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~ RevolutionRace ~

People all over the world are going outdoors. Hiking, cycling, walking or skiing, we are
challenging ourselves in many ways. We want to explore the world and travel to see the
unique places our earth has to offer. We exercise, climb, raft and run to experience the beauty
and thrills of nature. Doing so requires proper preparations, as not all weather conditions fit
normal clothing. The outdoor clothing market has been growing, developing itself massively,

over the past couple of years. People who enjoy going outdoors got into this business and
came up with all kinds of new innovations. Swedish Pernilla Nyrensten is one of these
entrepreneurial outdoor people. She is co-founder of RevolutionRace and is talking to us
about what it is like to be a young brand in the outdoor apparel business.

hy did you start RevolutionRace? colours. RevolutionRace is about happiness - nature is colourful,
My husband Niclas and I are outdoor people. why not embrace that?
WWe love to travel. What we couldn’t find was an
outdoor brand that was able to provide clothing we wanted for And keeping things easy?
a decent price. At that time, we concluded most outdoor apparel Yes. It is one of the reasons we are a pure online player: it was
was overpriced, had boring colours and often was a bad fit. That easier to start online and spread the brand through social media.
is what we wanted to change and when we came up with Revo- It provided us with the opportunity to get our brand and vision
lutionRace. In the beginning, it was really up to us to do every- out into the world but keep costs to a minimum. I am very
thing ourselves and create our brand. We started with our online proud to say that we have been profitable since the start, which
shop in 2014. It was like having ten jobs at once! We focused would have been tricky without our online store. Now, the online
on the design of our apparel, getting the quality we wanted, world is our business, our market. Not just the Swedish one, but
working on our brand image, processing orders, and working all of the world, which is incredible potential.
on advertisements. We even acted as our own models! Looking
back, it was a pretty hard time, though it has been worth every What is the main goal of RevolutionRace?
bit of energy. After all, there is a certain charm in starting your Our D2C business model makes it possible to give customers
office in the kitchen and your fulfilment in your father’s garage, better products for fairer prices, which can be as little as half
isn’t there? the more expensive brands. We also try to get our consumers
connected with us. That is why we let them help decide what
Since our start, we have been growing at a rapid pace. We sell in our next seasons’ colours and patterns should be. In the outdoor
more than twenty countries every month. Last August we opened market, information and communication often only went one di-
our shop in the American market, which was a pretty big step for rection. The brand was the sender, the customer the receiver. We
us. We have been able to release our shop in so many countries wanted to change that by really listening to our customers. They
in such short time as our turnover has been growing as rapidly are just like us, eager to explore the world. Being a successful
as our expansion. For the most part, I believe that this is because online player means managing an online community. As we try
of our strategy. We have a Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) business to be very low-key to our consumers, we can communicate a lot
model that enables us to sell top quality products for better prices with them through our online channels which provides control
than many other brands. In our communication to our customers, of the brand while interacting to see what consumers want. It is
we are as transparent as possible so they can understand what our very interesting to see what impact consumers eventually have
supply chain looks like. It is clear to everyone who wants to know on our collection.
that we eliminated the middleman business model. That way, our
customers get unmatched value for their money. Can you elaborate on the cross-border expansion of
RevolutionRace?
The D2C business model is working well for you. We started in our home market: Sweden. We had a global vision
What did the outdoor apparel market look like before from the start, even when we received advice not to expand
RevolutionRace entered? cross-border too quickly, but rather build on a home-base first.
In my opinion, the outdoor apparel market was very conserva- ‘Become strong, build a firm backbone’ - that was the mantra
tive. Both organisational as product-wise. Brands basically which we were told. Luckily, we were stubborn enough to decide
focused on three colours: black, green and grey. It was something to follow our own path. In two years, we successfully launched
that ‘fitted’ the scene. Not according to us! We aimed to bring our Finnish and Norwegian shop. Just as we have been profitable
more fashion into the industry and to get rid of the boring same in Sweden from the start, we were profitable in the first week in
old products. That is why we focused more on patterns and Finland and Norway.

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