From a humble beginning to a leading position in Europe

The portholes that were never copied

By 1961, production was expanding at such a rate that Søren Odgaard was forced to make a quantum leap. He went ahead and purchased a larger plot of land at Nørremarken near Horsensvej road in Vejle – the area that would later be renamed Isabellahøj by the local municipality.

A small showroom, an up-to-the-minute sewing room and some long-awaited storage facilities were constructed on the new plot.

The high quality of materials and manufacture that are still characteristic of Isabella’s products today were guiding factors in the new specially-designed production area. As far as Søren Odgaard was concerned, quality should never be compromised.

Until that time, production had included old-fashioned ridge tents, cottage tents and the so-called auto tents, which in reality were also cottage tents but somewhat easier for Danish camping enthusiasts to take abroad with them. 1961 also saw a marked change in the camping equipment industry, with campers rapidly abandoning the more primitive forms of camping and moving instead towards greater comfort.

The rapidly expanding business in Denmark led Søren Odgaard to look abroad, and the first Isabella cottage tents were exported to Norway in 1961. They sold well and success on the Norwegian market augured well for further growth.

The company’s trademark, the Isabella portholes, were also introduced at the beginning of the 1960s, though the initial version was somewhat more substantial than the ones that have characterised the awnings from Isabellahøj over the past decades. The story in the industry, usually related with a smile, is that the portholes are the only thing that other awning manufacturers in Europe haven’t been able to, or dared, copy over the years. Isabella’s production gathered pace in the 1960s, when one new and exciting awning from Vejle after another saw the light of day as the factory’s product development efforts intensified.

The result was an actual research and development department, where design, durability and functionality are continually reassessed. Experienced caravanners will undoubtedly remember the story of Isabella’s winter awning, which was tested in stormy weather and arctic temperatures. The awning survived, and the story served to underline Isabella’s reputation for quality and development.

1963 and 1964 saw a huge increase in the sale of caravans in Europe. The Danes were no exception, and the result was a marked rise in the demand for awnings although the cottage tents remained popular. Jydsk Camping Industri had also begun to sell caravans at Isabellahøj during this period. The sewing room had to be expanded a couple of times during the mid-1960s in order to keep up with demand.