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When Hans Kristjánsson started 66°North almost 100 years ago, Iceland was one of the poorest countries in the world. In the economic slump of WWI, his brand saved lives by clothing hardworking fishermen, farmers, and other tradespeople in outerwear that shielded them from the North Atlantic’s most extreme elements. Ice, sideways rain, sub freezing temps, you name it.
Icelanders back then weren’t splurging on fashion when surviving was priority. Many of them had just one jacket, but many different uses for it—an essential multi-functional layer known for hundreds of years among the people of Iceland as úlpa.
“Growing up as a kid in Iceland, when your mother or father was helping you get to school they would look out the window and say, ‘Oh, you need to take your úlpa,’” Helgi Oskarsson, co-owner and CEO of 66°North, tells me. “It’s not just enough to take your jacket. It’s an etch above.”
As fish exports soared and Iceland’s economy prospered again after World War II, the durability and repairability that 66°North had built its reputation on appealed to the general public as much as it did to workers. Designs started trending away from strictly workwear more toward everyday technical wear—burly enough to block the brutal conditions on a fishing boat, but adaptable enough for grabbing artisanal coffee in Reykjavik and trekking along the fjords.
That juxtaposition between fashion and function is one that intrigues us here at Field Mag as we cover the latest at the intersection of good design and the great outdoors. As both the mainstream and capital F fashion industry continue to find inspiration in the outdoors through the Gorpcore movement—and collaborations like The North Face x Gucci and Mystery Ranch x Prada stir up applause and offense—this humble brand from the Arctic may be seen as an early example of an outdoor brand finding balance in both scenes.
“These two worlds have been coming closer to each other, and in the middle, there is this white space, as we used to talk about it,” Oskarsson says. “That’s where we have always been.”
But even as utilitarianism has its moment, even as I’ve tried to become a more mindful consumer and gear writer, I find myself with too much. My closets are brimming with different pieces of outerwear for specific scenarios. I have a jacket for walking my dog. I have a jacket for going to a restaurant. I have a jacket for days that are cold but not wet. And wet but not cold. I have a jacket for snow. And so on. But not one jacket fit for every scenario.
This is typical of the American consumer, I think. Capitalism has trained us to wear something once and then lust for something new. I knew a girl in high school, during the heydays of Aeropostale and Forever 21, who never wore the same outfit twice. I once aspired to be like her. Now I recognize that my creativity in personal expression is better used finding new ways to wear what I already own. Even if what I already own feels like too much.
Global studies have found that landfills receive millions of tons of wasted clothing every year, much of it thrown away before its already short lifespan is even over. “Globally, customers miss out on USD 460 billion of value each year by throwing away clothes that they could continue to wear, and some garments are estimated to be discarded after just seven to ten wears,” according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the UK-based nonprofit behind the development of the circular economy.
Oskarsson diffuses some of my guilt when he says that Icelanders aren’t immune to the perils of overconsumption, even as ingrained as úlpa is in their culture. Icelanders also want new colors and styles more often than they need. But before they buy something fresh off the rack, they check the Iceland Facebook group that serves as a buy/sell/trade marketplace for old 66°North gear. The community has 20,000 members, a sizable percentage of the country’s population of 375,000. And if they find a perfect piece in need of some love, 66°North runs a repair service at their headquarters in Iceland to service 66°North product sent in locally and from the around the world.
Now considered one of the wealthiest countries in the world—and quite fashionable, I might add—Icelanders’ need for a do-everything jacket is largely a product of their unpredictable weather. One moment it could be dry, sunny, and a little chilly, the next moment it could dip below freezing with torrential rain. It’s the ideal testing ground for a do-everything jacket.
I ask Oskarsson if he thinks Iceland’s unique climate makes 66°North uniquely poised to equip the rest of the world as we face the swings of climate change. He thinks so. “This has been part of our everyday life for centuries,” Oskarsson says. “This is nothing new to us.”
When it comes to 66°North’s design philosophy, the more activities one jacket can do and the longer it lasts, the better. Just launched for SS24, the brand’s latest “Leaving Home” collection elevates everyday essentials with technical performance fabrics. Classic pieces get fresh colors inspired by nature—like the Hornstrandir shell and the Snæfell jacket, useful for many activities.
“When we design a jacket that’s good for running, then we also ask ourselves is this jacket also good for playing golf on a chilly day in Iceland?” Of course, he says, they also hope that the design is classic enough that it doesn’t go out of fashion. But if a century of 66°North is proof of anything, it’s that durability and repairability will always be en vogue.
Published 02-27-2024
