The winner makes it all: Catching up with Swedish brands Pure Effects and Morjas 

0:11Hello and welcome to the Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. On today's programme, we turn our attention to Sweden to catch up with two friends of the programme and hear what's new at their brands. First, we'll discuss the smartest solution for keeping clothes fresher for longer, as we catch up with the founder of a clever fabric spray that harnesses the power of microbes. Spraying your clothes instead of doing laundry is really about a small change in your life that It has a huge impact. Your garment lasts longer and you avoid using water, electricity and the release of microplastics.

0:53And later, we'll check in with the founder of our favorite Swedish footwear label to hear about the brand's international growth and its introduction of a stylish women's line. We are ambitious and we like to expand and grow. But at the same time, we're extremely focused on crafting the recipe and just making the stuff taste better. This is The Entrepreneurs, with me, Tom Edwards.

1:24You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Linda Rosendahl-Nordins, the co-founder and CEO of Pure Effect, a Swedish biotech company using bacteria to make sprays that freshen garments and care for tricky-to-wash textiles. Since we last spoke to Linda in 2023, Pure Effect has relaunched its brand, achieved 60 % growth in the past year and entered new partnerships, all while remaining entirely self-funded. I caught up with Linda to talk through the company's recent progress. She began by explaining how a simple spray is helping people rethink laundry and lighten their impact on the planet. So Pure Effect removes odor and freshens clothes and stuff, gear, without washing.

2:09You just spray on, hang up and wait a few hours and then let the beneficial bacteria do the work. It works on wool, silk, sequins, tech fabrics, sneakers, furniture, you name it. And it's great because it's gentle on the fabrics, your wallet and the planet, and very appreciated because it's travel friendly too. So we're in this game to reduce global laundry by 30%. And that's not just to save water, energy and reduce microfiber pollution, but to help clothes and gear last longer. No wash is really a movement. And if you're not really that hardcore, you can go low wash. And we know that this behavior of reducing laundry won't change overnight.

2:52It's really a challenge, but we want to be a reliable pioneer in that shift. And for many people, you know, laundry simply isn't an option. That could be because they have that kind of stuff and clothes that smell, but it's difficult to wash, like shoes, sports gear. This is what we all have at home, I guess. And you have maybe clothes that reek of campfire or suits that normally go in the dry cleaner. But then we also have the kind of places where doing laundry just isn't an option. Like when you're backpacking, it's great to bring a textile spray in the summer cabin, out on a boat, in your gym bag, in a student dorm.

3:29and so on. Spraying your clothes instead of doing laundry is really about a small change in your life that has a huge impact. And that impact is both practical and environmental. So by washing less, your garment lasts longer and you avoid using water, electricity and the release of microplastics. And just an interesting chain of facts when it comes to microplastics. So laundry causes 15 to 30 % of ocean microplastics. That's a lot. And 50 % of all textile fibers globally are polyester. And the third fact is that according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, they say that we ingest five grams of microplastics per week.

4:15That is as much plastic that we eat and drink, etc., as a credit card. That's a lot. So these are some of the environmental facts, but then coming back to everyday life, wouldn't everyone rather do anything else than laundry? And tell me a little bit about what is new since we last spoke to you. Because I guess in the last kind of what, couple of years, Pure Effects going from strength to strength, you've kind of relaunched a lot of the products as well. I think what, just a little bit earlier this year. Really exciting times. What's been happening since? You've been keeping busy. Oh yeah, that's true.

4:52We decided like two years ago to do a relaunch. We have learned a lot during this 10-year journey. So, you know, it takes a lot of time to build something solid. We relaunched the design and also kind of our visual identity because we realized we have to be much more clear that it's a biotech solution that let the bacteria that is actually doing the job. Let them stand out and also diversify us from all the other solutions out there. And also it's a way of clearing up our communication, keep it shorter, maybe be a bit bolder, maybe a bit more fun, not just to blend in with all the others. That's really interesting.

