Eton AB is a Swedish manufacturer of men's

shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...

s. It was founded in 1928 by David and Annie Petterson in the small village of

Gånghester Gånghester is a locality situated in Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders N ...

in Sweden. Eton is now a global brand, being sold in more than 1,500 stores in over 50 countries, with

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

s in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

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London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

History

Early history

During the

1920s File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the Eighteenth Amendment to ...

, Annie Petterson started to sew dresses in the family kitchen. When the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

forced her husband David to close down the family

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

, he joined his wife's quickly growing business. The company was originally called ''Syfabriken Special'' (Specialized Sewing Factory). With an increasing focus on men's shirts, the company soon changed its name to ''Skjortfabriken Special'' (Specialized Shirt Factory).

1950–2000

At the beginning of the 1950s, Skjortfabriken Special launched the so-called "Eton shirt", created with inspiration from the famous

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. In the mid-1950s, export started to Great Britain but since ''Skjortfabriken Special'' was difficult to pronounce for non-Swedes, "Eton" was adopted as the company name. In connection with the international expansion, a new and modern factory was built in Gånghester. The building still functions as the company headquarters. During the 1980s, Eton started working to offer high quality, premium shirts. In 1992, Eton presented, after a collaboration with Swiss experts, the world's first non-iron shirt in 100% cotton. The first reseller was the British department store

Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...

, which sold more than 600 shirts the first week alone.

2001–present

In 2012, family-owned Eton was acquired by the Swedish private equity firm Litorina. In 2016, Swedish private equity group

EQT AB EQT AB is a Swedish global investment organization founded in 1994. Its funds invest in private equity (EQT Private Capital Europe & North America), infrastructure (EQT Infrastructure), real estate (EQT Real Estate), growth equity, and ventur ...

became Eton's new owner.

Key people

Hans Davidson, grandson to the founders Annie and David Petterson, was the CEO between 1989-2019. At the beginning of 2019, Eton announced that Hans Davidson, after more than 30 years as acting CEO, would step down and hand over the role to David Thörewik, former managing director at Weekday, one of the independent brands in the H&M group.

Operations

Eton has its own branded stores in

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and the

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, including an official online store. It is represented by more than 1500 resellers as of 2018, including department stores Harrods,

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

Harry Rosen Inc Harry Rosen Inc. is a Canadian luxury retail chain founded by Harry Rosen in 1954 in Toronto. A privately owned company, Harry Rosen accounted for 40% of the Canadian market in high-end menswear in 2008. Stores Founded by Harry Rosen in 1954 as a ...

Le Bon Marché 240px, Interior ( "the good market", or "the good deal" in French; ) is a department store in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. Founded in 1838 and revamped almost completely by Aristide Boucicaut in 1852, it was one of the first ...

El Corte Inglés El Corte Inglés S.A. is a Spanish department store chain founded in 1940 by Ramón Areces and César Rodríguez. It is the last such remaining in Spain and Portugal, and has been a member of the International Association of Department Stores s ...

La Rinascente ; ) is a high-end Italian department store chain that operates nine stores in Italy, including two flagship locations in Milan ( Piazza del Duomo) and Rome (Via del Tritone). The company was a member of the International Association of Depar ...

and

KaDeWe The , abbreviated to KaDeWe, is a Thai owned department store in Berlin, Germany. With over of retail space and more than 380,000 articles available, it is the second-largest department store in Europe after Harrods in London. It attracts 40,000 ...

. Besides its Gånghester headquarters, Eton has offices in Stockholm,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Cantù Cantù (; Brianzöö: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza. History The name could stem from that of the Canturigi, a population of I ...

, London, New York, and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. The turnover for 2018 was a record high, with double-digit growth.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.etonshirts.com Clothing brands of Sweden Luxury brands Shirts Swedish brands