muntiva: a small Swiss clothing label
I'm thinking through a small Swiss clothing label from the ground up: product strategy, brand, business case and go-to-market. High-quality sporty lifestyle basics, few products, well made, with a clear stance.
Concept, business plan and launch plan are in place. Still open: the trademark check, blank samples and the decision on starting pre-order. No sales yet.
Starting point
muntiva was originally meant to be an AI-assisted tax app. Instead of pursuing it, I repurposed the name and corporate identity for something that excites me more: a clothing label of my own. “munt” means mountain and points to the Graubünden roots of the idea.
Idea and positioning
Sporty but lifestyle-led: clothing for everyday life, the café and sport, not a trail or outdoor label. For the attitude I look to Sporty & Rich and Aimé Leon Dore, for the philosophy to Uniqlo and Lamarel: high-quality basics you want to wear every day. The market is mainly Switzerland, driven by a community rather than performance marketing. Few products, well made, with a clear stance.
Audience
Three personas around the same way of life: the urban runner in a Zurich run club, the weekend alpinist with a city routine, and the young professional who puts quality before quantity. What they share is a wish for reduced, well-fitting basics with a Swiss connection.
Growth in stages
Instead of starting with a collection, the range grows with validated demand. Stage 1: a Club Tee (CHF 59) and a cap (CHF 39) on high-quality blanks, about 150 pieces on pre-order to test demand. Stage 2: a small capsule with the first own cuts. Stage 3: own production in Portugal or merino from Switzerland. Stage 4: regular drops as recurring community moments. The starting capital is deliberately limited.
Brand
I carried the tax app's corporate identity over to clothing: orange, off-white and black, with an M zigzag as a “way up” and a lowercase, bold wordmark. The attitude is calm and confident, with little text and a lot of material and cut.
Legal and Swissness
For “Made in Switzerland”, at least 60 % of the production cost of industrial goods must arise in Switzerland. Since March 2026 there are also new rules for the Swiss cross, including for “Designed in Switzerland”. The trademark search shows no identical entry for “muntiva”, but a similar-sounding mark. A trademark lawyer's assessment is therefore planned before launch. Below CHF 100,000 in revenue, VAT is not an issue.
Go-to-market
A shop on Shopify with TWINT and pre-order, shipping via Swiss Post. Instead of paid advertising I rely on a Strava club and run-club events, plus a newsletter and waitlist before the first drop. The launch plan has eight phases with clear gates, such as trademark check, samples and pre-order threshold, before any money goes into production.
What it shows
Product thinking in stages with a hypothesis, the smallest test and a decision gate. A business case and unit economics for a physical product. A brand and design system carried from software to clothing. Regulation and trademark law early in product design. And deliberate restraint: test small and profitably rather than plan big.