Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Top Swedish Fashion Brands 2018
Yellow + blue = green As one of the most respected brands in children’s shoes in Scandinavia and a worldleader when it comes to sustainable design, Kavat is all about healthy, happy feet – that look good. With timeless design, quality materials and an adult collection to boot, this is a small company with a big mission. By Linnea Dunne | Photos: Kavat
“Our shoes don’t change much from one season to the next. We stand in contrast to the fashion scene in that sense; we’re slow fashion, and we’re comfortable with that. You don’t need to change your wardrobe all the time,” says Magnus Ericson, CEO of Kavat, the Swedish leather boot maker. Of course, why would they change? As the most eco-friendly shoe manufacturer in Europe, now the first brand to meet the new and stricterthan-ever EU Ecolabel requirements, Kavat has become the go-to brand for environmentally conscious parents and others who put quality first. “It’s been ten years Ecolabel certified, proud of, but our greener world goes
since we were first which we’re very commitment to a far beyond labels,”
46 | Issue 111 | April 2018
says Ericson. “We want to contribute to people changing their consumption behaviour, and indeed, we’ve grown a lot in recent years. Our shoes last long enough to be passed down from sibling to sibling, and clever parents realise this and see that it’s cheaper to buy good quality. For us, sustainability is not just talk – these are values that have been passed down through generations. We live and breathe this commitment in all parts of our company: I drive an electric car; we constantly improve our factories and use renewable energy for our production; we’re transparent throughout the entire production chain. The EU Ecolabel is simply a standard and a statement developed in Brussels as the official European eco-label, and frankly I think more brands should strive to get
it – not to boast or look good, but because it’s an external norm that helps consumers.” His conviction is admirable, but it is nothing new at Kavat. Founded in 1945 by Ragnar Karlsson, the brand has always been about quality over quantity, about doing things properly. Karlsson, who started working for a shoe factory aged 15, supposedly lost his thumb in a punching machine. Despite this, he went on to set up the shoe manufacturer Ymer, founded on the motto ‘No damn garbage!’. Today, we know his legacy as Kavat.
Shoes that withstand the test of time The EU Ecolabel means that Kavat customers can rest assured that their shoes are made with reduced water consumption and low emissions from tanning, that they are entirely free from chromium and other harmful substances such as phthalates and heavy metals, that no PVC is used, that the factory working conditions adhere to UN and OECD conventions, and much more. A less formal