From Sailor Hats to Bestsellers – Tested in the Real World

For us, it’s not just about clothing, it’s about making outdoor life accessible, intuitive, and a natural part of everyday living.

Let us introduce Carolina Sjögren, one of Pinewood’s true veterans. She’s the driving force behind the development of our hunting and dog sports collections and brings a rock-solid background in textiles and tailoring to the table.

Lina grew up surrounded by both hunting and textiles. Her parents ran a family business that doubled as a hardware store and a hunting equipment shop. With a natural eye for fabric and form, she decided early on that textiles would be her future.

- I was exposed to hunting apparel from a young age. Both hunting and nature have always been central to our family life. My parents hunt, my husband and I hunt, and now our children do too. I especially enjoy driven hunting for roe deer. Our little dachshund Truls is outstanding, he was born to hunt!

Her passion for sewing started young, at just three years old, she was helping her grandfather stitch sailor hats from old trousers legs in his tailor shop.
That passion grew stronger over time. In upper secondary school, she pursued a technical textile program and added an advanced year, specializing in men’s tailoring. She graduated with distinction and a journeyman’s certificate in her hand.

During her studies, Lina built a loyal clientele, which she brought back to Kågeröd in Skåne, where she took over her grandfather’s tailor shop. She crafted everything from tailored suits to wedding dresses. But life had more in store. When she met her future husband Micke, she packed up her sewing machine with a smile and moved to the deep forests of Småland, eventually settling in Unnaryd. The tailoring business came along and continued in Smålandsstenar, where she designed elegant garments for the town’s elite.

When the children arrived, she moved her studio home to the family estate. But after a few years, her social spirit and love for a faster pace began to stir. That’s when she took a job as a salesman for hunting gear. Her role quickly expanded to include product development and purchase.

- That’s when I got to know Pinewood on a deeper level, she recalls. One day, Rainer Rüssel (Pinewood’s founder) asked me if I wanted to combine my salesman work with freelancing as a designer for them. That was 15 years ago, Lina says, smiling at the memory.

Lina’s background as a tailor is a great advantage in the product development process.
After many years of working as a craftsperson, she has knowledge of manual pattern construction, fit, and, above all, an eye for detail. And like the rest of the Pinewood team, she has a strong passion for outdoor life.

- I hunt and live an active life with my dog, cycling, and long walks, which makes me a very suitable test person. I wear Pinewood garments both at work and in my free time, and I often use myself as a starting point when we develop products. When I wear our garments, I’m constantly thinking about details like: ‘We should raise this pocket 2 cm,’ or ‘We should change that seam.’ I test new Pinewood garments on my family, hunting friends, and of course on our selected testers as well, to get their honest and important feedback during development.

She emphasizes the importance of product testing.

- Testing in the right environment is extremely important. It’s a completely different experience wearing a garment out in the field compared to standing in front of a mirror at the office. During a hunt, you can really feel whether a jacket works when raising and aiming the rifle, or whether a pocket is suitable for a radio and GPS, and so on. I understand the functions and the need for them, which is a big advantage when communicating technical information to the factories that produce our products.

The most enjoyable part of being a product developer, according to Lina, is when a garment becomes a bestseller.

- Good sales are a confirmation that you’ve made something that is appreciated, and that’s the most important thing. It doesn’t matter how good the products are if they don’t sell. A product that has appealing design, practical functions, and is comfortable to wear—when it checks all those boxes, then you’ve succeeded.

- But as a product developer, you’re never really satisfied. I always think we can improve a product a little bit more, but I also think that my high standards help push me forward.

At our company, it’s not unusual for ideas to be born in a hunting stand and then refined through sewing—just like Lina does it. So the next time you zip up a Pinewood jacket, remember that it may have been fine-tuned by someone who hunts with a dachshund at dawn and holds a master craftsman’s certificate in tailoring.