“If we had to select the most fashionable, practical and environmentally respectful case for our phone, it would be a Xouxou case”. Read below and you will find out why!

XOUXOU began as a creative macramé project in 2015. It was a grim Berlin winter and company founder Yara Jentzsch Dib was pregnant with her first child. Handcrafts were a welcome distraction, making fabric pieces and wall hangings grow alongside her belly. One of the first XOUXOU pieces was an intricately knotted crib for her first born son Pan. A life-long passion for interior, crafts and design made Yara experiment with different kinds of ropes and knotting techniques. Her curiosity in the material, paired with the sudden problem of literally having both hands full with a newborn baby, led to the creation of the XOUXOU smartphone necklace.

Wanting to find a way to enjoy motherhood to the fullest while being able to work at the same time, organizational skills and streamlining daily routines became a priority. Juggling parenting schedules, capturing special moments of their son growing up on camera, whilst also running a thriving small business from home – Yara´s smartphone became an important tool and everyday ally. Rummaging through her bag to find the phone, or losing it at the playground was simply not an option anymore. After putting together an early prototype of a smartphone necklace and getting asked where one could buy it on the daily, Yara decided to add it to her Macramé online shop – the rest is history.

As her own family was expanding and the interest in the product grew bigger and bigger, Yara decided to widen her product range, constantly adding new colors and styles of smartphone necklaces to her online store. With the birth of their second son her partner Richard came on board to help run the company and XOUXOU quickly developed into a thriving family business.What started with handmade products from Berlin is now a thriving and internationally acclaimed fashion tech brand. In December 2018 the 100000th smartphone necklace was sold and there is no decrease in demand. In addition to always improving and developing their product range, XOUXOU will focus on expanding into other markets and fashioning products that allow for more freedom and flexibility – helping you to keep your hands free!

In addition to their popular basic series, which made XOUXOU the market leader in wearable tech accessories, the young brand expanded its repertoire in 2019 with the Modular Collection. On-par with their mission to unite technology and fashion, their patented new single-mold silicone cases can now be personalized and combined with a multitude of ropes and lanyards in an ever-changing array of colors, making it easy and fun to match your tech accessories to your moods and outfits.

In addition to XOUXOUs classic woven rope options, the lanyard is a new variation on the mobile phone chain: discreetly branded with the companies’ signature XX pattern, flat, wider and sportier than their slender ropes, the lanyards are available as part of the modular collection for iPhones from model 7/8/SE onwards.

For their upcoming Fall/Winter 21 collection, XOUXOU is launching 5 new color ways, while also rolling out several significant technical improvements on the original Modular series. In response to customer feedback, the new and improved 2.0 Modular series will feature a silicone mold that is reinforced with metal cord channels for more strength and durability. Updated lanyard features include a novel release buckle and rotatable trigger hook for more comfort and flexibility. The full Modular 2.0 collection features the new color ways Chalk, Taupe, Sage, Baby Blue and Rusty Red and is available online.

“For us, the Modular Collection is constantly evolving. We are working hard to implement the feedback and wishes of our customers and never cease to tweak and develop our products and brand aesthetics,” says founder Yara. Her focus lies on even more flexibility, fun and individuality – the customer can decide how they want to match and wear their XOUXOU chain. Lanyard or Rope? Metal or colored hardware? The individual elements can be easily and endlessly combined. “With the Modular Collection, we are returning to the DIY idea from which XOUXOU originated,” says Yara Jentzsch Dib, “just as I initially combined chain and case to fit my needs, our customers can now choose and combine their own designs online, creating a product that perfectly accommodates their tastes and needs.

What started with a product handmade at a Berlin kitchen table is now a thriving and internationally growing family business. In 2020 the 450.000 mobile phone chain was sold and there is no decrease in demand. In addition to always improving and developing their product range, XOUXOU is rounding out this year by expanding their marketing and sales efforts to North America and targeting new key audiences and demographics.

While the days are getting shorter in Europe, XOUXOU teamed up with Berlin Expat and director Nathini van der Meer to shoot their latest campaign in sunny Los Angeles. Inspired by the brands claim “keep your hands free” van der Meer opted to shoot creative friends and people in her surroundings making art, music, repairing and building things with those freed up hands – XOUXOU create! A father and son refurbishing vintage cars together, a group of dancers, a girl playing electric guitar on a rooftop, a friend throwing ceramics in her studio.

“This whole campaign was inspired to some extent by the many months we all spent in home quarantine this year. Everybody’s world became smaller, more personal for a while, and I loved to see many people posting on their Instagram stories about the creative projects and endeavors they suddenly had the time for. People who hadn’t played music in years suddenly began to teach themselves piano, my friend Jmae and his father began to refurbish a vintage car together. It was a strange and challenging time, but it also brought a lot of people and families closer together and opened up new avenues of expression. All those images of learning, craft and the creative power we all seem to carry within our bodies and hands, accumulated in my mind for months, and as the country slowly began to open back up, testing became more readily available and the industry began to carefully ease back into work mode, I felt the strong urge to center the first campaign I shoot around these topics.”

The YASS experience

We tried the XOUXOU cases in YASS and we have to admit that we were more than impressed. The feeling of not carrying your phone in your hands and just wearing it, made things so much easy! Suddenly, your phone feels lightweight and easily accessible any time you need it, let alone the fact that you will never lose it. Additionally, it looks great, and there are tons of ropes and lanyards in different colours to match with your outfit. Definitely, the best gadget for the modern influencer.

http://www.XOUXOU.com @XOUXOU