Swedish Stockings

Swedish Stockings?

More than two billion pairs of tights are pro­du­ced each year. Two billion! The­se are often cheap stoc­kings, made of infe­rior nylon. They are worn once – some­ti­mes twi­ce, if you were care­ful with them – but then they end up in a gar­ba­ge dump. 

That had to be impro­ved, accor­ding to Linn Fri­sin­ger and Nad­ja Fors­berg. They foun­ded Swe­dish Stoc­kings with a pur­po­se: to take the lead in the deve­lop­ment and pro­duc­tion of envi­ron­men­tally friendly, sus­tai­na­ble tights. In other words, they want to make dura­ble stoc­kings. With the hope that the rest of the fashion industry will follow their exam­ple. So we can all look beau­ti­ful, but without anything or anyo­ne else suffering.

Eco-brand?

Yessss! Swe­dish Stoc­kings pro­du­ces tights and stoc­kings from recy­cled nylon and elas­ta­ne. The cot­ton used for their socks is orga­nic and cer­ti­fied. Other fabrics are NILIT® ECO­CA­RE and Q‑Nova®. Umm, wait, which mate­rials? NILIT® is made from recy­cled was­te yarn and Q‑Nova® are unu­sed nylon rem­nants, ori­gi­na­ting from Italy.

The desig­ners at Swe­dish Stoc­kings also devo­te a lot of their time to the inno­va­tion of new mate­rials and pro­ducts. They recently laun­ched the Keep it 100-line, which is made from 100% recy­cled elas­ta­ne and nylon. 

Elec­tri­city for the recy­cling plants and Swe­dish Stoc­kings HQ is gene­ra­ted from solar panels and the brand limits the use of water and che­mi­cals in its pro­duc­tion. Both NILIT-yarn and Swe­dish Stoc­kings’ colou­ring pro­ces­ses are REACH-cer­ti­fied.

A great place to work?

The tights and socks are made in Italy. This enables Swe­dish Stoc­kings to clo­sely moni­tor the pro­duc­tion pro­cess. The brand wants to make sure that the wor­king con­di­tions in the fac­tory are tip-top. Swe­dish Stoc­kings has regu­lar ins­pec­tions carried out and pays sup­pliers the mini­mum wages. Serious claims, right? Tha­t’s why we unders­tand why Swe­dish Stoc­kings does not reveal the names and addres­ses of their fac­to­ries! Another brand could secretly take advan­ta­ge of it.

How circular is Swedish Stockings?

Com­ple­tely cir­cu­lar. This is why: Swedish Stoc­kings asks for used – cheap and bro­ken – nylon stoc­kings to be sent to one of their two recy­cling cen­tres. You have to pay the ship­ping costs. We advi­se you to take your old tights and socks to a Swe­dish Stoc­kings point of sale near you. They will then be able to take it to a recy­cling centre.

In het kort

The mis­sion of Swe­dish Stoc­kings is clear: to chan­ge the hosiery industry. And by exten­sion, the enti­re fashion industry. How? By com­bi­ning the luxury of the past with inno­va­ti­ve techniques.