After studying textiles and fashion and with several years of experience as an in-house and freelance designer, Gudrun decided to take the plunge: in 1974, she founded Gudrun Sjödén AB. The big chains were producing her pieces individually, but Gudrun was designing full collections and always viewed her garments as part of a whole. She would finally be able to embrace and develop everything she had learned throughout her studies, which made her the distinctive designer she is today.

 

The new company had a clear purpose: to create, manufacture and sell designed and coordinated garments for active leisure. Sales at that time were aimed at shops and department stores in the Nordic region, and the first collection, called “Active leisure in natural materials,” had an environmental approach to the choice of materials.

 

Despite years of professional experience, starting a company was a journey filled with challenges, lessons and insights. But Gudrun was committed to finding a uniquely expressive style and to filling the world with colorful design. Her vision required courage and innovation. Every garment should not only be part of a larger collection, but should also be imbued with a certain feeling.

 

After two years of supplying clothes to shops and department stores throughout the Nordic region, Gudrun and her team decided to stop wholesale activity to external stores. And that same year, the company opened its first ever colorful store on Regeringsgatan, in downtown Stockholm. For Gudrun, this was the true beginning of Gudrun Sjödén AB. She finally had a place to present complete collections, and in the store, her creative vision could come into full bloom.

 

In one newspaper, which referred to her as a well-known designer and clothing manufacturer, Gudrun said that she had intentionally tried to avoid the “traditional, commercialized store style.” Instead, she had designed a store as unique and inspiring as her clothing.

 

Regeringsgatan 30 is still a Gudrun Sjödén store today. The shop underwent a transformation in 2012 and is now bigger and more beautiful than ever before. The new interior decor is infused with Nordic heritage and gives visitors the sense that they’ve stepped into another world.

 

An exciting new journey began with the store on Regeringsgatan. Gudrun Sjödén now has 22 concept stores in seven countries. Over the years, each location has become a little oasis of color, design and a personal touch.

 

The Gudrun Sjödén brand has become synonymous with high quality and functionality with flair. 1978 marked the beginning of the company’s mail-order sales, an initiative that took off quickly and opened doors to customers throughout the country. Customers could easily order Gudrun’s unique and colorful designs without having to visit the shop in Stockholm.

 

By this point, the company had sales of SEK 2 million, an impressive figure amounting to over SEK 10 million in today’s value.

 

Mail-order sales introduced a new avenue for availability and became a key part of the business. It was also an opportunity for Gudrun to showcase her talent for connecting with customers on a personal and engaging level. And it paved the way for the company to open a webshop in 1997, as Gudrun Sjödén had already been shipping to customers for 20 years.

 

Thanks to their practicality and sturdy design, sailor shirts and henleys have long been favored by farmers, soldiers and workers. These timeless tops inspired Gudrun, and as blue-and-white striped French sailor shirts gained popularity, she was quick to feature stripes in her designs.

 

Gudrun introduced the classic essential striped sweater in 1978 and the garment has become a favorite of hers and of customers alike. The first essential striped sweater had long sleeves and centimeter-wide stripes. The classic design has evolved over the years, but has never lost its original charm. It has been modified with different fits and necklines, but the stripes are ever-present as a constant reminder of the classic roots of this garment.

 

The sweater has now been joined by the equally popular essential striped dress – a style that has become just as key to Gudrun’s collections. The essential striped sweater is a tribute to the past and to the future. Every stripe tells a story, every thread is woven with care, and the result warms the body and spirit alike.

 

1980 marked the beginning of a shift in the mail order business, when Gudrun Sjödén introduced her popular catalogues that were quickly to become iconic. The first catalogue was a simple, folded, duplex-printed sheet of paper. The main colours, orange and grey-green, appeared in various tones. Gudrun designed the entire layout by hand. This gave the catalogues a unique and authentic look and feel.

 

Her customers were longing for more than just the products, they wanted a personal connection, a narrative, too. So Gudrun filled the pages with hand-written descriptions conveyed in a personal tone. The catalogues became more than simply a set of collections. Each one was a diary in which Gudrun shared her interests and wrote about whatever brings her joy. Her narratives gave customers more background about the clothes plus an insight into the person behind them – they continue to be a significant feature of the catalogues today.

 

Each one takes us on a journey of creative design and colour, filled with anecdotes and observations that offer readers a richer, more engaging experience. These catalogues have become collector’s items over the years, cherished by those who appreciate their artistic and personal value.

