This is the Fjällräven Kånken backpack.
The simple bag was created in 1970 for Swedish school kids, but it's since become a popular accessory from
A-list celebrities to teenagers.
It's a brand that people instantly recognize.
You don't even have to see the logo.
You can just see the silhouette or the shape of the backpack.
Fjällräven translates to arctic fox, which is the basis of the iconic patch found on each Kånken backpack.
Kånken means "to carry."
I always joke that if we can get Americans to say Fjällräven, we're pretty happy.
Here's how Fjällräven's Kånken simple backpack became a fashion icon.
This is Suddenly Obsessed.
Fjällräven was founded in Sweden in 1960 by this guy, Åke Nordin as an outdoor company outfitting
Swedish hikers with aluminum framed hiking backpacks.
But in 1977, after reading a story about kids having back problems due to their heavy textbooks, Nordin set out to
build a durable backpack that would help them support the weight.
The Kånken was designed to fit two A4 ring binders.
The bags are simple.
Each one has one main compartment, a smaller front pocket and two side pockets.
They are still made from water-repellent, Vinylon F fabric, which is proven to be extremely durable.
And stuffed inside each backpack is a seat pad made for sitting and enjoying nature.
A throwback to the company's outdoorsy roots.
In 1978, Fjällräven sold about 400 Kånken backpacks.
And then, you know, it doubled and it's kind of just been a main driver for the brand ever since.
Shortly after, Fjällräven introduced the Kånken Mini.
Today, it's hard to walk down any street in a major city and not see the iconic circle arctic fox
patch. But as popular as it was in Sweden, it took decades for Fjällräven to make
inroads in the U.S.
In fact, the first packs to reach the U.S.
came on the backs of Swedes.
We get people coming by shops and and our trade show booth, you know, who've been carrying these things around for years
and either bought them in Sweden and have been loving them and carrying them and handing them out to their children.
So there was a small seating of bags in the country already.
The bag was first adopted by New York City's creative class in the 80s and 90s, who found the brand during their travels
and imported it to the U.S.
But it wasn't until 2012 that Fjällräven opened its flagship store in New York City.
And so we focused on New York quite a bit, and we put our first showroom in Soho.
We sold specifically to a lot of really great, small creative shops like Pilgrim Surf over in Brooklyn.
As sales grew, the company opened more locations across the country.
The company offers a wide array of products.
But the bright colors, simple shape and distinct round patch on the Kånken is by far the most popular.
It's also an extremely effective marketing tool, especially on social media.
The Kånken, with its bright colors and boxy shape, is made for social media.
And Fjällräven has done a crafty job of using the platform to its advantage.
The hashtag "Kånken" has over 750,000 posts.
There's not really anything better than a really distinctive colorful bag with a big circle on the back for growing a
brand.
So it's a real gift to us and our efforts and as a service really well.
From about 1980 to 2012, Fjällräven didn't have a physical presence in the U.S.
Now, there are 36 retail locations across the U.S.
and you can find Kånkens in some 4,000 retail outlets in 73 countries.
The company's biggest U.S.
retailers are Urban Outfitters, REI and Nordstrom, and has some 10,000 product offerings from coats
and shirts to tents and sleeping bags.
They'll be in a Nordstrom, but they're kind of not in a Wal-Mart.
They're not in a Target. They're not in those mass channels.
So they've really controlled distribution very carefully.
But no matter where it's sold, the Kånken is by far its biggest seller.
So in North America, where the bag has come from being almost all of our business, 98% in
those early days, it's now less than 50% of our total business here.
But that's still while having massive growth, 20+% growth on average since we started.
Fjällräven is owned by parent company Phenix Outdoor International.
The internet is full of stories about Kånken bags being handed down from generation to generation.
One of the main draws of the Kånken is its heritage.
The bag is pretty much the same as it was in 1970.
I think it's very interesting when you look at the Kånken backpack because actually, it is a very simple backpack.
It doesn't have many embellishments.
It is a very, very simple design.
The design hasn't changed over time, but I think that's part of the appeal.
So I first started collecting them when I went to a concert, like, 3 or 4 years ago.
And everyone there had one, like the Mini, the mini version of the backpack.
So I was like, "Oh my gosh, like, it's so cute.
Like, I need to have one."
But with the average price around $100, the full size Kånken is not exactly cheap.
It definitely is more on the pricier side and I genuinely think it's worth every penny that you invest into it
because it honestly is an investment.
I mean, the bags are meant to last your entire life.
They're sustainable. They're coming from Europe.
You definitely get quality for what you're paying for.
But that high price tag may actually help sales instead of hurt them.
But I think people find value for money in that because they know that ultimately they're getting
a very high quality product and that goes back to Fjällräven's heritage.
But of course the price point also helps because it does add a kind of air of
exclusivity to the product.
The price tag is high, but it's not quite prohibitive.
It kind of feels like you're part of a cool, like, club when you see someone with the Kånken bag out.
And it definitely is a conversation starter because if you have it and someone else has it and they notice it, a lot of
times people have come up to me saying like, "Oh, I have that bag."
Or, "I love that color, this is the one that I got."
It's not as well known as a North Face, for example, especially in outdoor products.
It's not as well known as a Patagonia, so it actually has more runway.
It really is a very exciting stage of its growth because it's now a scalable brand,
but it's a brand that still has enormous potential.
So who's buying these bags?
I think it tends to skew a little bit younger simply because of the Kånken backpack, which was
always made for school kids.
So it's not surprising it has a younger audience.
So I have five bags, which is for a reason because I use them for any occasion that I can think of.
So I've used them for traveling, for school.
If I'm ever going to someone's house, I'll bring it to concerts.
I've brought it to concerts ever since then.
And yeah, just honestly anything.
In 2016, Fjällräven introduced the Re-Kånken, which is 100% made from recycled plastic
bottles.
Fashion trends are moving away from fast fashion and towards sustainability.
And that is very, very much in focus for the Gen-Z consumer.
Nothing is more more sustainable than something will last 30 or 40 years.
Fjällräven through a mixture of measured growth and the popularity of the Kånken seems to be thriving.
I would say Fjällräven is probably outperforming a lot of people in the market.
A lot of competitors and a lot of peers.
We'd rather grow 10% or 15% a year for the next 20 years, then go up a bunch and then come down.
But they don't just want to push this product into everyone's hands and become a mass operation.
Perhaps where quality is lost and some of the specialness of the brand is lost.
It's a very gradual, very deliberate form of expansion for Fjällräven.
Fjällräven may not have flashy collaborations like North Face or savvy marketing like Patagonia.
But what it does have is a simple, well-made book bag that is always on trend.