Kvalitet som ideal och strategi: Kappfabriken och konfektionsindustrins globalisering, 1940–1970

Abstract

Quality as an ideal and a strategy: One coat factory and the globalisation of the clothing industry, 1940–1970

In the period 1940–1970, the Swedish clothing industry went from prosperity to crisis. The article identifies three contributing factors: the shift in demand to comfortable everyday clothes; Sweden’s inclusion in the European Free Trade Union (EFTA); and the move towards more department stores and retail chains. Using Upsala Kappfabrik AB, one of Sweden’s largest coat factories, as an example, the article explores how manufacturers of women’s coats and two-piece suits reacted when consumers chose fast trends and quantity over quality. Upsala Kappfabrik’s response to growing competition was to rationalise and invest in youth fashion, marketing, design collaborations, and exports. Everything was done without forsaking the company’s idea of quality. The article shows that, despite its efforts, Upsala Kappfabrik’s existing business did not become profitable, neither did it adapt to the new market changes. The strategy indicates that Upsala Kappfabrik, like many other manufacturers of fine clothing, misjudged the market, did not want to give in to modern patterns of consumption, and refused to change its mode of production. Convinced that quality was the right way to go, the clothing industry campaigned for consumers to choose Swedish-made goods over foreign ones. As the industry, encouraged by official government inquiries, the Swedish Consumer Agency, and politicians, continued to invest in quality, retailers turned to foreign manufacturers who supplied cheap, fashionable clothes with short delivery times. The article finds that the dismantling of the Swedish clothing industry went hand in hand with the rise of the clothing retailer H&M, which took the lead in what was to become the Swedish fashion industry. It also argues that, as a brand, Swedish quality is based on decades of quality industrial production and fostering consumer information.