John Magnuson left the family farm in western Sweden already as a 15-year-old, with only six years of public schooling under his belt, to try his luck in the textile industry in Borås. After a short stint in England, and ventures trading textiles in the Baltics, he found inspiration in an unlikely place – America’s bustling ports. Impressed by the quality and variety of American workwear, which was made of a particularly durable denim and available in a large range of sizes, he started importing it to Sweden in the 1920s. But the prices were high and the shipments unreliable. Goods often went missing in the ports and John Magnuson’s frustration grew. In a lightbulb moment, he decided to produce his own workwear – right in Sweden.
Starting with eight seamstresses and a supervisor, he set up shop in an abandoned old factory in the small town of Fristad in 1925. He called his company AB Skyddskläder, based on the Swedish word for “protective clothing,” which he later successfully lobbied to include in the country’s official dictionary, but the company would always be known as Fristads.
The first couple of years were tough but the turning point came once John Magnuson found a dealer in Stockholm and port workers in the Swedish capital embraced Fristads’ now iconic blue bib n’ brace trousers and overalls. From the get-go, it was the high quality and large size range that set Fristads’ workwear apart from the rest. The fabric quality was relentlessly tested in a machine that the founder had constructed himself. And while competitors only offered 5-6 sizes of each model, John Magnuson produced up to 34 sizes, leveraging his American experience to meet every worker’s needs.
“When workers questioned why they should choose Fristads over cheaper competitors, my grandfather replied, ‘Because our garments are twice as durable, and you’ll find the right size without needing a tailor’,” Erik Magnuson said.
By 1928, just three years after the start, Fristads was ready to expand. John Magnuson purchased a plot of degraded land near the Fristad railway station. The locals thought he was out of his mind, but his foresight paid off. The factory grew steadily and was added on to four times by the 1970s.
John Magnuson’s innovative mindset and determination carried Fristads through a depression, World War II and the great textile crisis, which shuttered many other clothing manufacturers. By the time the company moved its headquarters to Borås, John Magnuson had passed the baton to the next generation, with his oldest son Bertil serving as the CEO and his youngest son Birger as production manager.
John Magnuson passed away in 1992, just shy of his 100th birthday. His legacy, however, lives on. Just like some brands are synonymous with jeans, Fristads has earned its place as a legend of workwear, continuing to set the standard for quality, innovation and sustainability in the industry.