Sandqvist: New shop design and four-day week

Swedish bag brand Sandqvist has redesigned its store in Berlin-Mitte together with Studio Greiling. “Repurposing” was the overarching theme of the redesign, which also refers to the pragmatism and value orientation of the brand and its minimalist and durable products. FashionUnited caught up with co-founder Daniel Sandqvist at the store in Berlin Mitte for a chat about the brand’s past, present and future.

How would you describe Sandqvist’s USP?

Daniel Sandqvist: The main idea of ​​Sandqvist is to produce high quality and durable products and to make them as good as possible. At its core, it’s about making sustainable bags for everyday use, with a minimalist style that stays on trend for as long as possible.

How was the brand created?

Sandqvist was founded in 2004 and started out as a creative project by my brother Anton. He made a bag for himself because he couldn’t find what he was looking for. He was looking for a functional bag that looks good at the same time. So he got some scraps of fabric and just made a bag for himself. The bag resonated with everyone around him and it turned into a business.

After a few years, our friend Sebastian joined the company. We started making a wider range of products, we looked for other fabrics and other materials and we started working with canvas and leather.

We also rented an office. At first it was really just an office. The room we found was in the basement and had stairs going down from the street, but people still found us there so it doubled as a shop. It was an impossible location. We designed the shop ourselves using lots of plywood – it should look like a hut. A physical store is the best way to meet customers and for customers, a store is the best way to physically interact with a brand.

You currently have six of your own stores – in your main markets I assume? In what order did you open them?

Exactly. Our main markets at the moment are Sweden, followed by Germany, Great Britain and France. We opened our first store in Stockholm in 2011. Then came Gothenburg. And then we opened a store in London, the first outside of Sweden, then Berlin and then Paris.

And where did you sell your products before opening your own stores?

We work with selected retailers and we still do in all our markets. But we also have our own very good online shop. I think it was important for us to have all three channels: good retailers that we work with long term, our own online presence where we can create our own content to explain the brand, and also the stores.

What percentage of your sales do you make online and how much in stores?

Our wholesale business accounts for about half of our total sales. And around 25 percent each online and in stores. More or less, it depends a bit on the market.

Who is your target audience?

We focus on making bags for everyone and we aim to be very inclusive in doing so. But the fact is that most of our customers live in larger cities. In Sweden, for example, it is mainly Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. While in other countries, like Germany, there are many more big cities where our customers live.

And can you describe your target group in other ways?

Our target group is also defined by their interest in environmental protection and their interest in responsibility in general. I think that’s something that unites all of our customers of all ages and backgrounds. We are a very values-oriented brand. For us, this is something we always push forward. Our customers really appreciate that.

Their focus is on manufacturing very durable products. Does that get in the way of your own business because customers buy a backpack and then don’t come back?

You have to find a balance, which is why we have expanded our collection. It’s true, you don’t have to buy the same Sandqvist product that often. And we don’t want that either, because it lasts a long time and people should keep it and fix it if it breaks. That’s why we offer a repair service with local craftsmen in our stores in Berlin, London and Stockholm.

Their production itself is located in India and Vietnam.

Yes. Most of the more technical models are made in Vietnam and all leather and canvas bags are made in India. We have a long history of working with our Indian manufacturing facility. We can look back on many years of really good cooperation. And we have also been working together in Vietnam for a long time. Both production sites offer different knowledge and different types of production.

And I assume it’s cheaper too?

Yes, it is, but it’s becoming more and more the same. When choosing the production countries, however, it is particularly about the larger production quantities that our local partner companies can offer, which Swedish production cannot do. It’s difficult to produce in Sweden because there simply aren’t enough skilled workers.

Are you considering moving production closer to your home country?

We have been making products in Sweden for a while. That was very interesting. But the real thing is that finding factories that can produce everything we need is a problem. A lot of knowledge has been lost in Sweden over the years. It’s coming back and I think that’s great. There are more and more brands that produce in Sweden and in Europe. But we get very good quality from our long-standing partners.

In terms of transport, it’s something we keep thinking about and I think customers would appreciate it if we produced in Sweden. We made two simple products in Sweden, a leather briefcase and a leather folder. But so far the production in India is still better.

How important is the German market for you?

The German market is very important for us. Germany is our second largest market, right after Sweden. It accounts for 20 percent of our total sales.

Are you considering opening more stores in Germany? Where?

Well, Hamburg is interesting. Munich is interesting. There are many interesting cities in Germany. Frankfurt could be interesting. But who knows? Yes, it’s also really fun to do some research before opening a store or to visit the city to understand what makes these cities tick. But we have no concrete plans for further business in Germany. We really like shops and Germany and it works really well. So maybe in the long run.

But we also just came through a pandemic, which was very hard for us. We offer products that you use when you go to work. When you’re not going to work, like during the pandemic… it’s been a tough time for us and for everyone else.

Are you back to pre-pandemic levels now?

Our sales are slowly coming back, we are almost back to pre-pandemic levels. But we lost a lot of revenue during the pandemic years. In 2020 we lost a lot of sales. And in 2021, revenue has plummeted even further due to delays in production and supply chains. But in 2022 we are back on track. And for 2023, our goal is to be back where we were in sales in 2019 – we expect an increase of 20 percent.

Have you thought about expanding your offer to other products during the lockdown period? Was there a moment when you questioned whether bags are still the right thing to do?

We’ve tried making other products, but more like ones that sell well with a bag. Our goal is and will always be to make the best bags you can find. And that is still our main focus. But we also tried some other things. We made a blanket and home products to be a bit more interesting.

We’re here today because the store has been remodeled. Retail experiences are generally on the rise. Is this some kind of event that you plan to do more often in the future?

For the past five years, the Berlin store has been based on the same idea as our first store in Stockholm in 2011. It was largely made out of plywood and we designed it to look like a cozy cabin. Now we felt it was time to come up with a new concept. We really like this new store concept because it is minimalistic but also practical. You can move the shelves freely. So we can play more with the action space and also hold such events. I really like this new design and it puts the focus on the products.

You introduced a four-day week at Sandqvist at the end of February. What is the goal?

The goal is, of course, that we can stay with four days without any loss of efficiency and can thus offer our permanent employees a better work-life balance. All 30 employees of the company are offered training to improve their workflows and thus be able to do the same work in less time – for the same salary. We’ll know more in six months – I’m really looking forward to the result!