Steve,
Most of my Loden is now in pretty bad shape and since I live in Alabama, I got pretty excited by your posting and went right to their site. I was disappointed by the selection( but I understand small demand=small selection), but the main thing was their prices. I can see now why young Germans seem to be moving away from traditional clothing.
Mike
Thing is, the younger Germans are actually getting into wearing traditional clothing - Trachtenmode. E.g.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/world/europe/germany-bavaria-dirndl-lederhosen.htmlI saw it a couple years ago in Stuttgart. They had the Fruhlingsfest while I was there (think Oktoberfest in May, but mostly Germans and not tourists). All the kids were going nightly and especially on weekends all done up. Signs in the hair salons encouraging girls to get their hair done in all the braids (and they did). There was Trachtenmode on sale in the department stores. One could get a complete getup for like 200 Euros.
See the same thing in the Munich paper every year come Oktoberfest: articles on what's the fashion in dirndls this year, how to tie the apron (knot on the left hip = single, right hip = got a boyfriend, middle back = widow or waitress, middle front = jungfrau), etc., etc.
I think it's a sign of re-emergence of German-ness and German identity, particularly in the face of "Europe" and the large-scale immigration they've gone through, not only of refugees in the last couple years but also since internal European borders came down and the EU expended eastward. Or it could just be a long-term fad.
As to the loden, it's darned expensive and that might be as good a reason as any for why it's not as popular (if that's the case).
