Helly Hansen AS is a Norwegian manufacturer and retailer of clothing and sports equipment. Currently headquartered in Oslo, it was previously headquartered in Moss, Norway, from its founding in 1877 until October 2009. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kontoor Brands.
History
Helly Juell Hansen had been at sea since the age of 14. In 1877 at the age of 35, he and his wife Maren Margarethe produced their first oilskin jackets, trousers, sou'westers and tarpaulins made from coarse linen soaked in linseed oil. Over the first five years they sold around 10,000 pieces.
In 1878, the company won a diploma for excellence at the Paris Expo, and began exporting its products.[4]
After Helly Juell Hansen's death in 1914, company leadership passed on to his son Leiv Helly-Hansen, an experienced merchant.[4] In the 1920s, a new fabric, which Helly Hansen called Linox, was developed. Over the next 30 years the name Linox would transfer to a