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Squidhunter was founded 2001 in
Lund, Sweden, as an independent label producing clothes and various accessories
with a high aesthetic degree. The idea is to offer items that satisfy the
highest demands on design and quality. The designs reflect their designers own
taste in clothes and accessories rather than the results of extensive market
research and the latest trends.
Squidhunter designs are offered
www.squidhunter.com as well as in several carefully chosen stores.
The Squidhunter Story
In 2001 Squidhunter is founded by Håkan
Bruce. Inspired by a journey to Australia, Håkan starts to make his own designs
and put them on t-shirts in a small scale production.
The idea is to make »t-shirts and stuff«
for customers who are looking for clothes with a high aesthetic degree. The very
first customers are friends of Håkan in the university city of Lund, Sweden, but
soon the word started to spread and a webshop is put online at squidhunter.com.
In 2002 the Squidhunter collection is
expanded with new designs and some different accessories. The production is
outsourced to a local print shop.
As the demand for products continues to
increase, during the end of the summer Håkan was at a cross-roads. Either he
could find someone to help him in running the company or he would be forced to
quit the expansion.
As a result of this, Sebastian Håkansson
joins the company as a co-owner and head of operations. This is also the start
for an expansion of the Squidhunter concept. The short term goal is expanding
the Squidhunter collection to offering »clothes and accessories« and establish
retailers in Sweden.
In early 2003 Squidhunter presents a
whole new collection with retro-tees, plain-tees, hoodies and some new
accessories.
During the spring several retailers,
mainly in Lund, Malmö and Stockholm are established. A completely redesigned and upgraded webpage is released in mid-february.
The Squidhunter Newsletter is introduced presenting the latest designs once a month. By fall, Squidhunter products can be
found at 10 different retailers all over Sweden. By the end of the year two
production assistants joins the company in order to take care of the online
sales and logistics operations.
During the spring of 2004 Håkan returns to Australia to work with another
project. Inspired by the Melbourne city life and street-art, a new era of
designs are presented in the spring and summer collections.
After a number of interviews and articles in different magazines, the online sales
expand rapidly. During the spring two new international retailers are
established and after only three months the turnover is as big as the full year
of 2003.
With the rapid expansion also comes an increasing workload for Håkan and
Sebastian. At the same time, the need to focus on sales becomes more and more
important and in order to handle this the workforce is increased with a sales
manager. At the end of the year, two more retailers in England and Sweden are
added. The whole Squidhunter team is also working hard with preparing a broad
international launch and further establishment of retailers in Europe and
Asia/Australia.
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