October 21, 2022 |
Looking back, being in lockdown did feel like a big game of the Hokey Cokey. First we were in, then we were out. In, out, in out. Before you knew it, 18 months had gone by and you’d spent most of your days in food-stained sweats and your beloved pajamas.
One of the only positives of being trapped indoors for so long was that it increased our collective appetite to venture across the globe. Many have graduated from the Magaluf strip and are looking for more adventurous excursions, particularly of the frostier kind.
Whether it’s a trip up the Alps for ski season, or that bucket list wish to see the Northern Lights – if you’re swapping sun for snow for your next holibobs, you better have the wardrobe for it.
That’s where 66North comes in. Founded in Iceland in 1926 by Hans Kristjánsson, the brand was created to provide protective clothing for Icelandic fishermen to combat the harsh winters. “When you start making clothing for Icelandic fishermen its often a difference between life and death, especially back in the day when you didn’t have weather forecasts,” says Helgi Rúnar Óskarsson, 66North’s CEO, who has propelled the brand to new heights. Expanding beyond its 10 stores in Reykjavik, 66North has opened a slew of physical spaces across Europe, with a slot on London’s Regent Street set to open later this year. (Currently, 66North has a pop-up shop in Soho.)
Here, we catch up with Óskarsson as the brand sets on its next big expedition. Final destination? The Big Smoke.
How did the new London store come about?
“The plan was to always open in London. We opened in Copenhagen back in 2014, our first international store and then a year later we opened another space in Copenhagen. We got new investors in 2018, and we decided to focus on e-com. Once we got up to speed on that side of things, our next big investment was set to be a flagship store for Europe. We always had our eyes on London because we see London as being the fashion capital of Europe.”
Why do you think the brand continuously resonates with new audiences?
“We stay true to our roots. We were founded in a small town in Iceland. When you’re making clothing for Icelandic fishermen, it’s often a difference between life and death, especially back in the day when you didn’t have a weather forecast. You can’t compromise on quality and durability. We still make clothing for Icelandic fishermen and stay true to our Icelandic heritage. For me that is non-negotiable. That’s who we are, that’s our DNA.
“But you need to think about how the brand is then relevant to someone who is getting on the tube in London or biking to work in Copenhagen. We have been making everyday performance clothing for the Icelandic nation for almost 100 years, so I think we know pretty much what we have been talking about. Because if you look at the weather, for example, the number of rainy days in London compared to Iceland, they are pretty similar.”
What do you think sets 66North apart from other performance wear brands?
“A lot of brands are founded by people who are enthusiastic about the mountains and being in mountains, where we are formed out of necessity. We define ourselves as an outerwear company and we make clothes to protect people from harsh conditions – whether it’s rain in London or snow in New York or the cold cold weather you have in the winter or the rain in summer, I mean that’s basically what we are all about. Because it’s performance wear, some of our products are completely waterproof, and some use GORE-TEX® products and are completely breathable. You can wear them to hike up mountains – some people have gone to the top of Mount Everest wearing 66North. It’s not like we make products specifically for expeditions, but they happen to be of such quality that you can use them for your adventures.
“We work very closely with the best fabric producers in the world like Polartec. Also, with our research development teams, we often try out fabrics in Iceland as the conditions are so challenging. We also have some great sustainability stories within our collections.”
What do you think the key ethos is behind the brand?
“First and foremost, it’s always going to be about the products. You can do all kinds of fancy marketing, but it doesn’t matter if the products don’t hold up. Our products will continue to evolve and we will keep improving their performance moving forward. Our message is that should use fewer products, so let’s say when you buy a jacket from us, we would like you to use it for multi purposes – running, hiking, playing golf in, go horseback riding. This is what we do in Iceland, we communicate with people who are doing all kinds of activities.
“Instead of having four different jackets for all your hobbies, you should just get away with having one. And that should also be the same jacket you should use when you should go to a café in Soho to meet friends without them saying you know ‘Hey did you forget to take your ski jacket off?’ We define ourselves as being slow fashion, our best-selling shell jacket today we introduced back in 2010, and it still looks exactly the same as when it was made.”
Photography courtesy of 66North.
