The Swedish army now wants to address the equality and safety problems of female soldiers’ equipment by starting a collaboration with a women’s clothing company.
Victor Hilding, Swedish Armed Forces
Soldiers’ underwear is not just a matter of comfort, but part of safety and protection equipment. However, in many countries, the army’s underwear policy has long been based on men’s needs, which has put female soldiers in an unequal position.
Women have often had to wear men’s underwear or, for example, get their own bras, even though the equipment should be fireproof and tested for combat use.
The unequal equipment policy became visible as early as 2009 in Sweden, when female soldiers protested that men were offered fire-resistant underwear, but women were not. In practice, women had to choose between men’s underwear or civilian, flammable materials: a situation that was considered both discriminatory and a safety hazard.
Now the Swedish defense forces are trying to correct the situation. It has started a three-year collaboration with the Swedish-Finnish outdoor clothing company Astrid Wild to develop underwear designed for female soldiers and uniform solutions suitable for pregnancy. It is not a single experiment, but the goal is to create a model that can be included in official equipment purchases.
– We are really proud that our product development method is seen as important in such a project. Also from the point of view of equality, we are really happy that the Swedish Defense Forces have wanted to focus on this and specifically with us. We see it as a sign of trust in our business model and our ability, rejoices the Finnish founder and CEO of Astrid Wild Jemina Pomoell cooperation.
Astrid Wild’s production and material procurement is concentrated in Europe. In the photo, the founders of the brand, Jemina Pomoell and Maria Paulsson Rönnbäck. Astrid Wild
The multi-year cooperation started this spring and lasts for three years. It is a new kind of user-oriented product development, where it has not been desired to set completely precise frames for cooperation, but the current challenges and users’ wishes are accurately mapped before the actual new products are designed and tested.
– The first plan is to focus on making the uniforms of pregnant soldiers fit better, and then develop underwear for female soldiers and personnel, Pomoell specifies.
Pomoell comments that the starting point for functional clothes is their comfort. In pregnancy clothes, on the other hand, one key feature is flexibility and adaptability. Astrid Wild
The project emphasizes user orientation: female soldiers test the clothes themselves in the field and participate in their evaluation.
Astrid Wild was originally founded precisely because outdoor clothing is traditionally designed for men – now the same thinking is being brought to a traditional institution like the military.
– We are starting from a clean slate, so to speak. Even in that respect, this is a really exciting and interesting project, summarizes Pomoell.
Sweden’s opening shows that equality in the army is not just about recruitment or a statement of principles, but now also concrete solutions at the level of physical health and safety. When the equipment is designed for all users, it is not about special treatment but equal working conditions.
Pomoell and his partners Maria Paulsson Rönnbäck founded their Astrid Wild brand in 2019 in Stockholm. The focus of the company, which originally focused on outdoor clothing, has been designing clothes specifically for the special and different needs of women. Their size range is unusually wide, as the collection includes sizes from XXS-4XL and up to 42 different pant sizes.
