Helly Hansen

Helly Juell Hansen, a Norwegian seafarer, and his wife, Maren Margarethe, began making oilskin jackets from linen soaked in linseed oil in Moss in 1877, and won a diploma at the Paris Exposition the following year. The company went on to develop the Lifa base layer in the 1970s and technical sailing, ski and workwear used by professionals at sea and in the mountains. It moved its headquarters to Oslo in 2009 and was bought by the American group Kontoor Brands in 2025.