FOCUS DENMARK 04/2009

THEME: FASHION INDUSTRY

Predicting the fashion industry’s needs

The ambition of Scandinavia’s largest design and business school in the fashion industry, Denmark’s TEKO, is to constantly know the needs of the industry – and preferably before the industry itself. A close collaboration with the corporate sector aims to ensure that jobs in the fashion industry are not shifted abroad.

By Anne Klejsgård Hansen

The sewing machines are still lined up in rows as they were fifty years ago when the Angli shirt factory was based in the main building of what is now the Danish design and business school TEKO. But whereas it was then the sewing machinists’ rustic footwear which operated the treadles, today it is trendy stilettos, knee-length boots, trainers and even men’s shoes which keep the machines humming.

“A lot has happened over the years, and that will continue. But the focal point has always been to combine beautiful design, fine craftsmanship and good business sense,” says head of TEKO Anne Mette Zachariassen.

TEKO is Scandinavia’s largest design and business school, and a quarter of the school’s 1,000 students come from outside Denmark. It is especially the school’s combination of the mercantile and the creative which attracts young design talent to Jutland from far and wide. Most Danish educational institutions are located in the principal cities like Copenhagen and Århus, but TEKO is situated in Herning, a provincial town of around 50,000 citizens.

“We are well aware that young people do not choose us because they have always dreamed of living in Herning, but it is our experience that the vast majority become very fond of the place. And TEKO itself is a sort of town within a town which, at least during exam periods, becomes the students’ second home,” explains Anne Mette Zachariassen.

An industry in constant change

The number of people employed in the Danish fashion industry has remained fairly stable over the last hundred years, but the type of work has changed radically. The sewing machinists from Angli’s shirt factory would have difficulty finding a job today, since almost all production jobs have been moved abroad because of the high wage costs in Denmark. Instead, many other jobs have emerged in the fashion industry.

“As production jobs have moved out, the focus has shifted to design, development, strategy and operation. And if we are to preserve our raison d’être, it is essential that we constantly stay ahead of developments,” says Anne Mette Zachariassen and elaborates:

“Previously I always said that we had to swim synchronously with the industry, but I have discovered that this is not good enough. We actually have to swim ahead.”

TEKO therefore uses lots of resources on continuous market analysis to spot the latest trends. And it is not enough to predict what the industry will want in six months. Often it is necessary to think many years ahead, for example if TEKO wants to establish new educational courses to meet the industry’s future requirements. Before the course can be offered, comprehensive development work is needed. It then takes three or four years before the first students are ready to enter the market.

“We are for example currently working on a textile engineering course. Our experience is that many companies want people with a basic knowledge of textiles, and naturally we would like to satisfy this wish,” says Anne Mette Zachariassen.

Photo: TEKO

High employment rate

Despite the creative courses having not always been the safest path to a job, TEKO can boast of a high employment rate for its students. In recent years, only around 4 per cent of school leavers have not found a job after six months, and according to Anne Mette Zachariassen that is very much the result of TEKO’s close collaboration with the corporate sector.

“It is my clear impression that the industry feels they get an employee who can enter directly into the company if they choose one who has been trained here. Throughout the educational course students have close contact with the corporate sector for example through internship and exam projects,” says Anne Mette Zachariassen.

In addition, TEKO interviews a large number of fashion firms every second year to examine the challenges faced by the industry, and what companies expect of new employees. This analysis is used to help ensure that TEKO students have the competences that the industry wants.

“It is often the TEKO analysis that determines which path we take,” says Anne Mette Zachariassen.

Timing is essential

TEKO’s comprehensive analysis and close collaboration with the industry have resulted in the school becoming acknowledged for its ability to spot new trends long before the industry expresses its needs. Anne Mette Zachariassen has to think hard to recall any false predictions. But she acknowledges that the school
has sometimes been too far ahead of the market.

“There is no doubt that timing is essential, and that we have sometimes launched new ideas too early. For example, in 2000 we started focusing on sustainable textiles, and that turned out to be a bit too early,” says Anne Mette Zachariassen.

She emphasises however that in the long term, this prediction has turned out to be right.

“Since then, a huge focus has come on this area, and this has given us the lead for almost 10 years now. In that period
we have amassed knowledge that is very valuable today,” she says.

She believes that sustainable textiles and intelligent textiles will have great significance in the coming years, both for TEKO and for the fashion industry in general.

Although Anne Mette Zachariassen doubts whether the sewing machinist jobs, as they were at Angli’s shirt factory in the first half of the twentieth century, will reappear in the Danish fashion industry, she is certain that classic craftsmanship will become one of the strongest trends.

