Sustainable by Fjällräven by jolien hanemaaijer

SUSTAINABLE BY FJÄLLRÄVEN FINAL ASSIGNMENT COMMON MODULE 2012 JOLIEN HANEMAAIJER SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction........................................................page 1.

Problem formulation...........................................page 3.

Method.................................................................page 5.

Delimitation.........................................................page 5.

Description...........................................................page 7.

Analysis and interpretation.................................page 9.

Concept development..........................................page 16.

Conclusion...........................................................page 19.

Appendix..............................................................page 20.

1. INTRODUCTION

With this project I will dive into the Swedish outdoor brand Fjällräven, to analyze their company and look for opportunities to help to them become more sustainable in the future. Today Fjällräven, meaning Arctic Fox in Swedisch, is one of the leading companies in the outdoor industry, with a long history of making functional and durable products. But it all started in the 1950’s with a 14 year old boy, called Åke Nordin, who loved nature and spend a lot of time outdoors. He didn’t like the backpack models that were available at that time, so he started making his own. He came up with the idea to make a wooden frame, which made it easier and more comfortable to carry weight, on your back, during hiking tours. This frame was highly innovative and made the outdoors accessible to a wider range of people, and formed the beginning of the company in 1960. What started with one backpack has now expanded into a wide range of outdoor equipment, covering backpacks, clothing, tents and sleeping bags. Their products can be bought in their online shops, in retailer shops all over the world or in their NY flagship store, which opened in 2009. The company aims to create functional equipment, that will give you more freedom and comfort during your outdoors journeys. That’s why they are constantly looking for innovative and smart solutions and improved materials. In contrast with many other clothing brands, they don’t aim to follow trends, they simply want to make functional and durable products that can last for years. Their effort to make durable products, has resulted in the fact that some of their backpack models like Kånken, which was originally designed for Swedish school children, has become a classic. This model is being used on a daily basis by a wide target group, ranging from children, to teenagers and passionaries’. In 2010 they sold over 3 million Kånken backpacks since the launch in 1978, and it remains popular with a sale of approximately 200.000 models a year1. Fjällräven does not only show their love for the nature through their products, but also through the many sustainable initiatives they have started over the years. All these different assets have given Fjallraven the image of being a reliable, classic and durable label which appeals to a wide range of customers.

Fjällräven kajka 75

Fjällräven Kånken

1. Source: SGB Sports & Outdoor Magazine february 2010 www.sgb-sports.com

2. PROBLEM FORMULATION

When I started researching Fjällräven ‘s company policy, I immediately realized their responsibility reaches far beyond their products range. On their website you can find an elaborate overview of numerous initiatives regarding their responsibility towards products, the environment, animals, society and employees. Just a few examples: they try to save the Arctic Fox, by donating money to animal organization Angerbjörn. They have a no-fur and mulesing-free merino wool policy, they organize Out In Nature days for children and their parents, and they just launched a new sustainable outdoor apparel line called Numbers. All these initiatives reflect Fjällräven’s true love for nature and their aim to connect people with nature. ‘If we can give you even a moment’s inspiration, we will be proud and happy’. I think the strength of most of their sustainable initiatives is that they are directly related to what the company does, namely sell gear that gives you the opportunity to explore nature more easily. An example of this is the Save The Arctic Fox initiative, which they started because they love animals, but also because then hikers wearing Fjällräven will be able to enjoy this animal. Another example are their Out In Nature days, where they share the beauty of nature with children and their parents, and at the same time attempt to introduce their brand to this young target group that may grow out to be their future customers. These are all examples of green initiatives that are directly linked to the customer and give them to opportunity to be a part of Fjällräven’s philosophy. With this link in mind I examined their other sustainable initiatives and stumbled upon their efforts to compensate the climate for the production of their famous Kajka and Kånken backpacks. On their website you can find a long and complicated story on how they purchase compensation for the climate via the Swedish company, Tricorona. This company was built up within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, and enables anyone, who wants to take responsibility for their impact on the climate, to purchase climate compensation which simply means your are investing into approved projects located in developing countries. In this text, terms are used like Certified Emissions Reduction, Golden Standard, Carbon Dioxide Emissions and links to big environmental organizations. Compared to their other sustainability initiatives, which are easy to comprehend, it took me about half an hour to find out what their climate compensation initiative means, and still I don’t know what I, as a consumer, can do for the climate by buying a Kajka or Kånken backpack. Even though I think this is a good initiative, I think Fjällräven is missing out on the opportunity to let their customers be a part of their initiatives. Which they do manage to make possible with the projects I mentioned before. Furthermore I believe that this initiative does not fit with the Kånken target group, which are mostly young and/or fashionable people who are often not familiar with terms such as Certified Emissions Reduction and Golden Standards. Therefore my research question for this project will be: How can Fjällräven compensate for the emission made in the production and transport of their Kajka and Kånken backpacks and at the same time let the customer play an active part in this compensation and connect them with nature?

