What does the game of tennis, Sweden and underwear have in common? Well contrary to belief those are interrelated when talking about the legendary Swedish tennis superstar Björn Borg.
Following his rise to fame on the tennis court and his icon fashion trends, the Björn Borg fashion brand was born. Smart, sophisticated and unbelievably out the box, it is a fashion label that does not at all hint the prim and proper designs of Wimbledon. So how does a former tennis champion and icon, lead the way in European fashion and especially with a focus on underpants, you might ask?
Back in time tennis stars went about setting up their own attire. Unlike team sports whereby individuals are dressed according to the colours of their club or association, tennis players had a carte blanche in terms of dress code. Borg in particular sported long hair and a slightly more flamboyant tennis gear as opposed to the traditional all-whites, which we are all rather grateful for.
It began a trend of a slightly more urban look and feel to tennis, which became the signature of Borg. It therefore made perfect sense to take on the fashion world.
So sparked in the early 1990’s, the Björn Borg brand took off. With some outstanding designs in underwear, the Björn Borg clothing empire expanding into shoes, T-shirts, swimwear and various other apparel accessories for men, women and kids. René Lacoste had proved the successful route of tennis and fashion, therefore this wasn’t an unchartered sector but it was one that needed spice - which is exactly what the Borg brand brought to the market.
Away from the tennis phenomenon the Borg brand is realistically turning heads as a unique fashion label guided by a free thinking team and a fast growing supporting market. Keeping on top of trends, building and maintaining a realistic client base (which is visibly illustrated by the Swedish exports campaign) and of course providing a quality product is more work than most would think. It’s a company that is pushing the limits, creating a fashion statement more than just a fashion label.
According to Pernilla Johansson, Global PR manager of Björn Borg, “We are around 100 employees in Sweden, of which around 55 work at our HQ. The rest are employed in our warehouse and in stores. We are established in large parts of Europe plus in the US, Canada, Chile and in China.”
In terms of working forward with a younger workforce, Pernilla states “We do occasionally take on interns, but we haven't designed a special program for our internships. When we do take on an intern we are careful with our choice - both so that the intern gets enough time with us (we usually don't consider internships shorter than 10 weeks) and that we see the chance of building a fruitful collaboration with this person.”- FirstStep.me notes this is a perfect example of building a solid workforce foundation!
Then again it is also one of the few companies that has managed to get two legendary tennis opponents to part their differences and form a brand on their own. Check out the John McEnroe and Björn Borg collaboration. Now who said there was no love in sport?!
Find out more about the Björn Borg brand.
