From lumberjacks to mountaineers

Hands comes first at Hestra. For 80 years, they have been developing gloves that provides warmth, protection and fingertip sensitivity in the most varied conditions. Today, the range comprises more than 400 styles. It may sound a lot, but people and hands are different. That's why different gloves are needed. Everything done today has grown out of the timber forests of the uplands in the Swedish province of Småland. That is where Martin Magnusson and his family settled and where he began making gloves in 1936. Magnusson set up his workshop in a farmhouse and started making gloves for the local lumberjacks. In 1937, a ski slope was created nearby and as its popularity grew, Magnusson saw a new market for his high quality, durable gloves. His sons Lars-Olofs and Göte, became keen skiers and started working in the family business in their teens. Over the years, the word about our gloves spread to places beyond the village that gave us our name. Sweden was becoming a nation of enthusiastic skiers and the sport's popularity grew in the 1960s. With their avid interest in skiing, Lars-Olof, Göte and their brother-in-law Lennart made sure that Hestra jumped on the bandwagon.