Brandt's Cloth Factory

Facts

When globalisation hit Odense

By Kathrine G. Bjerregaard, Cand.mag i historie og filosofi / Master of Arts, History and Philosophy (33 stories)

Brandt's Cloth Factory was originally a small dyeworks. In 1869, the third generation of the Brandt family transformed it into a cloth factory. Gradually, the factory premises were expanded to cover what is now Brandt's". With inspiration from abroad, the work procedures were rationalised and new industrial manufacturing processes were adopted. For a whole century, Brandt's Cloth Factory was one of Odense's largest companies. Sadly, the oil crisis in 1973 meant costs shot up, and over the years, foreign competition intensified. The cloth factory was derelict from 1977, but in 1984 the Funen Art Academy moved in. Later the old factory buildings also became home for the Danish Museum of Media, Kunsthallen Brandts and Museet for Fotokunst. "

Public place

Selected entry

A town within a town

Story written by Kathrine G. Bjerregaard

Time / Periode 1869 1977

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For many years, Brandts Cloth Factory was Odense's largest workplace, with over 600 employees. The factory area was a town within a town, with its own savings bank, sports association, cycling club and housing estate. The cloth factory celebrated its 100th jubilee in 1969. It had its best and most successful year ever in 1973 just before the oil crisis hit. Wages went up. And the much lower production costs abroad began to take their toll. Competition intensified and within a few years, production was no longer profitable. The Board of Brandts Cloth Factory decided to close in 1977 to avoid sinking the company's fortune into a lost cause. The stocks and machines were sold. But the cloth factory story has a silver lining. Today, Brandts is once more a kind of town within a town, with museums, specialist shops and its own concert hall.