 

When Gudrun Sjödén released her first collection in 1974, she was designing clothes for an active lifestyle. It was called “Active leisure in natural materials” and included a hooded sports jacket with a zip and practical pockets. A predecessor to today’s parka.

 

The first parka was introduced in 1980 and has been a firm classic Gudrun piece ever since. It makes a welcome return in a variety of colour combinations and new patterns, year after year, sometimes in both the spring and autumn collections. Its practical purpose and robust design have remained the same for four decades, keeping out the wind and rain. Ready for all kinds of adventures, whatever the weather.

 

Gudrun Sjödén has designed a variety of unique jackets for different seasons over the years... from longline to shorter styles, crafted from both warm and cooler fabrics. But our parka is a classic that we never grow tired of and it holds a special place in our hearts. Thanks to its ageless appeal and unbeatable practicality, it never goes out of fashion and is as much of a go-to piece today as it was in 1980.

 

It had always been Gudrun’s aim, as both a designer and a businesswoman, to grow and expand her company’s activities in Sweden and further afield. Her visions and aspirations knew no bounds and 1981 proved to be a pivotal point in the company’s journey. Gudrun decided to launch her unique fashion style on the international stage and this marked the beginning of an exciting and expansive period. Germany was the first country, outside of Scandinavia, to get a taste of Gudrun Sjödén’s colourful and unique design style.

 

Gudrun began selling her products via mail order from the modest surroundings of her sister’s kitchen in Rosstal, a small picturesque market town in Bavaria. With a feel for what her German customers wanted and plenty of determination, Gudrun laid the foundation for what would eventually become a successful market. The quality-conscious Germans welcomed Gudrun Sjödén’s clothes with open arms, they appreciated the aesthetic and practical qualities of her designs.

 

The success on the German market was the start of the company’s global expansion. Gudrun Sjödén has sales in more than 50 countries today.

 

The USA was the next country in which Gudrun Sjödén established a presence. In 1983, sales took firm root on the west coast in sunny California with the launch of a mail order business and two colourful stores. Unfortunately, the stores had to close in 1990. Photos taken in front of the iconic red Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco capture those happy years in California.

 

Gudrun was given a warm welcome when she returned to the USA for a new attempt in 2012. Her essentials collection, with solid colour jersey pieces and harem trousers, was met with great sales success. The American customers embraced Gudrun’s boho and artistic style, which gave women greater confidence about their right to freedom of expression through their clothes.

 

It took courage to set up a new venture. But despite the previous setbacks, Gudrun Sjödén is now stronger than ever in the USA. The company has two stores there today. One in the bustling metropolis of New York and an outlet store in Minneapolis. Thanks to her ability to create clothes that touch the heart and soul, Gudrun has firmly established herself as a popular designer on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

In the brand’s early years, a handful of garments were available in sizes for both women and men. Then in 1984, Gudrun Sjödén took the next step and introduced unisex clothing. The catalogue was a blaze of colour in true 80s fashion, with women and men posing in matching outfits.

 

The classic straight stripes from 1979 featured on the unisex tops, catching the eye with their inclusive and playful style. As well as this timeless design, the range included jackets, trousers and knitwear in a spectrum of colours and patterns.

 

Launched alongside these unisex styles was a line of clothes in unique Gudrun style aimed specifically at men.

 

Gudrun Sjödén branched out into creations for children too. The catalogues in the 80s included small, colourful pieces among the many styles for grown-ups. Children’s clothes were introduced into the stores to get a feel of the market before the first colourful collection for children was launched in 1992. At last the whole family could express their style in colourful attire and unique patterns, whatever their age and gender.

 

Large and small, printed and embroidered, appliquéd or knitted and in a host of different colours – no motif is as dear to Gudrun as the rose. Her very first rose design was named “Rosamunda”. That was in 1988 and it featured in a small collection of unbleached cotton underwear. It quickly became popular and was followed by roses in every colour of the palette wending their way across jacquard cardigans.

 

The rose has become an essential part of Gudrun’s identity as a designer and is a motif she loves to paint whenever the opportunity arises. Her passion for roses blossomed especially in the 90s and this enchanting flower appeared on both the clothes she designed and the front of catalogues. In the 2000s, her roses made an exciting tour of the world, inspired by different cultures: on embroidered jackets in China, colourful georgette pieces à la Frida Kahlo in Mexico, “folk style around the world” in Hungary and on beautiful wool in warm, rich colours in Bhutan.

