Swedish outdoor brand Fjällräven is reorganising its product offer to reach younger, city-based customers. The company has split its ranges into two business units, Everyday Outdoor and Performance Outdoor, each with its own team and responsibilities. Dean Polic, Fjällräven’s managing director for Germany, set out the plan in an interview with FashionUnited.
Many people know Fjällräven mainly through its Kånken backpack, and Polic said the target now is the younger “modern adventurer” who wants to get outdoors with a personal sense of style. Outdoor specialist retailers, which account for roughly two-thirds of the business, will remain central, but Fjällräven wants curated selections in lifestyle stores as well. That segment currently makes up only a low single-digit share of sales. New pieces are cut wider and more comfortably in muted tones, with functional details such as drawcords kept out of sight.
Pricing will separate the two lines without turning the everyday range into a budget offer. Polic said the Everyday Outdoor collection will sit below Performance Outdoor but will not be cheap. Trousers in the everyday line cost around 150 euros and a sweater about 120 euros, while performance trousers start at 240 euros and a technical jacket costs 750 euros. The everyday pieces do not meet the same functional standard, but they remain water-repellent and breathable. The company aims to grow revenue from the lifestyle range by a double-digit percentage.
Physical retail is part of the push, though on a limited scale. Next year Fjällräven will open a store in Berlin-Mitte, run as a joint concept with the German outdoor retailer Globetrotter. Polic said awareness of the brand in Berlin is strong, but stressed that there are no plans for a nationwide rollout of its own shops. Selling directly to consumers makes up no more than ten per cent of the business, and wholesale remains the core channel.
Germany plays a central role in the strategy. Polic described it as the brand’s largest market in Europe, ahead of the Swedish home market, and said results there have been stable rather than strongly growing in recent years. Fjällräven, which belongs to Fenix Outdoor International and remains in the hands of its founding family, has learnt from earlier attempts. Its Samlaren collection, made from leftover fabrics around the time of Covid-19, struggled because no follow-up range came after it. Polic said partners who make room for the brand need to know that more will follow, and that the target for the lifestyle range is now set for 2030.
