I have a float coat and a mustang suit:
Posted on 02/21/2005 2:29:21 PM PST by franksolich
Helly Hansen hauls in a record
They used to be best known for rain slickers and storm gear, but Norwegian clothing maker Helly Hansen has since gone international and definitely upscale. The company is now eyeing record sales and has big plans.
"The younger generation in Norway, and all our customers worldwide, have a completely different image of Helly Hansen than grown-ups do," Hans Gunleiksrud of Helly Hansen told newspaper Aftenposten this week. That suits him just fine.
Sales of Helly Hansen's spring collection are up 40 percent in Norway and 23 percent internationally. The company now aims to open a new so-called "concept store" every other week for the next two years.
One of the stores, on Oslo's fashionable shopping street called Bogstadveien, attracts young image-conscious customers. It's a welcome change after six years of losses.
Helly Hansen was founded in 1877 by Norwegian sea captain Helly Juell Hansen. For years, its main plant in Moss, south of Oslo, produced and sold work clothes, rain wear and footwear.
Now most of the production takes place in Asia. Of nearly 700 employees, only 237 are based in Norway. The company has been through a chain of different owners, from the Hansen family to Niels AB Bugge to Nora (now Orkla) and RGI.
Now it's a Bahrain-based investment bank at the helm, Investcorp, which also turned around the famed Gucci concern in Italy.
Most of the Norwegian employees work in marketing functions, with most of their customers in Europe.
The strategy now calls for more exclusivity through Helly Hansen's own chain of stores. Results were fairly flat in 2004, but 2005 looks promising.
While we're on the topic of inedible burgers, have you ever heard of White Castle? Very popular with some, they serve a burger that cannot be separated or distinguished in any way that I can tell from the bun.
Nope. Is it British?
No, and be glad of that. Their buildings are supposed to resemble little white castles, but in fact look more to me like public latrines, easy to hose down. I have known people who love to eat there after a night of drinking, which I think would be a necessary precursor.
http://www.whitecastle.com/_pages/menu.asp
Those burgers look awful!
The picture does not do justice to their awfulness (new word?). Oddly, I am feeling hungry ;)
If you think White Castles are bad you should experience one of those Wimpy burgers in Norway ,they are terrible
If the Wimpy burgers are actually worse than a While Castle burger, then I am speechless. Apparently what one eats most in Norway is pizza. I wonder how that is. Now I am truly feeling famished.
The people I have worked with, from my days on a Coast Guard buoy tender to the marine coonstruction division at my current employer have always been split between Grunden & HH & Stearns. I prefer Stearns, and I am of Norwegian descent. If I have to be on an open barge all day in 15 degree weather, I do not want to be wewt & cold, and Stearns gear does that best, I think.
Not familiar with Stearns. Worked a little in commercial fishing and many seasons on open (party) boats in the NY bight. Found a pretty even split between HH and Grundens followers in both industries. The arguements about the quality were like those between Chevy and Ford owners. Didn't even think somone would throw Chrysler into the mix. }:^)
I have a float coat and a mustang suit:
Oh, you know folks who like sliders, too? Fries were called nailers I think, as in coffin nails. Sliders don't need a definition, lol.
Buy 'em by the sack...
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