Stimulating brand production via cooperation among education, designers and companies in Macedonia Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Design, Creativity, Innovation and IPR in Textile and Clothing Industry March 2014, Florence

Facts about Macedonian TCI  Important industry for Macedonian economy  1/3 from total export  1/3 from nr. of employee in the industry  Mostly export oriented:  predominantly CMT type of production  No fabric producers  Moving up value chain  Raising of awareness  Cooperation with universities  Cooperation with designer organizations  Government support programmes  EU IPA programmes

Cooperation with education institutions  Technology and metallurgy university – Institute for textile engineering  European university - Faculty for design  Textile high schools and art schools  Conferences: Textile conference with international participation, Conference for design and product development  Lecturers: from Germany and USA - design, marketing and sales.  Seminars: Time study, productivity, quality  Workshops: pattern making, software tools – Computer added design (CAD)  Companies visits: Introduction of the production possibilities in front of the students  Practice: Students are obliged every year to have one month practice in the production facility

Cooperation with FWSK  Organization of tribunes and fashion conferences  Stimulating cooperating among designers and companies – fabric donation and production of designed collections  Events: JAZ and POP Fashion!  Yang designers cooperate with apparel companies in collection production;  Match making between designers and producers;  Increased interest for cooperation form producer sides;  Designers still more interested to work as freelancers!

Government programmes: Support creativity and innovations – Ministry of economy  Program for SMS’s:  Development of new product;  Development of product logo, label and prom. materials;  Development of own brand;  Marketing strategy and market research;  Program for Clusters:  Net building among Clusters and Universities;  Innovation and brand production;  Development of export strategy;  Organization of thematic fairs;  Development of quality standards;  Program for Universities:  Organization of trainings and seminars for improvements in quality, productivity and product development.

Project – IPA CBC programme GR/FYROM  “Development of a Fashion Business Center (FBC) for offering support and development mechanisms to the fashion sector ”  Establishment of FBC - Product development and design  Collection design and pattern manufacturing services  Libraries with fashion trends and historical data for fashion industry  Link with the international fashion forecasting database (WGSN)  Support business development and cooperation  Networking of businesses and enterprises in the cross-border area  B2B events and on line database  Training services:  Business courses for professionals on business aspects (product costing, fashion branding, export marketing)  Specialized courses for yang designers and designers working in a fashion companies  e-learning platform

Textile Trade Association – Textile Cluster - Macedonia Natasa Sivevska Executive director Tel Mob Internet: