Fjällräven forges a path in out of doors sustainability

This interview is a part of the Inside the Mind of the CEO collection, which explores a variety of crucial selections confronted by chief executives around the globe.

In 2005, when nature fanatic Martin Axelhed took over as CEO of Fjällräven—an out of doors clothes and tools model recognized for its iconic Kånken backpack—he introduced a lifelong appreciation of nature from a childhood of mountain climbing, snowboarding, and looking within the Swedish countryside. During his 20 years within the function, his important focus has been integrating the corporate’s founding ideas of moral environmental stewardship into a contemporary company technique whereas driving progress within the typically sustainability-challenged attire trade.

Case in level: the model made waves by pledging in 2009 to eradicate dangerous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from its merchandise and provide chain. These “eternally chemical substances” are persistent and doubtlessly poisonous, showing in on a regular basis gadgets together with meals packaging and out of doors gear. Axelhed positioned Fjällräven as an trade chief earlier than PFAS emerged as a scorching subject (one that’s now being tackled by a number of international locations and worldwide our bodies such because the European Union).

Fjällräven was based in 1960 by Åke Nordin in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, and it has been a part of the Fenix Outdoor Group—now helmed by Martin Nordin—because the early 2000s. Total 2023 revenues of the Fenix Outdoor Group, which has almost 3,000 full-time staff, had been €739.4 million (US$794.1 million). Axelhed spoke with technique+enterprise from his workplace in Stockholm about delivering on a decade-plus-long technique to eradicate PFAS, the corporate’s ongoing dedication to inexperienced practices, and why getting method forward of compliance is wise enterprise.

S+B: Fjällräven owes a lot of its recognition to the square-shaped Kånken backpack, which the corporate launched in 1978. How do you clarify its enduring reputation?

AXELHED: The backpack was an answer to an issue on the time: schoolkids had been affected by again ache as a result of they had been carrying uneven weight on one shoulder as a result of shoulder baggage. Drawing on his expertise in creating trekking backpacks, our founder, Åke Nordin, got here up with the Kånken, a backpack with a quite simple carrying system, initially designed to suit two A4 binders. The backpack is just about the identical as we speak because it was in 1978. The Kånken has became an icon for individuals around the globe due to its distinctive design. It has a silhouette that’s straightforward to acknowledge, however it’s additionally well-known for its performance and, maybe extra importantly, sturdiness.

S+B: How does the design idea of sturdiness relate to the sustainability that your model is understood for as we speak?

AXELHED: In the previous, individuals made merchandise nature-friendly, regardless that sustainability wasn’t the buzzword it’s as we speak. But sturdiness and purposeful merchandise have at all times been key to us. Our important ambition is to make sturdy merchandise, merchandise that don’t use floor chemical substances and are made in probably the most environmentally accountable method doable. Our merchandise usually have a really lengthy lifespan, and we expect making merchandise that folks wish to use for a very long time is vital to having a low impression on the atmosphere. In the best-case state of affairs, individuals will go their Fjällräven merchandise on to their kids.

S+B: Eliminating PFAS out of your merchandise was greater than a decade within the making, as you made your preliminary commitments to phasing them out in 2009. Can you clarify your preliminary motivations behind this resolution?

AXELHED: At that point, we came upon there have been numerous PFAS added to our materials within the manufacturing and sourcing processes. We additionally discovered them within the groundwater in one of many manufacturing amenities. In the start, it was very laborious to seek out the supply for these contaminations, as they occurred in manufacturing. On high of that, we wanted to implement strict management on PFAS in merchandise from our sub-suppliers—similar to trims, labels, grasp tags, zippers, and pulls. Sometimes PFAS are added someplace alongside the provision chain as a result of they pace up or simplify manufacturing, whereas different occasions they’re added for a particular function, similar to waterproofing or giving the product a softer feeling. But we knew already in 2009 that we wished no a part of it.

S+B: Transitioning away from PFAS concerned important funding and R&D to establish the proper options. Could you elaborate on the monetary dedication your organization made and the way this was justified to your stakeholders?

AXELHED: I don’t have a quantity by way of what it has price us. It prices some huge cash and time, and it’s essential assign individuals to resolve these issues, and work intently with suppliers. Also, by committing to develop materials which might be free from PFAS, we accepted hits in gross sales for a sure interval as a result of we couldn’t use the supplies that had been accessible out there. At the identical time, we had been clear and communicated our losses. And now we are able to declare we’ve got a setup the place we are able to eradicate PFAS due to very cooperative suppliers and companions, which is resulting in progress in step with our overarching technique.

S+B: Did you encounter any inner resistance?

AXELHED: From our staff’ perspective, it may be powerful to utterly redesign the merchandise they’ve been accustomed to producing. And we relaunch them realizing that we might encounter new issues. That can take its toll on morale. So, we have to formulate constructive future targets and persuade folks that we do all of this as a result of we consider it’s the one method ahead. That type of dedication is important.

From the angle of the board and house owners of the enterprise, there generally have been questions on why we confronted setbacks. You want that resistance to study in regards to the potential dangers of the adjustments if you provoke a brand new mission. But, on the identical time, we had the help of the bulk proprietor, the identical household that based the corporate in 1960. They have a long-term agenda, and that implies that regardless that there could be hiccups on this journey, everyone knows the place we wish to take the corporate, which is to turn out to be probably the most sustainable out of doors model on this planet. And generally you must pay the value to attain that.

S+B: What type of return on funding do you anticipate to see?