 

This love of roses culminated in the 2010s in the biggest and most magnificent roses the brand has ever seen. Resplendent blooms in a blaze of brilliant colours, celebrating the flower that Gudrun never tires of redesigning in exciting, new ways.

 

The 80s was a decade filled with colourful creativity and dynamic designs, and in 1989 Gudrun opened her third brick-and-mortar store in Sweden. With two stores already enjoying thriving business, one on Regeringsgatan in the heart of Stockholm and one on charming Grönegatan in Lund, it was time to take the next step.

 

The brand’s first outlet store was opened on Götgatan, a popular shopping street in Stockholm’s Södermalm neighbourhood. Offering customers the chance to shop for Gudrun Sjödén’s characteristic designs at reduced prices. Today, the brand’s Swedish outlet store is located in Årstaberg and is a treasure trove of pieces from past collections as well as unique vintage bargains. An outlet store was opened in Minneapolis in the US earlier this year too.

 

Gudrun’s gem of a store on Götgatan never lost its charm and the beautiful rambling patterns on its tempera-painted walls continue to enchant everyone who enters. What started out as an outlet store became a Gudrun Sjödén store selling garments from the latest collections.

 

Block printing is a centuries-old craft, whose roots date back to 7th century Japan and Korea. It is a captivating art form with a rich heritage. Originally, the technique was used to embellish religious manuscripts. Over the centuries, it was employed more widely to decorate books and textiles.

 

Gudrun Sjödén started to incorporate block printing into her designs in the 1990s and the artisanal method has featured regularly in her creative work ever since. The steps involved are as fascinating as the finished products. It is a painstaking process requiring the skilled hands of experienced artisans. Blocks of wood are carved and chiselled individually by hand to produce the patterns. Each block is then dipped into a dye paste and pressed repeatedly on metre after metre of fabric, transforming it into a beautiful canvas of patterns, shapes and colours.

 

The beauty of block printing is that it results, inevitably, in slight irregularities. This means that every print has its own unique quality. Gudrun Sjödén blends this traditional technique with contemporary designs and artistry to create styles that possess a unique appeal.

 

Safeguarding our planet has been rooted in Gudrun Sjödén’s business philosophy from the very beginning. Back in 1974, when her first collection was launched, Gudrun was already advocating the use of undyed cotton instead of conventional cotton which was usually bleached and then dyed.

 

In the early 1990s, Gudrun first set eyes on a field of cotton, stretching away to the horizon like a soft sea of white fluffiness. It was a time of growing public interest in sustainability and environmental issues and she knew that going organic, and especially organic cotton, was the right thing to do. She found her first supplier of organic cotton in Greece.

 

Shortly afterwards, Gudrun travelled to India to learn more about cotton farming and organic methods of production. Her first ever visit to India was a profound experience. With its kaleidoscope of colourful sights, this vast country was a fountain of fascinating learning and inspiration. In 1992, India became a fantastic new manufacturing country for the company. It was also the start of a life-long relationship with the country and the craftsmanship that exists there continues to inspire Gudrun to this day.

 

Nowadays, Gudrun Sjödén uses organic cotton extensively in the woven and knitted fabrics for its clothes, accessories and soft furnishings.

 

The landscape of the 90s was dynamic and eclectic, defined by a diversity of genres, styles and influences that shaped the intersection of fashion, music and culture and combined then into a unique fusion. Overall, the 90s were a vibrant and transformative decade. Yet as Gudrun’s company approached its 20th anniversary, it stayed true to its creative spirit and continued to design and deliver Nordic design. This is Gudrun’s signature style, characterised by vivid colour, bold patterns and a fondness for functionality and nature itself.

 

1993 was an especially notable year for Gudrun Sjödén, as she was presented with Sweden’s Businesswoman of the Year Award. This prestigious award not only highlighted Gudrun’s position in the fashion world, it was also recognition of the success of her vision and business acumen. In addition, it was an acknowledgement of her hard work and dedication and a testament to how she had successfully built a company and created a brand that was not just about clothes, but about a lifestyle that embraces colour, joy and the natural world.

 

Although the 90s was an era marked by change, for Gudrun Sjödén it was a time of achievement and growth. With her sights fixed firmly on the future, Gudrun continued to evolve her world of colour and design.