Written by Menswear Style in Interviews on the 27th February 2020

Style, comfort and quality in every detail. It is the philosophy that has made Stenströms to be one of Sweden's best-known brands. The classic Stenströms shirt carries 120 years of tradition, professionalism and quality. Today, the business concept also includes women's blouses, knitwear, accessories, boxers and ties. In a recent MenswearStyle Podcast episode Peter spoke to both Marie Ramberg, Head of Marketing and Peter Juriado, Head of Design at Stenströms about the brand's classic and contemporary collections, as well as the brand's rich heritage which includes first making shirts for ship captains in Helsingborg in 1883.

Please provide some background about Stenstroms 

PJ: “The company has been producing shirts for 120 years. We now offer both menswear and womenswear such as knitwear, jackets, ties, scarfs and pocket squares. These are all the things we believe belong together teamed with a shirt. The brand started as a small shop here in Helsingborg in 1883 and at that time they were selling more or less everything. The brand become known for their shirts and in 1899 they started their first factory and it grew really fast. In the 1920s it had become a big business in shirtmaking.” 

MR: “The captains of the shipping industry that came into port would have their shirts made by Stenstroms. Also, all the noble persons who resided in Helsingborg would also have their shirts made by the brand at that time. However, the ship captains certainly helped in spreading the word across the world about the quality of the shirts. We now have a factory in Estonia with 90 people working there.”

Stenstoms is very much a family business isn’t it? 

MR: “Yes it’s a family business and I’ve been here 16 years. We like to work for the company because it feels like we’re part of the family. People who work here love to represent the brand because for us it’s all about quality and long-term relationships with our suppliers and customers. One of our oldest customers is a shop and they’ve been buying our shirts since 1899.” 

PJ: “We work with the best mills in Europe and the majority of them are located within Italy. We have very good cooperation with them e.g. its not just them tell us what to buy but also us telling them, and regularly developing things together. I think that way of working has been very successful for us. I think its very important that we as a brand continue to buy the best fabrics and keep the high quality we're known for. We like to regularly discuss this with our suppliers and make them aware that we want to buy the best that they can offer.”

Sustainability is a big part of your company. Do you think other brands are only now starting to catch up? 

MR: “I would say in some way it feels like that. If you work with good suppliers and have control over the sustainability part, then you know what you’re putting into your product. It’s been our philosophy from the beginning, so we have already been very sustainable for a long time.” 

PJ: “In addition to our Estonia factory we have subcontractors, and this is where we need to be careful when we pick who we work with. We use them because we have doubled our turnover within 5 years and our factory cannot handle the volume. Our production manager does a good job of controlling all the external factories to understand and know who we are working with, which is important for continuing our sustainability philosophy.”

This is a shortened transcribed edit of episode 46 of the MenswearStyle Podcast with Marie Ramberg, Head of Marketing and Peter Juriado, Head of Design at Stenstroms.com. You can listen to the full version below or subscribe in iTunes, Spotify or your favourite podcast player.

With sit down and interview Marie Ramberg and Peter Juriado from Swedish shirtmaking brand Stenstroms located in Helsingborg.