Tent brand celebrates 50 years in business
Swedish tent brand Hilleberg is celebrating its half-century this year.
Co-founder Bo Hilleberg has said the company’s exclusive focus on tents has contributed to its success and longevity. Today, its products are in use on every continent, in all types of weather and terrain and have earned a reputation for strength, reliability and ease-of-use.
“Even when many outdoor companies began diversifying their product lines, we felt that specialising in one product category, and really doing that to the best of our abilities, was the best way for us,” Mr Hilleberg has said.
It stopped producing its tents in Sweden in the late 1990s, but rather than entrust that part of the business to outsource partners in Asia, it opted to keep ownership of the factory and to keep it in Europe. It now employs 60 people at its manufacturing plant in Rapla, Estonia, and the small number of trusted contractors it does work with are in Estonia too.
“Not only is Estonia close to Sweden,” Mr Hilleberg says, “meaning less travel time, but it also has a very similar culture as well as a history of skilled textile manufacturing.”
