Past research revealed that social networks play a decisive role for the receipt of new knowledge by engineers and
middle-level managers and, thus, essentially contribute to innovation. However, the question of by which network ties
top managers – that is, the key organizational decision-makers – acquire which kind of innovation-related knowledge
resources has not yet been explored systematically. Our paper addresses this research gap by empirically analyzing
knowledge ties of top executives in the European fashion and accessories industry. We draw on the concept of
relational embeddedness and focus on knowledge providers and knowledge ties of top managers. Based on this
theoretical framework, we conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with top executives from 11 leading European
companies within this industry. We present the main results of this explorative study and identify its important
implications from both research and managerial perspective.