Mr. Oskarsson, apparently almost every family in Iceland owns a piece of 66°North apparel. What was that product for your family?
We had raincoats, and also hats and gloves! My father was not a fisherman himself, but his father was a fisherman, so they had the wool fisherman sweaters — and he loved to wear those on a day-to-day basis. For myself, I remember when I was a young boy, maybe nine or 10, I was sent to the countryside for the summer to work on a farm, which is common in Iceland, and they put me in the 66°North raincoat when I was working outside or riding horses. That was my first memory of the brand, so it’s really incredible, decades later, to now be the CEO of this brand with a strong history in our country. There is a reason why we have 98% penetration in Icelandic homes: it’s simply because people have discovered that if they buy something from us, they can keep it for a long time.
It’s the complete opposite of today’s fast fashion landscape.
Right, we actually have made ads in the past that feature kids saying, “The worst thing about my jacket is my two older brothers both had it before me.” (Laughs) The jacket stays in the family, getting passed from kid to kid, this is always what we've been offering. It goes without saying that if you're a fast fashion company and your product is worn out within a few months or a year, and the customer has to buy a new one, it creates more sales for the company… But for us, this has always been our promise. We've always been about quality, durability and products that last, and we believe more in the long term, we offer repairs for our products as well, we repair over 4000 pieces a year.
“I think if you, as a company, start focusing on just generating more sales, then you’re on the wrong path. It should be about the customer.”
And you focus on products that suit many needs and scenarios, rather than encouraging customers to buy different ones for all different occasions.
Exactly, we want to offer good value for money, and if you can use your jacket for different type of activities or purposes, then we are happy. I think if you, as a company, start focusing on just generating more sales, then you're on the wrong path. It should be about the customer. We also want to make a design that doesn’t go out of fashion, like our signature shell jacket was first introduced in 2010, and 15 years later, it looks exactly the same. The only thing we’ve changed is updating the fabric to offer a better function and protection.
That’s how 66°North first started, right? As workwear for fishermen, police officers, and firemen — protecting the people who protect your community.
Yes, we have done uniforms for the Icelandic polar squad, firemen, all types of work. The word you mentioned, protection, that is very much a core to where we come from. Our founder wasn’t just starting a clothing company almost 100 years ago, he was starting a company to save lives. My grandfather was a fisherman who went down with the ship, as well as my great grandfather. And if you go around Iceland, you meet people who have lost a father or brother or a grandfather or great grandfather in the same way. Just between 1970 and 1980 there were 200 lives lost at sea, which is quite a lot for our nation of only 400,000 people. So it’s really important for us to provide durable and protective clothing for these workers who risk their lives for our livelihood… It’s always been part of who we are. In that way, I never feel like the owner of 66°North. The Icelandic nation really owns the company, because it's a brand that's so close to all our hearts.
Angela Missoni says that taking over her family’s company meant overhauling the brand to keep up with the current fashion climate. How was that for you, stepping in as CEO of such a storied brand?
Well, the core values always remained the same. The changes that we made were simply that we decided to invest more behind the brand, we hired more designers, more marketing people, we wanted to do better campaigns. We wanted to put development into products that were even better than the ones we have had ever produced. We wanted to do more premium products with even better textiles, we made a store network outside of Iceland in places like London and Copenhagen. It’s basically been about investing in people, product, and infrastructure, and that’s really been a journey for me, because I come from a financial background but I’ve also always loved fashion and art and creativity.
You once described that trajectory as all the dots of your life finally connecting.
Working in this position, you're combining so many different things. My mind is a mix of analytical and engineering, but also constantly thinking about creativity and how we can continue to evolve as a brand, balancing logistics... The company itself brings all the elements for me that I had been dealing with in the past. I am also a music lover, and sometimes I feel there is a lot of similarities between the music industry and the business that we are in, because in the music industry, artists are brands! They need to think about how they come across, how they communicate. They have the hit songs, and it's the same thing as when we have garments that become hero products. So I often think about artists that inspire me, whether it's David Bowie or The Beatles or Oasis; these artists built their brand with the same combination of creativity and organization, strategy; being able to make the vision a reality.
Does that mean you’re also fueled by what other companies and brands are doing? Or are you finding that you have to be blind to that, and follow your own path?
Of course I'm aware of what's happening in the market… I would be lying if I didn't say that. But what motivates me, truly, is having a relevance to people in today's world. I think if we can keep that in mind and make products that are friendly to the environment, that don’t contribute as much to textile waste, that do their job as protective wear, then at least we have done a small thing to hopefully make this world a better place.