Insight Out: Sarah Grohé, Managing Director of erlich textil
How can you break taboos without losing sight of your purpose? And how can you use this smart strategy to build brand power without overreliance on Meta and Google? Sarah Grohé, co-founder and Managing Director of erlich textil, shares her insights.
Marketing’s boldest voices: Sarah Grohé on principles, desire and growth
In our series, “Insight Out: Marketing’s Boldest Voices,” marketers shed light on their bold strategies, taking inspiration from the DMEXCO motto – “Be bold. Move forward.” Our latest guest is Sarah Grohé.
About Sarah Grohé
Born in Bonn, Germany, in 1983, Sarah Grohé is an entrepreneur in the fashion industry with a passion for sustainable textile production. After studying fashion design at Trier University of Applied Sciences (2004–2009), she gained extensive professional experience in e‑commerce, multichannel retail, product development and purchasing in Berlin and Cologne. In 2013, Sarah Grohé co-founded UNEINS Oy in Helsinki, Finland, followed by Vorfreude GmbH (erlich textil) in Cologne in 2016. She played a leading role in establishing the erlich textil brand and developed it into a profitable company (bootstrapped). In February 2022, Sarah Grohé sold the majority stake in Vorfreude GmbH to Swiss company CALIDA Holding AG, remaining Managing Director of the brand within the CALIDA GROUP before taking back ownership of Vorfreude GmbH one and a half years later. She has been running the company independently again as managing partner since the end of October 2023.
What’s been your boldest marketing move so far – and why would(n’t) you do it again?
Sarah Grohé: After successfully building our brand in the vanilla world of Instagram up until 2021, we launched a new erlich textil lingerie collection at the end of 2023 with a self-produced adult movie that focused on the topic of female sexuality. With this clearly still being a highly taboo subject in our society, the reactions were very strong – in every direction. And that’s exactly why I would do it again: Female desire and the enjoyment of sex from a female perspective absolutely must be liberated from the shadows! And who better to break the taboo than a female-led lingerie brand focused on women’s well-being?
Imagine you had to start your marketing campaign from scratch tomorrow – with an unlimited budget: What’s the first thing you would do differently?
Sarah Grohé: I would definitely try to avoid reliance on Meta and Google by opting for a broad mix of online and offline presence right from the start, including digital TV and out-of-home formats – both digital and traditional billboards in all major cities in the DACH region. I would use advertising measures across all channels to target specific markets outside the German-speaking countries and step up influencer collaborations as well as in-person community events with PR support in all markets.
When you think ahead to 2026, what strategic challenge keeps you awake at night?
Sarah Grohé: We’re currently debating whether to free up funds to invest in trying out different channels that we don’t usually use. Specifically, we’re looking at a TV campaign or DOOH marketing. And alongside all of that, we’re discussing stepping up our use of paid content in one or two international markets and significantly expanding our influencer activities there. Ultimately, it’ll be a choice between domestic, German-speaking markets and internationalization, and the general climate in the DACH region – especially Germany – isn’t pointing me toward domestic markets at the moment …
What message would you like to send to your colleagues throughout the marketing business?
Sarah Grohé: Use your power wisely. In my opinion, far too many people in the industry don’t realize how much they can do to improve the state of the world in general. You don’t have to run an impact start-up to make a difference – quite the opposite. All marketing decisions should have common sense and a few basic ethical values at their heart.
Bold marketing strategy with purpose: erlich textil
Breaking taboos, standing up for your principles and nevertheless staying true to your purpose: erlich textil shows how brands built on a clear set of values can be bold without losing their customers. This combination of courage and consistency is precisely what makes the ethical lingerie brand culturally relevant in a competitive market – true to the motto “Be bold. Move forward.”
