The world's leading fur skin auction house Kopenhagen Fur will stage a grand fashion show at the Denmark Pavilion today.
"We are very proud to become the national partner of the Denmark Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010," said Kopenhagen Fur CEO Torben Nielsen.
The theme of the show will be Hans Christian Andersen's three fairytales: Thumbelina, the Nightingale and the Little Mermaid.
"It binds together Chinese and Danish wisdom, craftsmanship and design in a beautiful symbiosis," he said.
The CEO noted that the company is proud to have been invited among some of Denmark's most skilled artists to show what Denmark stands for. He also viewed the show as an important occasion for the company to demonstrate its partnership with Tsinghua University, which he said was "the strongest link between Denmark and China represented at Denmark Day today."
The company has joined with the university to set up a design studio for design students interested in fur and offer an executive education for owners and senior management of Chinese fur manufacturers.
"One of the competitive advantages of Kopenhagen Fur is its knowledge-sharing. We want to help customers to grow in order to grow ourselves," the CEO stressed.
By sharing its knowledge about fashion, fur techniques, marketing and general business management, the company believes it helps up-coming designers and customers become even better, and "it is a gain for us too," he explained.
The key advice the CEO can give Chinese fur brands is about how to become established in Europe and the USA instead of just remaining as an exporter.
The company now has a solid presence in China, covering almost the full length of the value chain, but Nielsen didn't reveal the company's total investment in the Chinese market.
He said: "The Chinese market seems without limits. There are more than a billion consumers, strong economic growth and the market potential of China seems greater than that of the EU, Russia and USA combined."
Furthermore, there are many growing industries in China that are not afraid to use fur, even though it is not an original component, for example the furniture industry, Nielsen said.
Currently, the CEO is looking forward to the furrier workshop at the Denmark Pavilion this October. The first session of the event was held in May and received much praise.
The October session will be an excellent way for Kopenhagen Fur to illustrate the skill and craftsmanship behind fur making.