Serbian firms steps into four decade of business - Pancevo-based Passage Group is planning expansion of retail network and market coverage in the region

Family companies make one of the key world economy pillars. Some 70% is family-run and they generate more than 50% GDP and 60% employees. However, 70% of these companies do not survive the transfer from the first into the second generation and 95% do not live until the third generation.

This, not so great statistics, has been opposed by a Serbian company, Passage Group, for years which has been operating in Pancevo since 1983 when a couple, Vladimir and Sladjana Mitrovic set it up.

Today, apart from founders, their daughter Aleksandra, a collocutor of our portal, works.

And it all started...

It all started in 1982 when, in the wish to collect funds for summer holiday, Vladimir and his girlfriend, a spouse today, Sladjana, made a few dresses and sold them in Belgrade, in Knez Mihailova Street. Sladjana studied economy but it was skillful and had good ideas and Vladimir had entrepreneurial spirit. They realized that that kind of product is in demand, that it can sell well and generate fair profit. Next year, they opened a boutique, one of the first in Pancevo. The first small workshop started working in 1984 and Vladimir left his job in Pancevo-based Trgoprodukt. Production was developing and today Passage has 90 people.

Match with foreign brands and grey market However, this Pancevo-based company has seen better days as well.

- As the market opened to foreign brands, our local textile industry became slightly endangered, because competition is severe. Competition of foreign brands and grey market is extremely strong. The game became fierce, business environment is becoming more difficult and prices are getting lower – a founder’s daughter says for our portal.

She adds that production, compared to some good years, let’s say 2005-2006, decreased for some 30% but they kept a solid number of retail and wholesale buyers.

- We have to fight with quality and try to keep our target group at the same level and, in the best scenario, to expand it. Mitrovic adds that the situation is more difficult because purchasing power in on decrease but the good thing is that their customers are loyal to Passage brand.

Passage targets women in late twenties until women in their forties and plus.

- We have women who have been buying Passage clothes for more than ten years. They come in jackets and coats which are very old. It is a common case that "passage" is family brand which is inherited. Production and design are absolutely domestic. Clothes are sewed in Pancevo where some 50 women work in production only and make the company majority.

They are also loyal to designers and they do not change them often. During the past couple of seasons, Gorica Ristic, who was an assistant of the previous designer so she is familiar with the brand, put her signature. They procure materials mainly in Serbia but also in Italy and Germany. Apart from wholesales which enables many boutiques in Serbia to have Passage clothes without being obliged to change the name of the store into Passage, the company also has 6 its own retail shops, four in Pancevo, one in Vrsac, Zrenjanin and Subotica. They had a shop in Belgrade, in the city center but they have recently closed it due to high operations costs.

- Dresses we are famous for sell best. However, the symbol which best illustrates our brand are coats. They are affordable, quality and they last long – the company says.

Expansion at the neighbors’
As Aleksandra Mitrovic says for eKapija, they are planning to expand through the opening of their own retail shops in towns and municipalities in Serbia. Apart from that, they will focus on the export in the region. As for now, they have been present in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Family business

Passage Group is one of the companies which participated at the first "Vip business forum" on family companies in Belgrade, organized by PR Agency, Chapter 4 under general sponsorship of the Vip mobile company.

Work in a family company brings on the one hand bigger pressure and burden but on the other hand commitment in that kind of a company is bigger because the staff knows that not one but more families depend on their work, Aleksandra Mitrovic describes her experience.

Although it was not the first forum with this topic where she participated, Aleksandra says that it was extremely interesting.

After Belgrade, that kind of Forum was held in Nis July 18 and today the workshop in Krusevac has been held.

Jelena Djelic

Passage group Pančevo

Trgoprodukt Pančevo

Chapter 4 d.o.o. Beograd

A1 Srbija d.o.o. Beograd

Passage group

Aleksandra Mitrovic

Vladimir Mitrovic

Slađana Mitrovic

Gorica Ristic

family companies

women clothes

Vib mobile

family business. Chapter 4

Vip business forum on family companies