“If craftsmanship doesn’t keep pace, we risk becoming international leaders in innovation without knowing what to use the innovation for. So I think we will see a strong focus on textiles in the future,” she says.

Tailored to the real world

Photo: TEKO

How do you design a fashionable, comfortable, hard-wearing and inexpensive hospital uniform? 24 year old Annette Vang is tackling that problem as part of her degree in pattern design

By Anne Klejsgård Hansen

In summer 2010, 24 year old Annette Vang expects to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in pattern design. But before that can happens, there are a couple of projects that have to be completed.

Together with a group of fellow students, she is currently engrossed in designing a fashionable, comfortable, hard-wearing and inexpensive staff uniform for a large new Danish regional hospital. Although Annette Vang has hitherto primarily occupied herself with fashion clothes, the task is not completely foreign to her. Because whenever TEKO’s students tackle a design problem for an exam, it is always to find a solution that can be used “in the real world”.

A project with commercial potential

Midtvask, one of Denmark’s leading commercial laundries – is the company behind the examination project. They have the task of developing the new hospital uniform, and it is very likely that Annette Vang or one of her fellow students will be responsible for the design.

“It’s funny to think that if I go to the hospital some day, it could be that the staff will be wearing a uniform that I designed,” says Annette Vang.

As part of a previous examination project, she designed several patterns for the collections of renowned Danish design company Baum und Pferdgarten. Her designs were taken into use, and a number of them have already found their way onto the hangers in the clothes shops.

The commercial angle is a critical factor in the overall assessment of the project.

A beautiful design in itself is not enough – it must also carry through into the real world, so things like comfort, durability and economy play just as important a role in the project.

“Obviously, it’s essential that a hospital uniform is comfortable to wear. In addition, the project sets a limit on how much a single uniform can cost, and specifies that it must be hard-wearing and washable at high temperatures,” explains Annette Vang.

The students consequently spend a lot of time looking at the price, durability and comfort of materials, whilst also taking production costs into consideration.

Network helps in finding a job

The company behind the examination project also takes part in the assessment, and Annette is in no doubt that it is a great advantage for the students that they work so closely with the industry.

“It creates a fantastically good network, and that’s a must when we emerge onto the job market. It’s happened several times that I have received offers as a result of my network,” explains Annette Vang.

She confidently expects therefore that her network will come to play a decisive role when she has completed her studies and goes in search of an attractive job in the fashion industry.

And while Annette thinks that a hospital uniform is a splendid challenge, her dream is still to land a job with one of the leading Danish fashion design houses in Copenhagen:

“We shall see,” she grins, before returning to studied consideration of which material is the optimal choice for a hospital uniform.

Companies consolidate activities in the crisis

Kaffe’s autumn 2009 collection offers a mix of patterns, artistic prints, new silhouettes and mystery.

Photo: Bruuns Bazaar

Danish fashion companies are preparing for the future by consolidating activities. They are keeping their own brands to appear externally as different companies, but share back-office infrastructure. Thereby they reduce costs without relinquishing their brands

By Anne Klejlsgård Hansen

The financial crisis has made it harder for Danish fashion companies to generate earnings, and a clear picture is emerging of an industry that will have fewer, but larger, players. Costs must be cut but design must continue to blossom, is the industry’s mantra.

“Many of the smaller companies have tended to focus on design at the expense of business, so a number of them have not capitalised on the awareness they have created for their design. But the crisis is forcing them to change,” says Michael Hillmose, export manager in the trade association Danish Fashion and Textile.

The trend is for larger fashion companies to acquire or enter partnerships with smaller companies which already have a known brand, but which have not yet managed to translate it into a cost-effective business.

“The global economic crisis has undoubtedly sparked this trend, but I am certain that when the crisis has passed, it will prove to have been the right course. With larger units, companies can cut costs by sharing administrative procedures, production facilities and sales channels,” says Michael Hillmose, who is convinced that the Danish fashion industry as a whole will be in a stronger position after the crisis than it was before.

In recent years, Danish fashion companies have catwalked their way onto the international fashion scene, where names such as Munthe + Simonsen, Day Birger Mikkelsen, Malene Birger, Baum und Pferdgarten and Bruuns Bazaar have found fame beyond Denmark’s borders.

It has typically been clothes for the upper middle segment, where the focus has been on creating classic, practical clothes with a modern twist.

The fashion industry is currently Denmark’s fourth largest export business.

