June the 16th, 2021 - A team of Croatian designers are set to design A1 Croatia's workwear in a brand new tender which works to keep locally made products in mind.

With the coronavirus pandemic having highlighted, among other things, that we can't always rely on imports and that trying to produce as much as we can locally is the best direction to go in, A1 Croatia have their eyes set on talented Croatian designers, of which there are plenty. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, Telekom A1 Hrvatska/Croatia has announced a tender for Croatian designers to apply for. The tender invites them to design new work clothes for their employees, with a prize fund for the best solutions amounting to 30,000 kuna.

As they explained from the aforementioned company, the whole process, from the selection of the design solution to the very execution and application will be carried out in cooperation with Naftalin, a Croatian company which deals the production of workwear. By making this business move, A1 Croatia wants to give an incentive to Croatian designers and companies.

“The choice of such a company was prompted by the desire to show how some support for a creatively strong part of society can easily enable it to become more visible and to improve and develop its business.

We're aware of the exceptional importance of local production for every community, because we can only grow when the community in which we operate is also growing,'' said Iva Ancic, head of brand and marketing communications at A1 Croatia.

The panel for the selection of the design of the new work clothes also provided a place for one of the employees who, with his advice and first-hand knowledge, will help make the new clothes created by Croatian designers as comfortable as possible and according to the wishes of the employees themselves, the company explains.

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This will be her fourth store, after the ones in Zagreb, Split and Stuttgart, and she also has a web shop from which her products can be shipped to all countries in Europe and America. Croatian fashion designer Aleksandra Dojčinović is about to open a shop in Switzerland, located in the very heart of beautiful Zurich.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of October, 2019, in addition to the boutique in Stuttgart, Germany, this Croatian designer's brand is also present in a number of smaller foreign concept boutiques, and her plans are to go on to conquer distant markets.

"There are many events and collaborations with agencies in Zurich behind me, as well as editorials for Swiss and German fashion magazines. Things have now matured and come to fruition, I'm pleased how both my team and I have prepared for this project and it's great when everything goes the way it should. The space is small, only about forty square metres, but it's located between the Dolce & Gabbana and Louboutin stores, which gives it a dose of exclusivity and luxury. The investment was around the same as it was when I opened the stores in Zagreb and Split, between 700,000 and one million kuna,'' Dojčinović revealed.

According to her, they have not yet grown enough to be able to take on large and strong markets, but they plan to conquer the US, and at the end of the year they will sign contracts to enter the Russian and Australian markets.

"Our store in Stuttgart is also showing great results, and the web shop is designed to send purchased goods to almost all European countries and the US. In Croatia, we generate around 7.5-8 million kuna, with overseas sales carrying around 2.5-3 million kuna in revenue, therefore over 30 per cent of the sales are from overseas. We're still a small brand, but the foundations for growth are solid and well laid out,'' Dojčinović added.

The innovative Croatian designer also noted that in ten months they have released ten ready-to-wear and festive mini-collections and had a show at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb, which hosted world-renowned Croatian scientists. This creator is also the first Croatian participant in the Veuve Clicquot World Competition and the only woman with two EY Entrepreneur of the Year nominations.

Her fashion studio employs 28 workers, and she has noted that she does not intend to expand production.

"I started with only one seamstress, and today there are about thirty of us and we're all women. Production is extremely demanding, and textile production is something that you only do in Croatia only if you love it endlessly. My journey from my humble beginnings to today's results wasn't simple, but it was the only way possible for me. The right figures, given the time, knowledge and energy of the whole team, have not yet been reached, and more serious growth is expected over the next two years,'' concludes Dojčinović.

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