Danish Fashion Going Global - Spandet And Partners

DANISH FASHION GOING GLOBAL 17
company. Fashion is only bought with creativity, identity, individuality, image building,
and marketing. Clever CEOs appreciate and fully understand that creativity cannot
always be measured and analyzed in a spreadsheet or justified in a cost-benefit
analysis. Similarly, a designer should make the best thinkable design and products
which will beat the competitors’ products when they are presented to the consumers.
At the same time the designer must control his or her ego and respect the CEO.
The world of business does not equal the design process. A designer must respect
the fact that fashion is only sold long term wrapped in leadership, controlling, supply
chain, proper distribution, and profitable operation. Business can always be
measured and analyzed in a spreadsheet.
Richard Branson explained the situation well by stating, “I’ve never been particularly
good at numbers, but I think I’ve done a reasonable job with feelings. And I’m
convinced that it is feelings—and feelings alone—that account for the success of the
Virgin brand in all of its myriad forms.” Bernard Arnault, founder, chairman, and CEO
of LVMH, a large luxury goods conglomerate with Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Donna
Karan, and many more brands, explained well the need of a strong business control
of design and the brand through distribution by stating, “If you control your factory,
you control your quality; if you control your distribution, you control your image.”
The 1 I
Innovation—“The I”
Despite the wipeout of brands in the international fashion industry caused by the
financial crisis, competition is still fierce. It is imperative that the Danish fashion
industry improves its power of innovation within all areas of the primary and
secondary activities of value chain to take part in the global opportunities. Innovation
does not equal “me too marketing” but true innovation which the Danish government
wants to dose with the milk to the schoolchildren.
Innovation is about investing your brain capacity in next practice, not in best practice.
Spending time searching for best practice and examining benchmarking exercises
will never guarantee the business lead. Concentrating on analyzing what will be the
“next” practice and organizing strategically to fit this framework is what is defined as
innovation.
As discussed under the 2 Es, fashion depends on a fine balance between the
creative and commercial competencies and a mutual respect for the creative, the
commercial, and the overall strategy. The overall leadership ensuring that the
strategy is executed well requires control of the creativity. In the new economy focus
has shifted from spotting trends and converting these into beautiful fashion clothing