Danish Fashion

Realizing the growth potential of small Danish fashion companies

Department of Marketing Author: Razieh Negarandeh Cand.merc. MCM Master Thesis Supervisor: Lise Skov Copenhagen Business School April 2008

Executive summary

The Danish fashion industry consists of about 92% one-man companies and only about 2% who have more than five employees. Even though it still has the sixth largest export commodity in Denmark in 2006 and has a turnover of about DKK 23 billion in 2007. This contradiction was one the reasons for this thesis choice of research. There is a focus on how can the small fashion companies best be assisted to overcome the challenges they face to grow and become successful.

An overview of the international industry is given in order to give a background understanding and how the strong the competition is. Next and overview of the Danish fashion industry is given first its history and development and next the facts and figures that enables to get a deeper understanding of the fashion industry today. Subsequently the initiatives taken by the government and the fashion industry are discussed. It illustrates that the government is willing to assist the SMEs within fashion and has put forward some initiatives that now needs to be developed further by the fashion industry and its stakeholders. In order to give a practical example on how the SMEs within fashion can be assisted, London College of Fashion has been used as a best example case. It is excellent learning example that should be studied by the stakeholders within Danish fashion industry and the government.

Next Management of SMEs was analysed on a theoretical base and practical base. An important part of making a fashion company successful is the marketing and branding aspect. As argued by Saviola et al. “Fashion is all about the intangible values and the intangible values it creates“ thus branding is the ultimate tool to create this. The theories on how to create a strong, favourable, and...