Wanted: Reliable suppliers and low-cost products of high quality. Found: by Hermes-OTTO International (H-OI) and its 1,800 employees. Alongside its head offices in Hamburg and Hong Kong, 29 regional offices make up a global network which closely links H-OI with its suppliers and customers. For 40 years H-OI has been a heavyweight on the worldwide procurement market for fashion and textiles, home and leisure goods – and still heading for new shores.

Sandra Vollmert is manager of “social compliance and quality worldwide”. Supported by a staff of 26, she monitors compliance with the quality and social standard which every supplier doing business with H-OI accepts – including a sewing factory in Dhaka.

Claudia Hagedorn loves fashion. In Hamburg, she manages the development of the KeenOn Fashion web platform, which brings fashion traders and international designers together in a new way and is revolutionising the ordering process.