Sweden's Fjällräven Outfits The World To Keep Walking With Nature
Since its founding in a cellar on Sweden's High Coast in 1960, the durable outdoor gear brand Fjällräven has made a name for itself by its sustainability mission and accomplishments. Over the decades, it's expanded its global retail footprint as well as its dedication to repairing its own worn gear for continued reuse.
Last year, it launched a successful peer-to-peer resale marketplace for its preloved bags, gear, and apparel. Now, Fjällräven equipment can last practically forever, say its brand loyalists.
That kind of nod to product endurance is right on brand for the company, which has since its founding been committed to making nature more accessible—and keeping it as natural as possible, for as long as possible. In true Swedish style, says CMO for Fjällräven Americas, Amanda Bernal, 'we focus on simplicity and practicality, and we have the utmost respect for the environment.'
From the time founder Åke Nordin started selling aluminum-frame backpacks from his basement in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, says Bernal, the company's core mission and driving force has always been, and always will be, to inspire – and enable – more people to spend time in nature. 'We want our products to help you feel secure and at home in the outdoors, now and in the future,' the company says.
That mission got a big boost when Nordin spent a freezing night in the mountains in 1974, vowing to never feel cold outside again: This led to the launch of one of Fjällräven's most iconic product lines, the Expedition Down Jacket, which was hailed in his obituaries when he died in 2013.
A perfect fit
Fjällräven's been a great fit for Bernal, who started at the company six months ago as the Chief Marketing Officer for the Americas. Having led her own consulting firm and worked for progressive American brands Whole Foods and outdoor recreation product company Yeti, she was primed for a big change.
Years before, after graduating from Cornell University, 'as I was approaching my professional career, I wanted to do something that aligned with my personal values. I always had this love of being outside, but also wanted to make outside a place that felt welcoming to everybody. I also have a passion for leaving the Earth a better place than we found it. So, I started working for brands that really aimed to reduce waste and consumption.'
When she eventually found Fjällräven? 'I just fell in love. And about five years ago, I came in as a consultant on the Americas side. Then I worked with the global team. And over the past five years, they've slowly pulled me in more and more. And now I feel very honored to be heading the marketing team and the marketing messaging in the Americas.'
'So, I've worked for brands where [sustainability] has been part of their values. But I have to say, peeking behind the curtain at Fjällräven, it is the core value for this brand. Sustainability starts every conversation. It shapes every decision.'
'A top-of-mind example is that when most of the industry was going really hard into GORE-TEX, Fjällräven actually ended their partnership with that company. Because of [toxic chemical]
You can't take the Swedish out of the gear …
Says Bernal, 'There is this Swedish expectation of generational use, where the products will be handed down generation-over-generation, which is a little bit difficult to translate in the Americas, where the brand just hasn't existed that long.'
'But it is part of our mentality that we make a coat, we make a parka, we make a pair of trousers, and they should last for decades, because true sustainability means that an item doesn't need frequent replacement. So, there's this joke that I tell myself: It's almost as though this brand doesn't want to make money.'
'Like, we're so committed to sustainability that we're going to sell you this jacket and it will last you forever and you can repair it with us [the company repaired 8,531 items in a recent year].
'[Otherwise] you never have to come back to us because that is how passionately we feel about sustainability and lowering our footprint by using something over and over and over. That drives everything this brand does from product material, design, storytelling, et cetera,' says Bernal.
It's no mistake that Fjällräven is the official Purveyor to the Royal Court of Sweden—and wildly popular with regular Svens and Sigrids all over the world from Stockholm to Santa Fe. Its functional, durable, and ageless outdoor gear, its transparently responsible attitude about protecting nature, animals, and people, and its overall infectious interest in all things outdoors are as ingrained in Swedish DNA as the pragmatism of IKEA products, the heritage of the Electolux brand, the innovations of Spotify and Sproud, and the endurance of Volvo and Saab.
'Nature is in our DNA. We simply can't deviate from it. Without it, we'd be nothing. It is our past, present, and future. It's our forever.'
As founder Nordin once quipped, 'We've been trekking for more than fifty years; I hope we never get there.'
Good Company
Fjällräven falls under the umbrella of the enterprise Fenix International AG. The Fenix Outdoor Group was established as a corporate entity about 25 years ago when Fjällräven, its founding brand, began buying up other outdoor companies. Over the years, the group has grown substantially, both organically and through multiple other acquisitions: Today it includes 150-year-old Norwegian wool purveyor Devold; technical winter gear-maker Tierra; outdoor footwear brand Hanwag; and climbing/outdoor gear company Royal Robbins; it also operates a multi-brand retail group across northern Europe.
Taking the Long View
Everything that humans do in business and as consumers exerts a measurable impact on the environment around us and the other people and animals that inhabit it, argues Bernal. 'As an outdoor company, we're acutely aware of this impact and we do our utmost to keep our environmental footprint as small as possible.'
'There's this Swedish sense of self-sufficiency that I see as wrapped into the ethos of the brand. As far as the garments themselves go, Fjällräven has always been very committed to care and repair.'
'That's why we're teaching people how to wax their gear to add a layer of weatherproofing and weather protection. We also have a tailor program to be able to repair or shorten a pant or add an additional button so that the gear, the garment, is both customized to you, but also can last so much longer than I think the typical.
'Let me pick on Americans for a bit: For the typical American, the day you buy your trousers is their worst day. In a capitalist economy, when you drive a car off the lot, it's automatically depreciating in value.' Well, it's the same, typically, with the purchase of a garment.
Whereas, for Bernal, 'I think there is this inverse relationship: The more you wear your garment, the more you wear your gear, the more memories you create in it. The more you patch it, the more you repair it, it becomes this sort of analog memory-making machine.' It increases its value. 'And I think there is real power in that. There is real power in saying the more you wear this, the more you get out there, the better it will become. The fabric will wear, it will mold to your body. There's so much tangible experience in that garment now that people underestimate.'
That was the impetus for the pilot launch in the US of the peer-to-peer 'Pre-Loved' resale program. 'So far, there's been tremendous enthusiasm and excitement about it from both the buyers and the sellers.'
'Now, we're looking at ways to expand the program geographically, and even into stores, which I think would be super-exciting. I actually keep my eye on the site because I think it's so cool to see all the amazing vintage pieces that people will post. Each garment has a [unique]
Of course, it takes some time for the items to find their way into any resale market. Fjällräven designs and makes them to last for decades of use, before getting passed on to the next generation and finally becoming available on the secondhand market. 'This way,' says Bernal, "fewer products are produced, less energy is consumed, and fewer products end as waste. 'But we can always do better,' she admits.
Because sustainability is a special kind of trekking. There are many checkpoints, but no finish line.
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