September 17 to 19 were marked by the visit of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark to Toronto. They were joined by a Danish business delegation, and the objective of the visit was to establish commercial ties between Canada and Denmark.

HRH Crown Prince Frederik mentioned that Canada and Denmark have a lot in common in character and business approaches.

Fashion is the fourth-strongest field in the Danish economy, where it generated $7.4 billion in revenues last year.

Eva Kruse, CEO of Danish Fashion Institute, described Danish fashion as inclusive, democratic — “fashion for all” — and applicable to everyday wear for men and women. It is sustainable, which is an important and relevant issue in today’s fashion industry. She added that Danish fashion provides a great brand value as it is “not very highly positioned price-wise, but highly positioned brand-wise.”

The companies that were presented at the Danish Fashion and Design event at Airship37 included brands that are well presented in the Canadian market (InWear, Matinique, ECCO and Vero Moda), as well as those looking for a wider distribution (Ver de Terre, Whiite, Samsøe & Samsøe and Dyrberg/Kern, a jewelry company that is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2015.)

HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark greeted all the Danish vendors and guests. She was very interested in what the companies had to present, and spent time at each booth talking to the companies’ representatives.

As part of the efforts to increase the availability of Danish fashion in Canada, a Danish Design pop-up store was opened for three weeks in Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street in Toronto.