First global fashion brand from Serbia - Trikotaza Ivkovic exports 90% of production

It is very rare for a product that rolls out of a production line to be called authentic, but there are also very few people who may stay indifferent to any creation of the fashion company Trikotaza Ivkovic.

- We do not sell fashion, but art – Milos Ivkovic, CEO of this company whose brand Ivko is famous worldwide, says to eKapija.

What makes their clothing pieces different from those made by other companies is a rich coloring inspired by folk motifs and a handicraft-like knitting.

Even the most famous Russian designer Slava Zajcev gave the following comment on the Serbian brand:

- What you do was modern 50 years ago, it is modern now, and it will be modern over the next 50 years, because you do not create fashion, but art.

Trikotaza Ivkovic is not the first successful business story that has its roots in a hobby. Milos' mother Danica left her job at ZTP (the Railway Transport Company) in Sarajevo and dedicated herself to knitting. They sold the first pieces of clothing at a flea market and moved the production to Bolec near Belgrade in 1995, and today they have two production facilities in Serbia, a company in Germany and a network of 700 retail stores in 30 countries worldwide.

As our interlocutor explains, a major milestone occurred in 2004, after the fashion expo in Dusseldorf.

- We were then encouraged to start selling our goods abroad, and today we export 90% of our production.

(Milos Ivkovic)

Trikotaza Ivkovic is a good example of how a small company can be successful in the global market. They are present in over 30 countries worldwide, including Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, the USA, Hong Kong, China...

- We currently negotiate with a distributor in Canada and plan to increase our presence in the United States. However, we find China the most interesting market for our future operations. We've also designed a strategy for marketing our goods in the Russian market – Ivkovic says and stresses that Ivko has a potential to become the first global fashion brand from Serbia.

Ivkovic points out that a young team of designers participate in the creation of that brand, adding that they also work with international fashion institutions.

- We have trainees from England and Germany at our company. It is also possible that our designers will become lecturers at foreign faculties - Ivkovic announces.

Aside from a production facility in Belgrade, Trikotaza Ivkovic also has a factory in Blace that employs 74 people.

- Since the factory in Blace produces good results, we plan to focus our future development on that production site. That is the foundations for our future because we've got an impression that manpower at that factory is great, which was not the case in Belgrade.

Speaking about the growth forecast for the next few years, our interlocutor says that they plan to double their turnover until 2015.

The current turnover of Trikotaza Ivkovic's dependent companies amounts to about EUR 4 million per year.

Trikotaza Ivkovic has won the 2011 ProBusiness Leader award in the category of small enterprises, which is presented by ProCredit Bank.

M.K.