Going local – Casestudy opens a new production division in Istanbul for better service in Europe.
When Casestudy spotted an opportunity to serve their customers with European garment production better, they faced a question. With a fully vertical business model in the Far East, could they maintain their service with a new production division in Europe? To answer this, the trims company had to source the best people and factories that could complement its successful business model.
According to Casestudy’s Europe Director, Rogier van der Velde, “European production was the next logical step for us. We have seen how our competitors have tried and failed to do it properly, so before we took this step, years of investigation went into this project.”
Taking over three years, Casestudy visited and inspected trim factories throughout Europe. And, after thorough research and strategic thinking, decided that Istanbul was the place that would best serve both their needs and their clients’. Istanbul has a longstanding reputation as a trims producer with strong technical knowledge, and a logistics network into the EU that is impressive.
Casestudy now has three factories in Istanbul that are on par with their factories in China. And the new Istanbul office is the point of contact between clients, sales teams, and their factories in the region. Finding the best people to manage the production and run the office in Istanbul wasn’t easy. Van der Velde says, “In the end, it’s all about people. My main task was to find a smart group of people dedicated to growing our business further. Which we were successfully able to do.”
The Istanbul team have international garment and trims experience, excellent local knowledge, and are fluent in Turkish and English. And, to ensure quality and standards are kept high, the team monitor production in Istanbul daily.
By extending production into Istanbul, Casestudy has eliminated shipping costs from Hong Kong to Europe, saving European garment producers’ time and money. And with a foothold in Istanbul, Casestudy now has a strong presence in two of the world’s major production regions.
Working with trusted local factories means that Casestudy’s global team can continue to be responsible for trim development, from design right through to production. So while Casestudy now produces and operates in different production locations worldwide, they still take care of the entire process centralized.
With this new set up, it’s fair to say Casestudy is growing to become a global company. They are already based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, where they offer a local service with account managers and designers who work closely with a customer to develop a trim package from scratch.
According to van der Velde, their presence in Northern Europe and the West Coast of the US has been quite strong for years now. And with their sales in Scandinavia, Southern Europe and the East Coast of the US rapidly growing, they are working on opening new showrooms with local teams in those regions too. This will, of course, be done on their terms, step-by-step and only with the right people!
About Casestudy
In business since 2003, Casestudy design, develop and produce trims and packaging for the fashion industry. Casestudy is headquartered in Hong Kong with showrooms in Amsterdam and Los Angeles. And now produces in both Far East and Europe region. Because Casestudy produces in-house, they offer a seamless structure that takes out any complications, saving customers time and money while guaranteeing a beautifully designed, quality product.