AXELHED: We haven’t put a precise quantity on that return, both. Our technique is guided by a administration compass with 4 cardinal instructions: nature and atmosphere, financial system and enterprise processes, social duty, and well-being. Every time we take a call at C-suite or board degree, all 4 elements ought to be thought-about. We firmly consider that that is one of the best ways to proceed to develop as an organization and ship on the expectations of our clients and staff.

S+B: How have you ever approached advertising and educating your clients about PFAS-free merchandise, whose efficiency traits are completely different from these of conventional textiles that embody PFAS?

AXELHED: Firstly, we developed a substitute for conventional PFAS-based DWR [durable water repellent] remedies in collaboration with our companions over a number of years. The efficiency of conventional PFAS-based DWR is unbelievable, as PFAS are extremely efficient at repelling water and dust. When you exchange it with a non-fluorinated DWR, nonetheless, you have got barely completely different properties, and extra common upkeep is required to take care of the water repellency.

In the early phases of launching merchandise made with out PFAS, there wasn’t a lot consciousness—individuals didn’t know or care about it—which made it laborious to persuade individuals about the necessity to part them out and to simply accept a garment that wanted extra care and a focus. However, these days it’s very well-known that PFAS usually are not good for individuals, animals, and nature. What’s extra, we’re a wholesale-driven firm and have a robust community of very expert retailers around the globe. They are typically very environmentally oriented individuals who can talk in all our shops across the globe. All of us share that very same message—I believe that’s very highly effective. I additionally hope this can spill over to different attire industries sooner or later.

S+B: How have you ever built-in your suppliers into this transition?

AXELHED: In our trade, traits come and go, and suppliers are likely to adapt to what’s trending. Often if you’re creating one thing out of the present traits, in fact you meet resistance, particularly when you have got necessities which might be expensive and low quantity on the outset. That’s normally when suppliers begin panicking. So, have we felt resistance? Yes, for certain. But we’ve got confirmed that it is smart, and it pays off on the finish of the day.

In the case of eliminating PFAS, many individuals initially didn’t perceive the rationale we had been doing it. “Why are you making an attempt to adapt to one thing that nobody cares about?” was one thing we regularly heard. But it’s our philosophy to be forward of laws or what’s trending. We attempt to see what’s coming. And crucially, we’ve got been supporting suppliers throughout laborious occasions. In return, we ask for favors in good occasions. In many instances, suppliers have seen that creating new merchandise with us makes them extra engaging to different manufacturers.

S+B: How do you establish the following horizon of environmentally pleasant initiatives and proceed to evolve as a sustainable model?

AXELHED: We attempt to fastidiously select the place and the way we manufacture, how we sew, how we decide materials. We ask ourselves the place we should always put our cash and sources into creating higher options. I come again to the important thing to the way forward for attire, and specifically the out of doors trade: it’s essential make merchandise that final a really very long time. Firstly, if you’d like individuals to make use of merchandise for a lifetime, it’s essential that you simply design merchandise which might be straightforward to restore. It ought to be straightforward to vary a strap, pull, or zipper. Secondly, many manufacturers can produce sturdy merchandise, however what is more difficult is to supply them aesthetically in such a method that folks will wish to proceed utilizing them no matter pattern. Timelessness is essential—which is tough in a market that’s altering consistently.

S+B: What do you concentrate on traits in circularity, similar to distribution fashions like clothing-as-a-service?

AXELHED: Circularity is attention-grabbing, as a result of there was numerous speak within the final ten years about reuse and use your merchandise in a closed loop. Nowadays, I see a brilliant future as a result of there are such a lot of sturdy secondhand platforms. And a model like Fjällräven is very rated on secondhand platforms as a result of individuals can receives a commission nicely for our merchandise. It means the product creates a excessive worth for the customer, and on the finish of the day, the product doesn’t simply find yourself behind a wardrobe someplace, however will at all times be used.

Also, we see an enormous curiosity in leases of tents and backpacks. A tent is generally bought just for a weekend, after which it simply lies round for the remainder of the yr, however they can be utilized on a regular basis. I’m undecided that tents ought to be bought in any respect, to be sincere. Maybe to some very enthusiastic specialists, however generally tents ought to simply be circulating. A tent can be utilized with some upkeep simply for 5 years in a row. We arrange a trekking occasion yearly referred to as Fjällräven Classic and lease out tents to the 1000’s of contributors who go trekking on trails throughout the globe. We constructed our tents to be tremendous sturdy and final for a few years. That has been an amazing success for us, and I believe it may be scaled up even additional to extra places.

S+B: How do you use a sustainable model globally when there’s additionally stress to function and supply extra regionally for the good thing about the atmosphere?

AXELHED: I believe it’s essential to come back nearer to your greatest markets, to turn out to be extra native and help the native international locations. But there are a lot of parts it’s essential think about. For occasion, the place do you discover your materials and trims, and the place are they made? We have began up a few completely different initiatives, making an attempt to get nearer to native markets, however in a few of these areas, the ability set and the provision of materials and trims remains to be restricted.

S+B: What recommendation would you supply to different CEOs trying to make constructive contributions to their firm or trying to essentially reinvent their enterprise mannequin towards sustainability?

AXELHED: One key element for being a model that wishes to turn out to be probably the most sustainable on this planet is to not merely create a separate sustainability division. I introduced in sustainability as a key technique for the corporate from Day One, and we’re seeing the consequences and enhancements.

If you have got people who find themselves enthusiastic about sustainability, they’ll study by themselves. They will make their very own initiatives, and they’re going to drive that change. That’s my strongest advice: ensure that sustainability is a part of the eagerness staff convey to their jobs, and that it’s a part of everybody’s each day work. And then guarantee that [their efforts] are seen and heard and rewarded once they ship.