3. METHOD

To find a solution to my research question I am going to use the hermeneutical or the ‘I wonder why’ method. The reason for choosing this method is that my research question deals for a great part on how Fjällräven can motivate their customers to become a part of their sustainability program. To be able to find a solution to this issue it will be very important for my research to come to a great understanding of the target group’s motives and interests in relation to sustainability and their nature experience.To get to know the target group and the product, I will make use of a survey and do field research in shops. After analyzing this quantitative data, I will combine and compare the outcome with qualitative data to look for possible solutions to my research question.

4. DELIMITATIONS

1. For this research project I will limit myself to finding a solution that can be a valuable addition to their already existing climate compensation, but does not have to be able to fully replace this initiative. I am using this limitation because I do not have technical knowledge and exact figures on the amount of Carbon Dioxide Emission that needs to be compensated. I also do not have the means to collect this data for the solutions I might come up with. 2. In my target group research I want to limit myself to the Kånken consumers, because these backpacks are designed for a day to day use which means the user is not necessarily connected to outdoors activities, opposed to the Kajka backpack which is designed for Hiking. The reason I use this limitation because it will be a bigger challenge to find a solution that will get the Kånken user in contact with nature, opposed to the Kajka user. 3. Furthermore I want to focus on finding a solution for Scandinavia, because I want to give Fjällräven the opportunity to try my solution on their home market before implementing it to other markets. 4. Finally I want my solution to be somehow connected with one of Fjällräven’s already existing sustainability initiatives, because I think by joining forces they will be able to gain more awareness for their different projects and in that way they might be able to maximize the results.

The current label : CLIMATE SEAL

5. DESCRIPTION

The phenomena I am working with in this research paper is Fjällräven’s climate compensation for their Kanken and Kajka backpack models. After reading about this initiative on their website, I visited several shops in Copenhagen to look at the backpacks and find out how they communicate this message with their customers. First I looked at the Kånken models, and found out that one of the paper labels hanging on the bag is dedicated to this initiative. A very simple and clean looking label. On the front you find a picture of the earth and a brand statement by Fjällräven. At the bottom of the label it says ‘CLIMATE SEAL’. This product is carbon offset with Gold Standard from Tricorona’. Then on the backside of the label you find a short explanation about this carbon offset refer you to their website for more information. With as final detail at the bottom of the label the message that the label is made of recycled paper. The first thing I noticed when I saw the label, is that they don’t use the same terms on the labels as they do on their website. Online the initiative is called Climate Compensation and on the label their call it Climate Seal. Using different terms for the same initiative will cause confusion, especially when it comes down to more complicated information as in this case. Secondly I think the explanation on the back of the label is very poor, because the message ‘this product has been carbon offset with Gold Standard CDM projects from Tricorona’, will most likely only cause confusion and maybe even suspicion towards all the fancy terms. If you want to find out more about this initiative they send you to their homepage, where you will hopefully find out that Climate Seal is the same thing as Climate Compensation. Finally I want to note that they only use recycled paper for this specific label, the other 4 labels hanging on the back have been printed on normal paper. When moving on to the Kajka backpack models, I couldn’t find anything pointing out that this product has been Cilmate Compensated. From this experience I can conclude, that there are also some basic communication problems regarding this initiative: • Usage of different names for the same initiative. • No clear explanation and overuse of fancy terms. • The consumer has to invest too much time and energy in order to find out what the Gold Standard CDM projects exactly are. This will lead me to the following hypotheses, which I will take into consideration when continuing with my target group research and looking at different solutions. • A sustainable initiative will appeal more to the consumer when they know what the result of it will be . • Bad communication about sustainability, including using too many complicated terms, will alienate and discourage the consumer from buying your product.

