Over 10 years, Merete Wang Andersen has built a recognised brand with an insistence on doing the sales trips herself and keeping her feet planted in the Fyn soil. Here, founder and CEO Merete Wang Andersen talks about having a condition report made on her own fashion company and daring to look inward rather than glancing at competitors.
Merete Wang Andersen is often described as an energetic whirlwind in the industry. An entrepreneur type known for her drive, who would rather be out in the field than behind a desk. She founded Costamani in 2015, when, after many years in the fashion industry, she wanted to create something unique that could stand out on the clothes rails. Back then, she was involved in all tasks and processes across all parameters. Today she has eight employees and 11 agents, but there are certain tasks she holds on to:
“I handle the sales on Zealand myself, among other things, because it is crucial for me to have my hands in the engine room. It is important that I am that person myself. I get feedback directly from customers, and then I can more easily sense what is needed. I can also clearly see it in our collections – they have only become stronger,” Merete Wang Andersen says.
Information from customers is therefore regarded as gold. When customers ask for a specific knit or detail, she listens. That ensures the collections hit the mark with the feminine styles and unique prints that characterise Costamani.
A condition report on the business
In an industry marked by constant change and strong competition, Costamani has chosen a strategy about looking inward. The company has recently had a so-called condition report prepared on the business to find optimisation opportunities within their own four walls:
“We constantly work on ourselves instead of looking at our competitors. It is simply about holding on and constantly improving,” Merete Wang Andersen says.
The report pointed to small and concrete improvements. That willingness to always be agile and constantly improve has also paid off on the bottom line, which is prioritised higher than turnover growth at any price:
“I am really proud that even though our turnover is down, we have raised the bottom line. We are also still self-financed.”
Decency and helpfulness
Over the more than 10 years Costamani has been in the market, close relationships and collaboration with retailers have gained increasing importance:
“We want to help our customers all the way around. For example, we produce 150 e-com images per collection, which customers can freely download from our image bank,” she explains. In addition, they work with video guides for styling, so shops are best equipped to sell the clothing on.
At the headquarters in Odense, the atmosphere is family-like, and Merete Wang Andersen emphasises that she is not looking for grand leadership theories, but for common sense and decency:
“I have eight employees, I have never been on any leadership course, and we do not have an HR department. I was raised to behave properly – as a person and as a leader. I would rather do without everything than not behave properly. Ethics and morals are important to me, and that is what I navigate by.”
Driven by passion
Despite many years in the industry, it is still the passion that drives the work for the fashion director:
“I still think it is fun. And I will keep going as long as I think it is. My life is maybe a bit spoiled at times, because there is always something going on, and I rush around. But we do not stand still. We constantly come up with something new.”
When Merete Wang Andersen looks ahead, the dream is not necessarily a bigger fashion company and more leadership responsibility, but the opportunity to immerse herself even more in the core product:
“If I only had to design and make the collections, I do not dare think what Costamani could become. I could well dream that someone else took over the CEO part in the long run,” Merete Wang Andersen concludes, laughing.