In short
- The catalogue lists 9 agencies in Cologne. Five are in the Innenstadt district (the old town and the new town); the other four are in Weidenpesch, Mülheim, Rodenkirchen and Weiden.
- Cologne is a television and advertising city: WDR and RTL are based here, so there is plenty of work for commercial models and talent.
- A new tariff, the Rheinlandtarif, has applied since 1 June 2026: a single ticket in Cologne costs €4.00 and a 24-hour ticket €9.60.
- The Deutschlandticket costs €63 a month and also covers the trip to Dusseldorf.
This page covers only what is specific to Cologne. Contracts, commission, tax, rules for minors and registration are covered in the guide Modeling agencies in Germany.
Where Cologne's agencies are
Cologne is the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and our catalogue lists 9 of Germany's 137 agencies here. The catalogue lists every professional agency with a live website and model board whose core business is representing models. It leaves out model schools, sellers of paid Sedcards, photo shoots and courses, hostess and promotion staffing firms and databases where anyone can upload a profile. Each profile shows the company's register number and VELMA membership when they are known. All nine agencies give an address:
| District and quarter | Agencies | Nearest stops |
|---|---|---|
| Innenstadt: Altstadt-Nord | 3: SEVENS, SHOWCAST, TUNE Models | Appellhofplatz, Rathaus, Heumarkt, Hansaring (S and U) |
| Innenstadt: Neustadt-Nord | 1: CM Models | Christophstraße/Mediapark |
| Innenstadt: Altstadt-Süd | 1: Latfro Models | Mauritiuskirche, Poststraße, Neumarkt |
| Nippes: Weidenpesch | 1: EVERYDAY PEOPLE | Neusser Straße/Gürtel |
| Mülheim | 1: FAVoriteFACES | Von-Sparr-Straße, Keupstraße |
| Rodenkirchen | 1: stage24 models | line 16 stops in Rodenkirchen |
| Lindenthal: Weiden | 1: ANBESSA AGENCY | Bahnstraße, Weiden Zentrum, S Köln-Lövenich |
You can walk between the five central agencies or ride a few stops on the underground tram; Stadtbahn lines run to the other four. Mülheim is on the right bank of the Rhine, and the FAVoriteFACES office is on Schanzenstraße, on the former Carlswerk industrial site.
TUNE Models was founded in Munich in 2008 by Florian S. Yüksel; the agency now works from Cologne and, in its own words, has focused on new faces from the start. CM Models scouts, develops and places models for fashion, advertising and media. SHOWCAST has the longest list of boards and says on its website that applying is free. EVERYDAY PEOPLE has operated since 2012, and Latfro Entertainment, which runs Latfro Models, was founded by Carlos Wind in 2001. stage24 models says it has established itself over 20 years in "the media metropolis of Cologne", and SEVENS describes itself as an owner-run people and model agency.
You will find agencies by board on these pages: women (6), men (6), commercial (5), talent (5), new faces (3), curve (2), senior (2), kids (1) and sport (1).
Television, advertising and commercial work
Cologne has no catwalk week: Germany's fashion week is held in Berlin and the order days in Dusseldorf. Cologne's strength is television and advertising. The broadcasters WDR and RTL are based in the city, and in a 2023 interview with the city's business development agency, the then mayor, Henriette Reker, said that about 30% of the content shown on German television is produced in Cologne and that some 6,500 companies work in its cultural and creative industries, with a combined annual turnover of about €9.5 billion.
The agencies reflect this: five of the nine have a commercial board and five a talent board, and FAVoriteFACES and SEVENS call themselves people agencies. Agencies like these need people of every age and type for advertising, television and e-commerce, so height and measurement requirements are looser here than on fashion boards. Our guide to the types of modeling has more.
SHOWCAST explains on its website that in Germany a model usually pays the agency 20–30% of the fee, and that about 20% more is added to the fee for the client. How that fits with the statutory caps on placement fees, and what to put in your contract about commission, is covered in the Germany guide.
How a Lithuanian model gets to Cologne
For fashion work the usual route is through a mother agency in Lithuania, which sends your digitals and measurements. Commercial and people agencies often take applications directly: eight of the nine Cologne agencies have an application page on their own websites. Advertising and television jobs often call for German, so before you apply, check what kind of work the agency would put you forward for. A genuine agency does not charge for applying; being asked to pay for a Sedcard or a compulsory shoot is a sign of a modeling scam.
As an EU citizen you do not need a work permit in Germany. A model who is under 15, or still in compulsory full-time schooling, needs a permit from the district government (Bezirksregierung) for a photo or film shoot, and the application must be made at least two weeks ahead.
Transport and costs
Trams, the Stadtbahn and buses in Cologne are run by KVB. On 1 June 2026 the old VRS and AVV tariffs were replaced by a joint Rheinlandtarif with three price levels; level 1b applies to Cologne. KVB's prices are:
- a short trip (Kurzstrecke, up to four stops, 20 minutes): €2.90;
- a single ticket in Cologne (1b): €4.00, valid for 90 minutes;
- a four-journey ticket (1b): €16.00;
- a 24-hour ticket for one person (1b): €9.60;
- a monthly ticket for Cologne (1b): €100;
- the Deutschlandticket: €63 a month, valid on local and regional transport across Germany.
If you travel only now and then, the app tariff eezy.nrw is handy: you check in when you board and check out when you get off, and pay a base price of €1.66 plus €0.27 per kilometre. A trip never costs more than the matching single ticket, a 24-hour period never more than €27.80 and a calendar month never more than €63. The tariff is valid throughout North Rhine-Westphalia, which is why KVB also recommends it for the trip to Dusseldorf. We found no reliable public data on model apartment prices in Cologne, so ask the agency to state the cost of accommodation in writing.