Emy Blixt
Emy believes you can change the world if you combine a great product with great messages. It’s been done before and it can be done again.
In 2006 she went to the closed-down clog factory next to her childhood village in the southern of Sweden and bought their old stock of 300 clogs from the 70’s. At that time she worked as a Swedish language teacher without any earlier experiences from the industry but still wanted to design her own fashion simply because she could not find it anywhere and was appalled at the bad quality and un-sustainability of modern shoes.
Her friends went crazy for more so she started to recreate the old designs. She started Swedish Hasbeens in 2007 together with her childhood friend Cilla Wingård-Neuman* since they both shared the belief that today's mass-production shoes lack the creativity, the natural craftsmanship and quality that the traditional shoes once had. Therefore the driving idea behind Hasbeens is to make Better Shoes For A Better World, in organic materials with new fashion designs using the old production methods from the 70’s. Hasbeens started out by making genuine, fun and high-quality retro-fashion shoes on high-heeled wooden soles in the old factories like they use to way back in the 60’s and 70’s.
In 2008 she developed new product categories like boots, bags, belts and children’s shoes, all based on retro-inspired fashion with high demands on organic materials and sustainable production. Still the desire to create fun, vibrant and creative products is what motivates her.
Swedish Hasbeens is now one of the largest ecological shoe brands in the world present in more than 22 countries, with US being the largest market. The Swedish Hasbeens brand still build itself globally through viral spread and fashion bloggers but it helps that many iconic people like Sarah Jessica Parker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kristen Wiig and of course Dolly Parton wear the shoes.
It also helps that some of the world’s most influential stores like American Rag in LA, Bird in NY, Merci in Paris and Antonia in Milano carry their products and media like ELLE, Vogue, Nylon and Lucky Magazine regularly write about the fashion brand.
Still the vision remains strong with Emy - Better Shoes For A Better World is what Hasbeens will always stay true to.
*Note
Cilla, the co-founder of Swedish Hasbeens, passed away in March 2011. Her contribution to the growth of the company during its first four years was immense. Her legacy within the company remains.