5:35And one thing that I find really arresting, Linda, is the clarity of intention that you have with the business. And you're talking about, you know, as we look to the future and growth and this confidence in organic growth. Now, I guess an easy remark would be, look at what you work with, right? Microbiology, you're working with bacteria. Of course you trust organic growth, but that takes a real confidence and a real conviction not to be looking straight away for, I don't know, external finance or what are the targets we're hitting. It's a real quiet confidence about how you want to grow this business.

6:06Where does that come from? Have you always had that? Is it just the experience of those first 10 years? Tell me a bit about where that confidence comes from. Honestly, I think that's the only way I know how to do things. You know, I've never done the rapid journey with a company before. I also think that it's the way that Joakim, my co-founder, partner in business, is doing things. Of course, it's tempting at times to see if you can speed up, you know, get the hockey stick effect or something. But I think we've seen a lot of cases, you know, of hype bubbles. And it's a lot of talking about pitch sticks and unicorns and raising capital.

6:43And the companies that I've been following, you know, friends and so on, I see they spend so much time focusing on getting that money. And I don't think it's the way to build a solid business. You know, we have learned so much from being close to our customers, talking a lot to them, you know, IRL conversations. And we learn how to develop this. And I must say, it's not always as confident as you describe it, because of course we have our doubts. But one important milestone was when we had the opportunity to work with students in the Bärgskola Communication here in Stockholm. And we let eight groups do their take on our possible visual identity transformation.

7:23And, you know, they got a brief and they did their pitch. And we got so good feedback, you know, from the future generation. You know, they're around their 25, 30s. And their very solid feedback was, you know, you have to talk about the bacteria. You have to talk about the biotech, you know, that stands out. Because that's the future, you know. It's not like it's something new because it dates back to, you know, when Earth formed four billion years ago. And the first life on this planet when it cooled down was single-celled microorganisms. So the bacillus spores that we are working with, or the bacillus subtilis, it's really the foundation of all life.

8:02But it's also something that we can use now for human benefit, since they are the true cleaners on this planet. It was a good feedback from the students, and we decided to do a relaunch to give this a second round, so to speak. Yeah, and I think they're looking great. And I think hopefully your sales figures reflect that that's really landed as well, very well with the public. Just to that point you make, though, about some, I don't know, well, maybe a little bit of cynicism, actually, Linda, from certain quarters. Are you still finding that you're having to have that conversation about, look, you know, this isn't an obvious fix.

8:34But actually, if you interrogate it in a little bit of detail only, you'll see it's absolutely perfect. And it is future proof. And indeed, it goes right back to, as you said, the origin story of the planet. Are you having to have that conversation less now? Are people kind of getting it? I've been working with biotech and bacteria 10 years now and we see a transformation in people's attitudes absolutely talking about you know probiotics for the gut flora and your skincare and all that and that's also what Jörg in my co-founder sees you know he's been working 30 years and has even more you know of a timeline when it comes to the change and I think we got maybe a bit blinded by this in our first years you know we've been talking so much about the environmental you know the technique and not so much about we didn't realize that the need of behavioral change also when it comes to our mission to reduce global laundry by 30 % and to make the change of something that is so rooted in people's habits, you know, laundry, doing laundry to make things clean.

9:33You really have to look more, I think, on the behavioral side on things than just talking about the technology and make sure everyone understands everything about the details and the bacteria. That's not the important thing. Yeah, I love that. Now, talk to me about ongoing validation of the ideas of the products, because there is this very kind of clear scientific leaning, you know, the efficacy of testing. It's sort of baked into your approach. But talk to me a little bit about how you are checking, you know, the lifecycle analysis of these products, how you're ensuring that you're keeping track with consumers' experiences and these use cases.

10:09because you are, I think it's fair to say, more, and this reflects on what you've been already saying, Linda, more scientific actually in your approach. It's evidence-based, right? But tell me a bit about what the mechanics of that look like. Yes, of course, the challenge we have is that we're both introducing a new technology and we're also facing the challenge of doing this behavioural change. So there are kind of two challenges in one, and it might be doomed, I don't know. But I think we showed with our growth of 60 % last year that we can actually do something here, so we continue. But of course, we meet skepticism, both in silence, people who don't dare to ask, can this really work?