Great expectations of partnerships

One of the smaller fashion companies to have joined forces with a larger player, is Karen By Simonsen, created by the designer Karen Simonsen who has joined DK Company. She was formerly half of the well-known designer duo Munthe + Simonsen. At the start of the new millennium, the company was riding on a wave of success, but didn’t succeed in translating the great attention and satisfactory revenues into results on the bottom line. At times, the company was under heavy financial pressure.

“I have been in the industry for 15 years, and I know that business is as important as design in making an enterprise work. And by having a strong partner, I get more time and energy for the creative process, which is the core of my company,” says Karen Simonsen.

Karen By Simonsen is only one year old, and Karen Simonsen has great expectations that the partnership with DK Company will strengthen her expansion opportunities.

“By exploiting the channels that DK Company has, both in relation to production and sales, I can reduce my costs and so offer a design product at a price which most will find affordable,” she says.

Karen By Simonsen’s motto is “Luxury for less”, the aim being to exploit the gap in the market which according to Karen Simonsen has emerged because of the financial crisis.

“In many places, high-end products are having a difficult time at the moment, but I believe that people would still like to have luxury – they just don’t want to pay quite as much for it,” she says.

Focus on costs

According to DK Company, which in recent years has acquired a number of hard-pressed smaller fashion companies, it is especially the lack of focus on costs which has made life difficult for these firms.

“Many have focused 80 per cent on design and branding and only 20 per cent on the bottom line. We have seen several examples of smaller companies spending more than EUR 130,000 on developing a catalogue,” says Jens Obel, managing director of Kaffe Clothing, the section of DK Company that has partnered with Karen Simonsen.

“We have great expectations of Karen Simonsen. She is a great designer, and she has a strong brand. So with the right business sparring she can become a major international name,” says Jens Obel.

DK Company has activities in 24 countries, and although the financial crisis is continuing, the company still has sizeable growth ambitions.

Bruuns Bazaar, which designs classic clothes of high quality for the upper middle segment, has also used the crisis to hit the acquisition trail: this summer it acquired Danish fashion firm Baum und Pferdgarten. Bruuns Bazaar’s creative director Bjørn Bruun makes no secret of the fact that more acquisitions could be on the way.

“We have probably run our company slightly more conservatively than many others, and that gives us some opportunities now. So we are keeping an eye on what is happening in the market, and whether there are other companies that can be interesting to us,” says Bjørn Bruun.

He emphasises however that Bruuns Bazaar is very choosy, and that acquisitions require extensive analysis.

“A partnership is like a marriage. It’s not all plain sailing, and it is important to do your research properly before you plunge into it,” he says.

Elegance and simplicity in Bruuns Bazaar’s autumn 2009 collection.

Photo: Kaffe Company.

Alignment of expectations

Michael Hillmose of Danish Fashion and Textile concurs that it is very important to agree on the premises for collaboration. He has seen several examples of different expectations from the two parties destroying a company.

“It is no use if the designer wants to make haute couture, and the export manager wants inexpensive T-shirts. We have seen a few examples of a designer/ entrepreneur being very unhappy about someone going in and interfering with ’their brainchild’,” he says.

He emphasises however that both parties can emerge stronger from a collaboration if they make sure of having clear guidelines from the beginning.

And it is exactly these clear guidelines that have been essential in the collaboration between Karen Simonsen and DK Company, and between Baum und Pferdgarten and Bruuns Bazaar.

“We shouldn’t change each other, but supplement each other so that both parties are strengthened. It is important that each company keeps its own brand and appears as one company externally,” says Jens Obel of DK Company.

Michael Hillmose believes this strategy is correct.

“It is essential that Danish fashion companies have a clear profile if they are to do well abroad. And I think we will see that companies will be forced to pare down to their core product, and that it will actually strengthen them after the crisis,” he says.

He predicts that Danish fashion companies’ work with sustainable and intelligent textiles will strengthen their position internationally.

Intelligent textiles gain ground

Intelligent textiles are gaining ground all over the world, and Focus Denmark puts the spotlight on three Danish designers and companies working in this area

By Anne Klejsgård Hansen

Astrid Krogh, textile designer: Curtains with integrated solar cells

Textile designer Astrid Krogh’s latest product, a curtain with integrated solar cells, is certainly topical in the current climate debate. The curtain uses solar radiation to create heat, thereby reducing a building’s climate impact and its owner’s heating bill.

The curtain is planned to be available in shops in 2010, at a price roughly on a par with ordinary curtains.

Astrid Krogh has developed the curtain in collaboration with the National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy at the Technical University of Denmark (Risø DTU), which has contributed its comprehensive knowledge of plastic solar cells that enable exploitation of the sun’s energy in an inexpensive and efficient way.

The curtains were presented for the first time at an exhibition in the Danish Design Centre in autumn 2009.