40 years of breaking new ground - now we celebrate our history!

In 1977 Craft Sportswear was founded with a clear idea of the Craft principle. The years until now have consisted of innovations and victories and now it's time to celebrate the 40 years anniversary.

Craft’s story is to a large degree also the story about how a nation started to dress functionally. Over the last 40 years, Swedes in general have completely changed their outfit when preparing for the outdoors and the demands of physical performance. Clothes made of cotton have step-by-step been replaced by functional garments made from different types of polyester-based materials.

It was Anders Hansson who discovered the effects of polyester. The bodies of athletes – whether pro or amateur – quickly begin to cool when the clothes in contact with the skin become wet with sweat. Their performance drops at pace with the cooling of their body, disturbing the fluid balance even more. If the problem could be solved, the efforts would be even more worthwhile and successful. These were only a few of the problems that made Anders Bengtsson go out on a new exercise session in the spring of 1973 – outside his home in Borås, Sweden. Next to his skin was new underwear made of a material just released from a factory in Halmstad.

After a few kilometers, his body began to react as it should. The sweat started to roll.

As usual, after the session he weighed his underwear, measured the moisture content of the garment with a moisture gauge and compared it to previous results. There was no doubt. He seemed to have found the perfect garment to have next to the skin – a garment that handles moisture from the skin’s pores and transports it onwards with as little absorption into the fibers as possible. He just took one step closer to solving the problem.

The secret behind the discovery Anders Bengtsson made after one of his strenuous exercise sessions is that the material – polyester – does not become wet on the outside and only absorbs a minimal amount of moisture in the fibers. Add to that a weaving technique that greatly helps to transport moisture and keep the skin fresh. The most effective stitch ratio proved to be three stitches outward and two stitches inward.

In addition to underwear, garments for the next layer, so-called absorption garments, were developed. These work to transport moisture further out from the body. In addition, a third and outermost layer was designed to protect against weather and wind without trapping moisture from the inside. These three layers were the start of the idea – the Craft Principle – that Craft then used and developed into today’s modern function garment. This principle was also the basis for Craft of Sweden, which was registered as a limited company in 1977.

"During our first 40 years we have delivered record breaking innovations. This is something we will continue to challenge through further developments within existing segments and also new categories and markets" says Craft’s Product & Marketing Director Daniel Högling.