heidi.com was a

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

-based company specialized in

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...

apparel. Its name and logo are directly inspired from

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used ...

, the main character in

Johanna Spyri Johanna Louise Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best known for her book ''Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Canton of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, ...

's 1880 novel. The brand officially equipped all members of the Swiss pavilion at the

Expo 2015 Expo 2015 was a World Expo hosted by Milan, Italy. It opened on May 1 at 10:00 CEST and closed on October 31. Milan hosted an exposition for the second time; the first was the 1906 Milan International. The Bureau International des Expositi ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

History

The company was founded in 2002 by Andreas Doering and Willy Fantin in

Saint-Blaise, Switzerland Saint-Blaise () is a municipality in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. History Saint-Blaise is first mentioned in 1011 as ''Arins''. In 1209 it was mentioned as ''Sanctus Blasus''. The municipality was formerly known by its German n ...

, and quickly built its image around various

guerilla marketing ''Guerilla Marketing'' ( si, ගරිල්ලා මාර්කටිං, italic=yes) is a 2005 Sri Lankan Sinhala action thriller film directed by Jayantha Chandrasiri and produced by K.C.K Communications for Euroshian Consultancy. It stars Y ...

stunts around the world. Its quick growth led it to become a full ''

Société Anonyme The abbreviation S.A. or SA designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and employ civil law. Originally, shareholders could be literally anonymous and collect div ...

'' company on 27 June 2012. Moving its headquarters to Neuchâtel in January 2014, its capital base increased fourfold over the same year with several investors joining the founders. Willy Fantin then left the company's board to work directly at the management level. It goes bankrupt at the end of 2020 and goes into liquidation in the spring of 2021.

Brand ambassadors

The brand was selected by

Presence Switzerland Presence Switzerland (German: '; French: ') is an official Swiss organisation and part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, which aims is to promote Swiss interests. The organisation's name is not to be confused with Switzerland Tourism ...

to equip the staff at the

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and Milan World's Fairs. Heidi remained a web retailer for its first ten years of existence finally opened its

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

in December 2013 located in the former Neuchâtel

Fire Station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

. It was designed by iraqi-

british British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

. This project, called ''Retail of Tomorrow'', was developed in partnership with

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and included a variety of interactive signage, most notably through

near field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be u ...

. In the Fall of 2014, heidi announced a partnership with Swiss pop-star

Bastian Baker Bastien Kaltenbacher (born 20 May 1991 in Lausanne), better known as Bastian Baker, is a Swiss singer, songwriter, performer and ice hockey player. He is currently under contract with HCV Martigny of the MySports League. He was coach in the thi ...

whereby the artist, beyond sporting branded goods, also participated in the design of limited edition clothing.

Notable guerilla marketing events

;2012 Two weeks in an

igloo An igloo (Inuit languages: , Inuktitut syllabics (plural: )), also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of suitable snow. Although igloos are often associated with all Inuit, they were traditionally used only b ...

on the

Thyon Thyon (also known as ''Thyon 2000'') is a purpose-built ski resort in the Swiss Alps, located in the canton of Valais. The resort is situated in the central part of the canton, in the region of Sion, and is associated with the village of Les C ...

slopes for the winner of a contest; ;2010 Election posters during the

2010 Australian federal election The 2010 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 August 2010 to elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a second term against the op ...

; ;2008 A "raffle cab" at the

Nendaz Nendaz is a municipality in the district of Conthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Nendaz is first mentioned in 984 as ''Nenda''. It was also known under its German name ''Neind'' though that name is no longer used. Geograph ...

ski resort.

References

{{Portal , Switzerland, Companies, Fashion Clothing companies of Switzerland Clothing companies established in 2002 Swiss brands 2000s fashion 2010s fashion