2. Fjeld & Fritid shop, Kultorvet 7, Copenhagen 3. The complete results of my survey are included in the appendix

6. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Since my research question is mostly focused on how Fjällräven can motivate their customers to become a part of their sustainability program, it is important to come to understand how the Kanken target group experiences and values sustainability and what their relation is to nature. Therefore I have interviewed a Fjällräven retailer to find out more about the consumer and their knowledge and attitude towards the brands sustainability initiatives and I have conducted a survey among 40 people about their consumer habits toward backpacks and their experience of nature. The interview with the Fjällräven retailer2 confirmed my assumption that the Kånken backpacks are mostly bought for everyday use and not necessarily for outdoors activities. Besides that I learned that there are roughly three categories of people buying the backpack. 1. Schoolchildren (or their parents) 2. Young and fashionable people 3. 30+ people who have had one for a long time and need replacement. According to the retailer a big part of this group knows that Fjällräven works with sustainability, but they are not necessarily familiar with the different initiatives. Especially when it comes to the more ‘complicated’ initiatives like the Climate Compensation and the No Fluorocarbon Policy in their wind jackets. Even the retailer had issues with pronouncing this word, and he told me he didn’t know much about it until the jackets became popular. With my survey3 I attempted to gain knowledge about the consumers habits towards buying a backpack and how they experience nature. From the 40 people that filled out my survey 34 owned a backpack, which they used for school or for their jobs. Only 5 of them never read the labels that are attached to a backpack, which means most people are actually interested in reading about the label and the product details. Most of them, 29 , live in the city center and 26 of them say they go out in nature at least several times a month. This means that even though the Kånken target group are mostly urban people, they are interested in nature. Then I went a bit deeper into their outdoor experience and asked them how much they feel connected to nature. Surprisingly 64% of the people said they felt average to a bit over the average connected to nature, and 37,5% of all people would take the opportunity to be more out in nature of they would be offered the opportunity. To finish my survey I asked all participators to name 3 words that came to their mind, when they think about nature. I did this to get an idea of what kind of sustainable initiative might appeal to them. The following words were repeatedly named: • Trees: 22 • Animals: 13 • Air/sky: 5 • Water/sea: 7 I think the results of my target group research have several connections with some of the big social movements of this time. Like people becoming more aware of their surroundings and their need to connect to it by playing an active part in it. There are also a two trends I would like to take into consideration when starting my concept development. The first the Home growing trend, which I think relates to peoples need to create

4. Li Edelkoort is a well know trend forecaster. She talks about the Sensitive Science trend on the website of her company Trend Tablet www.trendtablet.com

and nurture things. The second trend is what Li Edelkoort4 calls the Sensitive Science trend, which is about creating a world where nature, technology and human will be one. To summarize my target group research I have created a mood-board, which visualizes my persona, their living environment and their connection with nature. This mood-board will be my starting point for developing a solution to my research question.

ENVIRONMENT

PERSONA

3 User categories: • School children • Young and fashionable people • A 30 + group who grew up with the bag and is still using it. They specifically chose to buy this bag because it represents a simpel, social and creative lifestyle. It’s a statement item The user appreciates both the quality, practicality and classic look of the bag. It is likely that the user will remain loyal to the bag for a long time. Because of the classic look and the practicallity of the bag it is being used in many different settings; everyday life, social gatherings, travels and outdoor activities. The bag is a basic element in the users life and they take it with them, werever they go. The user is aware of his surroundings and has the desire to play an active part in it. They are willing to invest more time, money or energy in order to achieve or obtain what they want.

EXPERIENCE

The users are intersted in nature, and has the need to spend time outdoors. They often live in urban environments so most of their experiences with nature are in parks or other man made situations. Altough they love nature, they are not used to ‘real nature’ and can only handle it in small doses. They care about our planet and therefore buy eco products on a regular basis and are intersted in sustainable initiatives.

NATURE MEANS TO ME: TREES AMINALS WATER FRESH GREEN AIR SPACE FREEDOM

5. Source: www.teebweb.org

7. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

After conducting my target group analysis, looking at trends and the current user experience with Fjällräven’s Climate Compensation initiative, there are a few elements that I think are important. First of all clear communication of the initiative, secondly transparency and peoples need to add something to the world. And lastly the simple fact that more than 50% of all people that filled out my survey associate nature with trees. During my research I came across Project Green Hands, which is an organization that aims to inspire people to plant trees, make them care for the environment and make them realize our dependency on nature. On their website you can donate money, so that trees can be planted in different places in the world. For example a donation of 3 dollars equals one fruit tree, that will be given to a mother in India, so she can grow her own fruit. Worldwide there are many more organizations that are concerned with planting trees, in order to stimulate our biodiversity. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) estimates that deforestation and forest degradation is costing the global economy between US$2.5 and US$4.5 trillion a year, which is more than the losses of the recent and ongoing financial crisis5. By planting trees we can prevent deforestation and more lost in our forest diversity in the future. Beside that it can also make it possible to produce more raw materials, which can be used for furniture or construction, instead of non-reusable materials such as oil. This led me to the idea, to start a new campaign for Fjällräven that focusses on planting trees, in different area’s in Scandinavia. I will call this campaign MAKE A FORREST, which simply means that for each Kånken and Kajka backpack that is sold, Fjällräven will plant a tree. I think this initiative brings together peoples need to do something good for the world and Fjallraven’s love for nature and their aim to make it easier for people to enjoy it. MAKE A FORREST : TOUCH POINTS Label: For this campaign I want to design a new label, that communicates the initiative in a clear and visual way. It will be important to use friendly and easy to understand key words, like call the backpacks Biodiversity-Friendly Products, instead of Carbon-Offset Products. Furthermore I would continue using recycled paper but I think that Fjällräven has to consider using this paper for all their labels, because right now it suggests they have a double standard. On the following page you can find an example I made. Website: Besides explaining the project on their website, I want to add a webpage hit counter to the main page that counts how many trees have already been planted. It could also be interesting to place maps on the website, of the areas where the trees have been and will be planted. This will add to the credibility and tangibility of the MAKE A FORREST campaign and would give Fjällräven to opportunity to work towards goals together with their customers.

