Roger Klüh becomes a grandfather and goes into fashion

Jan 31, 2025

Roger Klüh with his fiancée Jessica Frühbrodt a few days ago at the Blue Motion Night at the Boot trade fair in Düsseldorf. Photo: Wolfgang Harste

Describing the man as polarizing is quite apt. How he is, what he is - even those who think they know him disagree. Among other things, he is a son. His father Josef built up a service company that now employs around 60,000 people. Roger also lives from this success. And can go his own way.

Finding out where Roger Klüh is at any given time is usually not a problem. He and his fiancée Jessica Frühbrodt diligently cater to the appetites of various social media portals. In an open Bentley with a Havana in his mouth on the way to Las Vegas. Or in a cowboy outfit in the vastness of Montana. Or skillfully wagging on the slopes of the French ski resort of Courchevel. Shortly before he shared these videos on the slopes, he was in the Scottish Highlands. There he shows himself eye to eye with a 16-point stag. He doesn't shoot it, but simply observes and films it, of course. On the side, Jessica practises clay pigeon shooting and proves her natural talent: a hit with her first shot. Her instructor is a tough guy, a former member of the British Special Air Service (SAS). Roger likes that sort of thing.

Klüh junior gets around quite a bit. There's enough time for that because he hasn't been close to his father's company for a long time. At least not physically. And he has the necessary money anyway. Royalties flow regularly, according to the Düsseldorf business community. He himself talks neither about money nor about the company.

In other words, this big boy of advanced age with hair more than shoulder-length enjoys and leads a life in a kind of gigantic adventure playground for those for whom age is a number rather than a condition. He will be 60 in the summer and his comment: “I'm not a statistician."

Even people outside his fan group have to admit, without envy, how little you can see of his six decades. You have to get up close to spot the gray strands in his luxuriant beard. The still thick brown hair is not thinning anywhere. And if it is, it conceals it well. A life in the smoothly paved fast lane.

Soon, however, a new challenge awaits, one that cannot be influenced by charm, chutzpah, power or money: Roger is going to be a grandfather. Every day he awaits the news that his youngest son Jeffrey will become a dad and he will become a grandfather. A problem with that? Not at all, as he convincingly assures us. On the contrary. He's looking forward to it, and you can hear that. He has traveled south to ski in France so that he can immediately stand at attention on the pampers front and will immediately set off for St. Tropez, where his son lives with his partner. Grandpa Roger wants to be there when the youngest member of the family arrives. That is happening these days. Oh yes: it's going to be a girl.

And what else? Montana has recently been the dream destination. The reason for this is simple. The Netflix series “Yellowstone” showed him - like many others - the dreamlike landscape of this US state in the far north-west of the USA. As big as Germany, as many inhabitants as Cologne, i.e. around one million. There's plenty of room for everyone who wants to escape from what annoys them. Roger is one of them. He wants distance from people, seeks solitude. For whatever reason.

The series character of the rustic rancher John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner), who lives by his own rules and has no regard for the opinions of others, impresses him. He immediately changed his clothes, flew to Montana, stayed for a few weeks and had fun posting pictures of himself in cowboy gear. Fringes, wide-brimmed hat, Colt on his belt. How does that look? He doesn't care. Completely. He feels good. And that's all that matters. “In Montana, all is still well with the world.” That's what he says and he really believes it.

In any case, he has found inspiration for another aspect of his life there: Fashion. His already established label “APACHE STAR” offers clothes for outdoor life in Aspen, St. Moritz or Meerbusch. T-shirts, jackets, coats. The US affinity is clear, with the impressive head of a chieftain with huge feathers emblazoned here and there. A jacket like this (approx. 3000 euros) makes you want to get on your next horse and ride off into the dusk like John Wayne.

Verona Pooth, neighbor of the Klüh family in Meerbusch, and Boris Becker's ex-wife Lilly like to pose in the label's clothes. They will be presenting it at Fashion Week in Paris at the beginning of March. His partner Jessica is the brand manager, Roger gives his name and remains in the background. He calls his role “supporting storyteller”.

Incidentally, the name “APACHE STAR” is that of a speedboat that Roger used to make the journey between Key West in Florida and Cuba in record time in 2015. An event that still shapes his life, of which he is proud and about which he wrote a book: The Art of Speed.

Now the name also stands for clothing - fast indeed, but not at the speed that gives these boats their life-threatening thrills. The first stores are already open and are located in St. Tropez and Cannes to match the overall surroundings. The pieces are produced by a company in Turkey that also works for the Nasa space organization.

Roger, who played for DEG in the 1980s (his father Josef shaped the club as president from 1984 to 1998), has retained his closeness to ice hockey from this time. He now wanted to intensify this and applied for the Vice-Presidency of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB). In addition to his passion for the sport, there were other motives behind this: As he sells nutritional supplements as well as fashion, he would have liked to install a partnership on the basis of “healthy sporting nutrition”. However, this was rejected with reference to the difficult doping law situation in the USA.

Whether he would have really enjoyed the job with its many appointments is at least doubtful. After all, Klüh has recently been living on the street. He left his permanent address in Düsseldorf's Zooviertel district three years ago and moved into a jet-black mobile home. It is 23 square meters in size and is equipped for comfortable living. Even the box in the back for the motorcycle (a Mutt from England) is heated. Rambo the dog (a Cane Corso) also likes it. This makes it easier for the 50-kilo male dog to fulfill his pronounced protective instinct for the pack. However, he is extremely hostile towards other creatures outside the group. Which he conveys convincingly with his appearance and behavior.

And so the Düsseldorfer rolls along the roads of Europe, sometimes here, sometimes there. If further trips by plane are planned, the Rolling Home is parked at a base station not far from Munich, near Jessica's parents' property.

There is plenty of space, even for Rambo.