Stefan Herwig had the courage and determination to pursue his business idea.
Everyone knows those little tree-shaped car air fresheners. At first, their scent is almost unbearably strong, then it quickly fades. Stefan Herwig’s car-detailing customers knew the problem too, and inspired him to create his own fragrance for cars.
The idea began to take shape in 2018/2019. Stefan started reading, watching videos and experimenting with raw materials. A trained upholsterer, business administrator and interior designer, he learned the craft by doing. Smiling, he recalls one of his first formulas: “I left it overnight in a plastic shot glass in the cupboard. The next morning, all that was left was a bubbling mass.”
That only motivated him further. He tested many different combinations and studied chemistry. He refined his formulas to make them well tolerated and safe for health. The proportion of hazardous substances is negligible, the developer stresses. It was important to him that the fragrance spray wouldn’t stain dashboards, leather or fabrics. He ruled out ethanol and water as binding agents and instead used a special alcohol from the car-detailing process—with two benefits: the fragrances became stain-free and long-lasting.
Stefan first filled the fragrances into simple spray bottles, labelled them with a marker and gave them to his car-detailing customers. “What can I say? They loved them,” Herwig recalls. “They all wanted more.” He then studied the applicable regulations, from safety notices to the Green Dot, so he could begin production in earnest. At the same time, he developed the LOCKSTOFF. brand and its marketing strategy.
At first, orders trickled into the online shop at www.lockstoffpunkt.de. The breakthrough came at the Essen Motor Show in December 2021. He booked an exhibitor space without high expectations and was overwhelmed. Within three of the ten days, he had covered his fixed costs, and crowds were gathering around the stand. Online orders took off. Since then, the show has been part of LOCKSTOFF.’s marketing activities.
Trade shows also create valuable connections. The head of a well-known care-products manufacturer offered to take over LOCKSTOFF.’s production if hand-making and bottling the products in the attic at home in Hahnenklee could no longer meet demand. More than 25,000 bottles have already been made there.
Stefan Herwig’s advice to founders is to go for it when it feels right. Courage, resilience and perseverance are his ingredients for business success. “I didn’t know whether it would work,” Herwig says. “But I didn’t want to turn 60 and regret not trying.”
