You don’t need to be good at maths to understand that a century is a long time. 100 years ago, most of us would have been ambling about dirty streets, scraping together enough to put a meal on the table that night.
And over in Iceland, the story was much the same – only there were no smog-filled streets to navigate. Instead, the average man was out at sea, battling deadly waves, freezing temperatures and icy rain, all for the chance to bring home enough to feed his family.
One such fisherman was doing exactly that in. Hans Kristjánsson, who’s resentment for Iceland’s weather would eventually lead him to create 66°North – a brand that would go on to become just as much a part of his countries culture as the weather itself.
100 years have passed since Kristjánsson founded 66North, and plenty has happened during that time. The brand began life creating oilskins for Iceland’s fishermen, fast forward a century and 66North now specialise in some of the finest outdoor equipment worldwide – proving that if you build kit that can successfully survive in Iceland, it’ll work just fine everywhere else too.
To mark the occasion, the company has gone back through its extensive archive and pulled out ten pieces from each decade that demonstrate just how much has changed in a century. The result is the 100-Years Capsule, a collection which takes some of the more memorable designs from 66°North’s history and gives them a modern update.
Starting from the beginning, there’s the Slippurinn Anorak from 1926, based on the fisherman’s anorak that started it all, now made from GORE-TEX WINDSTOPPER – a fabric that would’ve helped no end on those icy seas. The following decade gets a Fisherman’s Hat and Workman Beanie, while the Bylur Sweater looks towards Iceland’s long history of knitting and wool.
Things get progressively more familiar as the years go on. The Arnarhóll Coat takes its cues from military clothing, the Ægissíða Rain Coat revisits an old rainwear silhouette, and then comes the Greni Overall 0 or kuldagalli – which became something of an unofficial uniform for Icelandic teenagers in the 1980s. Björk was among those who wore one, which is about as good an endorsement of an old snowsuit as you’re likely to get.
The later decades bring colour-blocked shells, the Tindur Down Jacket and the Þórsmörk Parka, before arriving at the Snæfell Shell Jacket, representing the most recent ten years.
The variety of garments in the collection demonstrates just how much can change in a century. It’s an impressively long time – but even more impressive that 66°North has weathered everything from Iceland’s unforgiving conditions and the turn of the millennium to the arrival of the computer and the upheaval of COVID-19, only to still be here today.
66°North’s 100-Years Capsule is available to purchase from 66north.com