10:46And also the people and journalists and others that ask us these questions. And it's like we can provide so many tests and so many results and the questions keep coming. I think it might have to do with the dilemma of like the society. There is always a skepticism and that can be good. You know, we shouldn't move too quickly. But we also have to dare to be in that space, you know, where we have, like, I read an amazing work from a philosopher called Jonna Bornemark in Sweden, and she talked about the edge of knowledge. And like, we have to dare to be in this space where we don't know everything.

11:22You know, we have to, beyond evidence and all kinds of tests that we can make, that we also do, I must say. You know, we've done this third-party testing now with 150 people, evaluating the function of pure effect products. And we've also done this lifecycle analysis to see the environmental benefits of the product, you know, when we reduce laundry. And we also have all our customers saying that it really works. But beyond that, you know, we have to think for ourselves, I think, that deduction matters. And after all the testing and the proving, you know, there will always be, okay, you said it works on denim.

11:58Does it really work on polyester? And does it work in winter sometime and summertime? And so we also have to be in this space where we can trust and think for ourselves a bit. And that's absolutely necessary, not just a responsibility of entrepreneurs, I think, but also for policymakers and journalists and public voices, which can be sometimes polarizing and drawn to sensationalism. We really have a duty, everyone, if we want innovation and to move forward, you know, and challenge status quo, really have to be in this space where we stay open and curious and committed to learn about things through experience.

12:41And Pure Effect is really a good example, I think, a real world example of this idea. A product that challenged norms and habits and assumptions. we can show that it works and we can base our our work on these tests and articles and what people say about the products yeah that's very powerful and just on that point about those qualities entrepreneurial qualities like i said maybe it's being a successful entrepreneur is less about you know the ability to deal with the setbacks although of course that's very important and that idea to sort of live it you know it sort of filters into every part of your life but Maybe it's that bravery, that courage, that idea about embracing what is uncertain by its nature.

13:20Maybe that's the, is that the sort of entrepreneurial superpower perhaps, Linda, do you think? Yeah, I read the other day someone saying that someone working in a small business or being an entrepreneur, it's someone that really jumps off a cliff. You jump off a cliff and then you build the airplane on the way down. And sometimes it feels like that. Of course, many ventures and businesses require action and working in uncertainty. having trust that things will work out. But I think what sets entrepreneurship apart, at least the way we run Pure Effect, is that we're investing our own time and money, not someone else's.

13:55And we have really a strong belief in what we're doing and that we'll manage to build a plane before we hit the ground. It's a lot at stake. And we also have a huge drive to make impact, and that might also set us a bit apart, like to introduce bacteria as something useful in people's everyday lives. and in the illustration of like jumping from a cliff it's not that there are any uncertainties when it comes to the technology the biotech and the bacteria those things and the function is all clear it's more about how to do the business case how to communicate how to reach people here we have to experiment a lot now listen let's look to the future we already mentioned your commitment to sort of growing the right way and I think you spoke really elegantly and eloquently about that already.

14:43What are the other building blocks, Linda, as we look forwards? I know you're keen to continue to build retail partnerships. Our listeners probably know the product from, say, your website and your D2C relationships. Talk a bit about retail and some of the other expressions. I know there's an exhibition that you guys are involved with later in the year, which sounds really interesting. Talk to me about how these things are going to play their part. We're just a small company trying to keep up with things and customers. They're always number one. we sometimes get that question if we focus on e-commerce or the retailers.

15:13And I think it's important to point out that it's too early on our journey to make that decision, you know, because it's really an ecosystem. We need all the retailers and their relationship to their customers to talk about the products and how they work, how you can easily spray your clothes and make them last. That's the only way we can reach all these people from, you know, outdoor people to vintage lovers to travelers to, you know, everyday parents who want to reduce their laundry that's the way we can reduce global laundry by 30 percent we can never do that in this small company but the e-commerce is also important because there we have the first you know the the close contact to the customers and we can talk to them we get the questions and we can answer but what i see now since we're growing is that our next step will probably be to scale up logistics and production we continuously explore the need for a dedicated biotech lab to push this Basillus research further.

