury brand "Carruci" to draw customers' attention to what was special about Duttlinger. In terms of quality, the company has already kept up with premium brands - at a price that the population can afford. However, this was unfortunately already too late. Building a new brand takes time, money and patience.

The irony of fate: The premium brands "Jockey", "Homme" and "Eminence" as well as many of the trading houses no longer exist today and have also disappeared as a result of the decline of the textile industry, among other things. Or they no longer exist in the same way.

From the experiences of that time, the following applies to our company: Good reputation and the knowledge of what we offer, as well as a large customer base.

After some time, my dad got the opportunity to work as managing director again. It was the "Coll" bakery chain, which had faltered due to mismanagement. He had the task of restructuring the company. Due to his experience as an assistant to the management, son of an entrepreneur and experience in crisis management, he was well suited for the post.

New tactics and perspectives were introduced. Sellers were encouraged to actively address customers, to sell and to make recommendations. New products were introduced to stand out from the competition.

The biggest problem, however, was the unprofitable branches that remained after the changeover. The only way was through bankruptcy proceedings - which turned out to be a big mistake at the time. Instead of closing the unprofitable branches (as actually intended), the insolvency administrator saw his personal gain or was incompetent. He liquidated everything at a junk price, although the company's restructuring was almost complete and the problem was the unprofitable branches. However, at that time there was no difference between "bankruptcy" and "insolvency".

My dad was frustrated and appalled that his efforts had been for naught and he was left unemployed by the insolvency practitioner. He said to himself "I can do better".

We know from experience that we should not rely on local shops and still sell throughout Germany / the EU and operate in a crisis-proof manner.

After a certain time as an insolvency administrator, my dad wanted to create a secure, stable future for himself and his family. The profession of insolvency administrator was a pointer and signpost through important experiences.

Life has taught him that crises usually come unexpected. Stable, future-oriented, crisis-proof growth is a cornerstone of our business policy. This is what we stand for today, tomorrow and in the future.

 2021 was a strong year. We have steadily expanded our product portfolio up to this point and it was now time to make a decision. Do we want to water down the Carryboy brand more and more or do we stick to the core? How can we still grow and add more products? The decision was made to found the NOVISAUTO brand/shop. NOVIS serves as an umbrella brand to include new product groups without diluting our brands. NOVISAUTO took over our American suppliers and is a specialist for full-size pickup truck accessories. However, it should not stop there. The course for future growth has been set.

The Corona crisis was the first potentially life-threatening crisis in our company's history. We have just founded Novisauto and divided the product portfolio. Corona came up in 2020 and we got into a crisis mood. Surprisingly, 2020 was a super year. We thought: "Maybe it will pass us?".

The crisis hit our industry like a bomb in 2021. Supply chain problems (no new pickups=no new potential customers), lack of raw materials, transport difficulties, exploding costs in manufacturing and transport (container freight rates from approx. €2000/container to €18,000/container), plummeting demand.

We had to take several emergency measures: dismissal of all full-time employees, so that the family core remained + 1 mini-job. Raising prices, introducing a sea freight surcharge (percentage of the value of the goods depending on the freight rates), putting our construction project for a new warehouse on hold and constantly thinking: If things get worse - where can we still reduce costs?

We have big plans. First, of course, is the recovery from the crisis. Reserves must be built up again and the market must be monitored further.

However, we look forward to our next projects for stable growth:

• Internationalization & translation of our websites (already in progress)
• Expansion of our product portfolio with a completely new product category
• Let's see what the future brings!