Helly Hansen history

After winning its first product award at the Paris World Expo in 1878, the Helly Hansen brand continued its legacy of apparel innovation.

In 1914, the brand’s founder, Helly Juell Hansen passed away, leaving his son, Helly Hansen, in charge of the company of the same name.

The first major development under the younger Hansen would come with the company’s introduction of Linox in the 1920s.

Helly Hansen introduced Helox in 1949, shortly after WWII. Although it was by no means our first rainwear, it was monumental in the fashion world.

In 1950 Helly Hansen attacked the problem of leaking seams with the introduction of its patented MicroWeld process, a method of blending materials using microwaves to create a bonded, 100 percent waterproof fabric.

The Helly Hansen range, however, made its epic debut in the 1952 Olympic games, which helped encouraged Olympic sailors from all over the world to adopt their gear.

In 1961, Helly Hansen created the ideal breathable mid layer: Fiberpile.

Helly Hansen adapted Lifa to its product line in 1975, becoming the first company in the world to manufacture Lifa-based garments to the adult market.

Helly Hansen introduced a new insulating fabric, Fibrepile, in 1979.

Helly Tech® waterproof and breathable fabric was launched in the 1980’s, winning awards and setting the new standard for performance and protection.

In 1981 a custom jacket was designed for the Olympic team on the first-ever Norwegian boat.

The company introduced its Helly Tech fabric coating in 1984, setting a new standard for waterproof, breathable fabric.

Helly Tech also would provide the final layer for the 1986 introduction of the Helly Hansen three-layer WeatherSystem, complementing its Lifa-based undergarments, and pile-insulation garments, including the Propile polyester fabric introduced in 1986.

By the 1990’s it was found that people had more and more free time on their hands and Helly Hansen capitalised on this and became one of the first brands to design clothes for different purposes.

In this respect, Helly Hansen followed a growing trend, that of transforming itself from a clothing manufacturing company to, as then CEO Johnny Austad wrote in the company's 1996 annual report, "a brand image."

Since April 1997, Helly Hansen has been 70 percent owned by Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment group that also holds a stake in Saks Fifth Avenue, among others, and previously held positions in such other brand names as Tiffany and Gucci.

In February 1998, Investcorp named Erik Stensrud, formerly with Adidas, as Helly Hansen's CEO.

Launched summer 2008, the Odin gear is the materialization of our 3-Layer System™. Made for serious mountaineers and athletes, it’s a complete, technically evolved checklist for all high-altitude environments and conditions.

Helly Hansen introduced the new H2 Flow™ Technology in 2012 with the H2 Flow™ Jacket, which won an Award for Design Excellence from the Norwegian Design Council.

In 2016, the company embarked on its biggest transformation to date, taking the reins back in telling its story and creating an identity in the digital world.

In 2017 Helly Hansen held a total revenue of over $300 million, with 80% of this coming from outside of Norway.

And as recent as 2018, the company introduced new insulation that was 20% lighter but warmer than the market standard.

Data from Adobe Analytics for instance, showed that over $50 billion was spent on smartphones in the 2019 holiday season, a new record.