16:09We don't have really plans for raising external capital. Like I mentioned, I think it's a craft, but maybe we will join forces with some other kind of money in the future. We'll see that. But it's important to mention, I think, when it comes to the retailers that it's impossible for us to knock on the doors and get them open to the big brands. The really good collaborations we have had, for example with the Philippa Kay and the Swedish fashion brand Lindex and Sandqvist bags etc they have become good because they come to us they're triggered by legislation or their own circularity goals for example more and more brands understand they need to own their own secondhand business so then of course we can be one part of that puzzle yeah I think we will stay here and focus on our e-commerce and then wait for the bigger brands to knock on our doors because that's always successful when they take the first step.

17:05And you mentioned an exhibition. It's actually a seven-year project that we've been working with Swedish RISE. It's the SciArt project where we use art, photo art, to communicate science. Since it's a challenge for us to work with these invisible small microorganisms and odor is also invisible, We use photo art to tell the story of how the bacteria are essential, how this invisible world really are super important for a livable future. And this opens in October in Stockholm and will then move on to Micropia in Amsterdam, for example, a beautiful museum about microorganisms. That was Linda Rosendahl-Nordine, the co-founder and CEO of Pure Effect.

17:52and you can find out more and ensure you're staying fresh by heading to pureeffectsweden.com.

18:09You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Henrik Berg is the founder and CEO of Morhas, a luxury footwear brand known for its timeless design and commitment to quality craftsmanship. Founded in Stockholm in 2017, the label draws inspiration from both Mediterranean and Scandinavian aesthetics, a nod to Henrik's Spanish-Swedish heritage. Henrik stopped by Midori House recently to talk about the launch of Morhas' new women's collection and the importance of physical spaces in building community. I started by asking him what's new at the brand since we last caught up two years ago. Well, over the last two years, a lot of things has happened.

18:48If I were to mention And some of the few big things that has happened, we launched women's a couple of weeks ago. So that's a huge milestone for the brand and the team. And that's been in the works for probably one and a half or two years. So we launched that at the end of April. And yeah, that's been going very well for us. So happy about that. More than that, you know, we've had pop-ups in New York, Munich, and most recently Oslo as well in Norway. and yeah continue to expand and craft the brand and the collection and continue to grow as well super exciting and it's been a real thrill to watch it happen from the outside you mentioned new york in this pop-up talk to me a bit about the us because i think we did talk a bit about ambition and stuff when we spoke before what does that market look like now because it's yeah it's big and it's important it is big and important and we think it's beautiful in in a lot of ways too but yeah it is our biggest market it has just continued to grow over over the last couple of years and it's an amazing market for us so so we did the pop-up in in june last year in soho and that was a big success for us and i think you know that the u.s market has a has a nice appetite for for our kind of brand and i think it's quite an interesting market in addition for being of course huge the style that they are looking for the community of the customers really reason is with what we are doing.

20:13So yeah, it works well. And we have a very strong community there as well with lots of wonderful people raving about us. And that's, of course, part of the work that we do with the brand, but also that, well, wonderful people in the team, not at least Jack in the team who runs that show. So it's really a team effort. And at the end of the day, just very grateful for the reception that we're seeing there. Well, this kind of covers all of those points, Henrik, and it's this idea about building a community. And this is something that we spoke about before. And we looked at it through the prism, of course, of Bricks and Mortar Retail and Casa Morhas, of course, in your sort of home market.

