A city with a legacy of textiles

From travelling peddlers to mail order sales to e-commerce. Borås has roots in textiles and commerce, a reputation that has been firmly rooted for decades, if not centuries. Today, the well-known travelling peddlers have evolved into entrepreneurs and Borås is home to research on modern textiles, as well as design, fashion and innovation.

Borås has long been known as Knallestaden, ‘the city of peddlers’, a name that derives from the sixteenth century when wandering salesmen travelled from farm to farm in the Sjuhäradsbygden area. They were known as ‘knallar’ (peddlers) and they sold handicrafts and textiles – an old-fashioned version of e-commerce, you might say.

The emphasis on textiles in Borås emerged with the development of the textile industry, and in the midnineteenth century, Borås became an unmistakable city of textiles. For a long period of time, Borås was the hub of Sweden’s textile production, with numerous large and well-known factories, and the city flourished. Between 1860 and 1920, the population multiplied ten-fold from 3,000 to 30,000 – a degree of growth unmatched by any other Swedish city. Then came the textile crisis. 25,000 jobs disappeared and the industry was knocked out.

The crisis hit Borås hard, but several companies in design production remained and had their products produced abroad. They became an important part of the city’s textile industry and the beginning of a new era, in which Borås was the mail-order-sales capital. The number of mail order companies that do not or have not had headquarters here can nearly be counted on one hand.

The rise of the internet brought brand-new opportunities for people and companies. Curious and innovative Borås took the leap into e-commerce and an age of infinite possibilities. Today the city is home to cutting-edge skills and a cluster of expertise unlike any other in Sweden.

The old industry area, Simonsland, is home to Textile Fashion Center, Sweden and Borås’ international centre of fashion, textiles and design. Once upon a time, these premises were home to a weaving mill, a spinning mill, a sewing factory and a dye-works. And while the sounds of the factory have long since fallen quiet, the pace has never slowed. Textile companies focused on innovation and development are housed under one roof here, with national assignments and an emphasis on sustainability. There is a café, restaurant and the Textile Museum of Sweden – the Nordic region’s leading museum of textiles and fashion. Among other things, the museum offers the permanent exhibition Textile Power, which was named exhibition of the year.

Students, researchers, visitors, innovators, entrepreneurs, technicians and business developers – all working for a sustainable future – meet, mingle and collaborate in the town centre. In other words, Borås is a textile city with history, but also a city with its eyes on the future. Tomorrow’s sustainable textiles are made here using circular business models. The research is at the global forefront and many of the assignments are national.