When speaking of tradition and history at CTH Ericson, we mean it. In 1885 Carl Theodor Ericson founding C.Th. Hat- och cap factory in Borlänge, Sweden. Carl Theodor was then the fourth-generation hat producer after his great-grandfather Eric Forsberg who was a hatter already in the 18th century. When Carl Theodor retired in 1927, his son Nils took over the business. The picture shows the CTH hat factory in 1902.
Sales flourished and the hat factory expanded in 1943. By the 1950s, the number of employees had risen to 230. During this time, CTH was the largest workplace for women in town.
We still manufacturing selected models in small batches in the hat factory, which also houses a museum of our history and production.
Today, more than 135 years after Carl Theodor started the business, we still are a family business and a distinguished heritage company, and its govern by Ann-Sofie och Markus Morin.
At CTH Ericson we always trying to be cultivators of our rich, long heritage, while at the same time looking to the future and exploring the possibilities to design new classics for our contemporary times.
The production of our hats has not changed much in 100 years. Every step is still done by hand by our seamstresses, which makes each hat and cap unique. All to maintain the high quality and the comfortable fit.
Today most of our headwear is made by skilled seamstresses in Estonia or Poland. We still have a small production for special orders in our hat factory in Borlänge to maintain the craft in Sweden. A craft we are proud of.
Borlänge, Dalarna and the rest of our planet's well-being are of the utmost importance to us at CTH Ericson and affect our daily work. We want to do our utmost to be able to pass on this beautiful place to future generations.
For us, quality is important and strongly associated with environmental thinking. Wear and tear, and outdated next season, is not our melody, but we are happiest when a customer calls and wants to replace their cap after 15-20 years.
Quality, locally produced and small-scale are some of our keywords. We are aware that these concepts mean that our products cost a little more, but we still believe that it will pay off in the long run for both the planet and the wallet.
In our hats and caps, we use natural materials as far as possible. Most of our caps are made of wool, Linen or cotton.
The fabrics and other materials are mainly purchased from suppliers within the EU. The chemicals laws in the EU are strict and this gives us confidence that our products also live up to the standard.
We work with a number of well-known weavers that deliver fabrics of the highest quality, for example, Harris Tweed from Scotland, Abraham Moon & Son from England, Magee from Ireland, Albano Morgado from Portugal and Växbo Lin from Sweden.
In addition, we work with the company Rekotex in Sweden. Rekotex is a company that works to create circular flows in the textile industry by offering surplus (dead stock) fabrics from fashion companies to other textile companies.
We offer guided tours of the CTH Ericson's historic hat and cap factory, which is located in the heart of Borlänge's city centre.
During the tour, we'll talk about how it all began, in 1885, to become the largest manufacturer of caps and hats with more than 200 employees, in the 50's.
The production on a large scale ceased in 2004, however, thanks to the CTH friends organization, the factory has been rescued and is now a living museum, which was selected as Swedens industrial heritage prize in 2006.