20:47But does that remain your favorite way to engage with people on sites, pop-ups, getting to see how they're engaging, the touch and feel of the products? I mean, there's something unrivaled about that, isn't there? Yeah, I think so. And I think it just becomes even more important as things get more polarized, right? So on one side of the spectrum, you have the digital experience, which of course is extremely important, but it becomes even more important to be on the other side of the spectrum as well, which is the physical interaction. And I think that's highly appreciated by the community and the customers and not the least for us as well, so that we get to speak directly to the customers and to the community and really, you know, showcase the brand and the products and ourselves and the team behind the products and the brand so that people actually know who are the people behind the brand.

21:37And it's nice to meet them and tap into their minds and hear their philosophies. So, yeah, it is increasingly important for us. And that's why we do the pop-ups and the press previews and try to meet the people and community in all different types and forms in a physical and a digital way. Now, let me ask you a bit of this is a kind of a, I guess, an entrepreneurial question to move things on from 23 when we last spoke. The business, what, doubled, I think? Yeah, a little bit more than that, but yeah. Okay. Better to undersell it. But tell me, double the size of a business, it gets the engagement.

22:13It's global. It has this real impact on people. As you scale, how do you ensure that you're adhering to those foundational sort of almost philosophical values, which underpinned the brand that we spoke about last time? Because your time is precious. Okay, you add more people to the team and that can help if you get the right people. But is that really one of the challenges as you scale that you can't be everywhere at once? How do you make sure you're adhering to those fundamental values? I think this is a great question. And I think a lot of it comes down to focus. Focus and discipline on what you actually want to put your time and energy into, right?

22:52We speak quite a lot about this internally to try to focus on doing a few things really good instead of getting too carried away and trying to do a lot of things just okay. And that's sort of like our North Star, if you will, trying to just double down on a few set of strategies, if you will. And that's served us very well so far. I think it's a constant reminder to ourself, to me personally, to the team, and then straight through to our philosophy and our ethos, which is focus quite a lot on the product, on the customer and the brand. And also then again, being disciplined and saying no or trying to say no, of course, are always interesting and exciting opportunities.

23:38But in order to do a few things good or excellent, you must really choose your battles or your opportunities, if you will. So I think that kind of philosophy has been absolutely vital for us or is very, very important for us. I actually met with one of our investors a couple of weeks ago and she said that she was so happy that we didn't go this sort of like venture capital race. We just raise a lot of money and try to run as fast as possible because then you can get carried away and lose track of the foundation, which to us is quality and quality in the product and the brand and the customer interactions and so on.

24:17so having that sort of like founding principles has been extremely important to us and still is to this day we are ambitious and and we like to expand and grow but at the same time we're extremely focused on crafting the recipe and just making the stuff taste better year by year yeah i mean it's it's discipline as you say it's patience as well and i guess as well as in the sort of strategic and tactical business sense, that's true also expanding the collection, right? You have to put one foot in front of the other, not push too far. And that must be hard because as you said, you've got a passion also to innovate and to excite your customers.

24:55But even adding lines, model specific things to whichever range, again, you have to retain that discipline, I guess? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Of course, it's a tough balance, isn't it? Because you want to expand a collection and you want to, you know, sort of like expand the offerings and the brand but i think you can do that with a high dose of relevance right so when we develop stuff we always ask ourselves does this make sense and is this relevant and does this have a place on the market and if it does it's quite clear for us if we should pursue it or not and so far if you if you look at marcas and compare it with most other brands out there in the in the space i think that we are extremely niche and we like to keep it that way of course we received tons of questions about, okay, will you launch clothing or other types of, you know, verticals?