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QR Code: During my research I have noticed that the customer has to invest a lot of time and energy in order to find out what the Climate Compensation initiative exactly is and what the results are. Therefore I also want to create a solution that shortens this route. Fjällräven could for example add a QR code to the label, so that the customer can scan the code when looking at the product, and will be directly send to an overview page with information about MAKE A FORREST. Here he or she could for example see how many trees have already been planted and where. I think this could be an immediate boost to the brand’s customer value and enthusiast him or her to buy the product and be a part of the project. Activities: One of my delimitations was that I wanted to combine my solution with one of their already existing initiatives and stimulate people to be more outdoors. I think their project OUT IN NATURE will be very suitable to be combined with my MAKE A FORREST campaign. Fjällräven could for example organize these days in the area’s where the trees have been planted. This way they can give the customer the opportunity to plant a tree themselves, share the results of the project and also use the opportunity to educate people about the importance of our forests.

6. Source: www.dn.dk 7. Source: Dutch documentary ‘Tegenlicht’, broadcasted on monday October 8 2012.

8. CONCLUSION The starting point for this project was the research question: How can Fjällräven compensate for the emission made in the production and transport of their Kajka and Kånken backpacks and at the same time let the customer play an active part in this compensation and connect them with nature? My solution to this problem is the MAKE A FOREST campaign, which means that Fjällräven will plant a tree for every Kånken and Kajka Backpack they sell. I think this solution has the potential to appeal to peoples new awareness towards the way we use nature and their new interest in taking responsibility towards our living environment. I have chosen for trees, because for many people these are strongly connected to their idea of nature and have a spiritual, aesthetic or cultural meaning. Our economies are in many ways depending on forests, especially in Scandinavia, but deforestation and loss in biodiversity are causing big global losses and environmental issues. Investing in sustainable forestry is one of the ways to keep our biodiversity and our economy healthy. If we keep in mind that each year approximately 200.000 Kånken backpacks are being sold, and this doesn’t even include the Kajka models, Fjällräven can play an active part in this process. Advice Based on my previous conclusion I give Fjällräven the following advice on how they could implement my solution and how they could apply my ideas to other branches for the future: To be able to implement the MAKE A FOREST campaign, Fjällräven will need knowledge about forestry and the means to plant many trees. Therefore I would recommend them to create partnerships with forestry organizations in the Scandinavian countries, like Dansk Naturfredningsforening which aims to increase the amount of forests in Denmark by 20% during this century6. By combining the organizations knowledge and the bands popularity and scope, they could increase the changes for the project to become a success. If this campaign indeed turns out to be successful, Fjällräven could consider expanding this initiative to their other product categories. They could for example link their jackets and special wind jackets to investing in wind energy, so the brand can become more energy self-sufficient. Like the Danish island Samsø’s has done by investing in wind turbines7. The idea of opposing an initiative by Fjällräven, to the sale of their products, might not only lead to eco- friendlyness but also biodiversity-friendly products.

9. APPENDIX

SOURCE LIST Internet • www.fjallraven.com • www.sgb-sports.com • www.tricorona.com • www.teebweb.com • www.trendtablet.com • www.surveymonkey.com • www.flickr.com • www.google.com • www.projectgreenhands.org • www.dn.dk • www.skogsstyrelsen.se • www.un.com Books • Peter Haisler, ‘How to write a good research papar’, Samfunds Litteratur, 2011, Denmark • KEA School of Design and Technology, Compendium Common modele, 2012, Denmark Shops • Fjeld & Fritid shop, Kultorvet 7, Copenhagen

RESULTS SURVEY 1. Do you own a backpack?

2. If so, for what purpose did you buy it?

3. When you buy a backpack or piece of clothing, do you read the attached labels to find out more about the product?

4. When you buy a backpack or a piece of clothing, which qualities are important to you? Please choose 3

5. Which sustainable initiatives would you like to support the most? (from 1 to 5)

6. Where do you live?

7. How often do you go out in nature (to a park, hiking, camping, the beach, etc.)?

9. On a scale from 1 to 7, how connected do you feel with nature?

10. Are you satisfied with your previous answer, and would you like to change this experience if you would be offered the opportunity to be more out in nature?