After the long day of travel, we are quite exhausted, and as the next few days will bring many new impressions, we are going to bed early.
The following is on our to-do list: We want to get an overview of our three new production partners, visit the premises, and get to know the people we will be working with from Cologne.
Arrival
Early on Monday morning, we embark on our journey to North Macedonia. This rather small landlocked country is nestled between Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Greece, and Albania. We fly from Cologne/Bonn Airport to Vienna and from there to the capital, Skopje. The city, which is only about 20 kilometers from neighboring Kosovo, is home to about 16%1 of North Macedonia's 2.1 million people.
Together with Philipp, the very cordial head of our Dutch agency, we finally arrive after a seven-hour journey. Here in North Macedonia, it is common to commission an agency, which then collaborates with highly specialized production facilities. One reason for this approach is the often-existing language barrier. The local production companies are, in most cases, family businesses that have been in operation since the 1990s. Almost always, two generations work hand in hand. The descendants of the founders usually speak good English, but for the very specific technical areas of production, a single English-speaking contact within the company is often insufficient.
Beautiful landscapes and a warm welcome
From the airport, we would like to visit the agency directly. During the car journey, we are accompanied by the consistently impressive view of the snow-capped mountain ranges. North Macedonia is surrounded by mountains, and we enjoy the atmosphere exuded by these stony giants.
It is winter cold, but we receive such a warm welcome that we immediately feel at ease. We are impressed by the agency's own pattern studio and the large number of employed garment technicians who are out and about daily at the production facilities of the agency's portfolio, monitoring production.
A long to-do list
Another goal of our visit is to inspect and approve garments from our upcoming collection directly on site. This saves our team in Cologne a great deal of work in the coming weeks, and the production facility can also implement our adjustments early and without the effort of detailed emails and long phone calls. This is because production is currently in full swing – an optimal time for quality control and minor changes.
We check our garments
On Tuesday morning, we travel with agency heads Philipp and Boris and the responsible clothing technician to our partner facility for blouses. And we immediately have a success: Brigitte inspects our blouse and can approve it after a quick check.
We are very satisfied with the production site, and after a delicious lunch, we move on to the next facility: a trouser specialist. In fact, we discover our trousers right on the production line and can inspect them - our second success.
We had a very good feeling at both facilities and are happy to report directly to our Cologne colleagues on the phone about our encounters and the adjustments made.
Great care in the operating facilities
On Wednesday, we will be traveling to the city of Prilep to visit our production facility for blazer manufacturing.
We will spend a whole day at the family-run business, as we need to inspect a large number of blazers and observe the ironing department to see how one blazer after another is ironed with great care.
We are very pleased with the family-like atmosphere and are always impressed by the efficiency with which these businesses operate.
The fact that our agency employs its own garment technicians on-site to monitor production is another major plus.
A company with the best conditions
On Thursday, the last day of our trip, we visited a supplier with whom we are not yet working, but whom we can well imagine working with in the future. Since nothing beats getting to know someone in person, we took the opportunity to visit the entire production facility directly.
We met a dual leadership team consisting of mother and daughter, just like at LANIUS.
And in addition to this commonality, we discovered even more: there is concentrated female power here, coupled with great joy in their work. We are thrilled with the company atmosphere and quickly realized: the employees have known each other for a long time, respect their boss, and despite all the organization and efficiency, always have time for a nice chat.
After an extensive tour of the company, we made plans to work together soon. Perhaps even as early as next season. We are more than happy with the results of our trip and return to Cologne with a good feeling.