25:47And that might be tempting, of course, but then we keep coming back to the core, which is to focus on what we do best and try to just dig deeper into that. And at the end of the day, it is an extremely fulfilling way to work, to continue to craft the product and craft the quality. And I think that we spoke about that the last time as well, the porch reference with like developing sort of like a classic 9-11 just gets hopefully better and better with time and when you look at look at it over 20 to 30 years the design has developed and changed but hopefully just got better and improved over the years and that's something that reasonates quite well with our principles and philosophy and also with the customers and last but not least if you look at the collection like our hero product is the one that we launched with eight years ago and it has gotten of course a lot of improvements and refinements but again it's a nice way to operate to have sort of like a base or fundamental recipe that you can just develop and improve over time yeah i think those analogies are really interesting because you can change literally every component from ground to top yeah but it's still recognizably the same even if literally no individual part is and that's what great design and great brand that's the that's the intangible right and integrity right so i think it's about doing the stuff when no one else is watching just what the customer is perhaps expecting so we're very passionate about that it's often a combination of small things that make up the bigger picture than the few big decisions that's probably most visible in the product you're a wise man henrik i hope our listeners are taking notes now let me ask you tell you what everyone is watching big events big world gatherings sporting bonanza paris olympics last year monocle got very excited about this i gather you were involved with team gb yes um which is perhaps somewhat surprising but tell me a little bit about about this one and why this actually does fit in actually with the sort of morehouse approach yeah it was a bit of surprise actually but of course very humbling and exciting so team gb reached out basically and said that we love what you guys do would you be interested in being the footwear supplier for the Paris Olympics.

28:06And of course, I said, yes, we are interested. And at first, I thought it was sort of like a sponsorship kind of deal. But it turns out that we were sort of like the specialty supplier on the footwear. And so that was very, very humbling and very exciting. And we supplied a whole team of 532 people. So it was both the athletes and the whole staff, both women's and men's, of course. and yeah of course a little bit ironic at the end of the day since you have you have beautiful brands here in the uk not as many as we used to but there's still some good ones yeah yeah yeah i think you know you guys are doing a great job but it was it was very fun that uh morges from sweden and spain came in and became the supplier but yeah it turns out that when you're trying to do a few things really good that uh recently is with people and also the people at team gb so that was yeah really exciting no it's good and also we look we're very international and internationalist here at monocle and it's nice all of our brothers and sisters from all across whatever however you break europe up we're still part of it so i think it's that's nice to hear it's a nice well that's that's what we think i don't know how popular the lyrics are on the street um what will we be talking about if you come back to speak to us on monocle radio in 2027 do you hope i think it will be even more around women's taking a bigger part of the of the whole brand and company space so obviously we've been quite focused on on men's the last couple of seven to eight years but as we just launched women's and that has been off to a great start i hope and imagine and plan that the women's would just continue to grow and become more of an integral part of the whole brand so hopefully we'll speak even more about that and that men's and women's together just continue to grow all over the world with not losing track on on the guiding principles with the staying true to quality and again the sort of like a sniper approach as we call it yeah i mean it's a story that makes sense in in any language and just maybe lastly on that point you we rattled off a few of the pop-ups and you know germany and across scandinavia and the u.s of course have you got what's on your what's on your hit list henrik for next time i don't know if you maybe you can't tell us yet but are there markets where you think ah you know look we need to get more of these espadrilles in the middle east or whatever it might be as you cast an eye around the globe where excites you well we are fortunate that that we have a global presence we mentioned you know the u.s but we are we are big in in the big uh european economies and let's say there's the uk as well so so we're definitely paying attention to the uk and we're launching at mr porter in in a couple weeks time so that's the first wholesale account outside of of sweden and something that we've you know waited with for a long time and just tapping into that very selectively because that's one of the things that is just a result of speaking to the customers as well that they want to access more costs all over the world easier and that's a result of that as well so getting closer to the customer mr porter is one way to do it pop-ups is another one and then physical retail in in different stores as well it could be brick and mortar and it could be physical presence with other retailers as well so yeah we are here in the in london now maybe because of that not something sharply planned but we are getting exciting interest which is, of course, very nice to hear.

31:36And you have some great stuff going on here. So hopefully and maybe we'll tap into that as well, just to get closer to the customers because we think that's important and exciting. Yeah, watch this space. Now, I said that was the last question. I actually have one more that I did want to ask you, which is so much about craft, the personal approach, not rushing too fast. And people might think, oh, you know, Henrik and his guys, maybe they're very traditional. and maybe so they would eschew cutting edge tech or data. But I think it's really important to say and interesting that that's not the case.