It all started in the basement...
In 2006, the Swedish brand Geggamoja emerged from two mothers' great passion for children's clothing and a united dream of creating something as sisters and women
meaningful together.
Geggamoja lives and breathes sustainability by offering a large range of organic children's clothing and children's products with unique quality and playful design. Simply functional products that let children be children. In every seam and garment, there is a story of care – all to take responsibility for the world our children will grow up and live in.
A question we often get is how the name Geggamoja came about - read below and you'll get the answer.
Want to be part of the story about a sustainable and playful future?
Then let Geggamoja be your child's first step.
// The sisters Anna and Sara
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Anna's boy Edvin is 3 years old, and Anna finds much of the children's clothing dull and the design uninspired. Anna begins designing while the sisters' mother Agneta, who conveniently is a trained seamstress, sews at home in her own workshop in Enebyberg. Sara joins in and takes responsibility for sales. The name Geggamoja is decided during a brainstorming session at the advertising agency where Anna is a production manager. Which child does not like GEGGAMOJA?
The first products made in the workshop are hats, blankets, and comfort blankets.
Anna's and Sara's grandmother and grandfather are kind and lend their shop cellar for the first store/office. The name becomes GEGGAMOJA HALF-NEW & BRAND-NEW.
Here, Geggamoja products and better used children's clothes are sold. Anna leaves the advertising agency and works full-time on designing children's clothes. Sara resigns from the large music company. Sales now also take place via www.geggamoja.com
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Two little Geggamojababies are welcomed to the planet Earth. The office and studio in Enebyberg become a second home for cousins Vilgot and Valter while Edvin attends preschool. Spilled porridge over the keyboard, VAT reports with smudges and scribbles, sales calls timed with nap times. Ideas knock on the door every week and new fun clothes take shape. Now popular products are created such as the "foot blanket," fleece hats, helmet hats, neck collars, drool bibs, and more.
The first retailer comes into the office – (Thanks to the store Lilla Helsingborg!) By the end of 2007, Geggamoja has 10 retailers in Sweden and the demand for the brand increases.
All production still takes place in mother Agneta’s studio. The diligence matches that of little birds sewing Cinderella’s ball gown on Christmas Eve.
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Geggamoja becomes Geggamoja AB. The Formex fair at Älvsjömässan in Stockholm is followed by the fashion fair in Denmark. Now the inquiries really start to come in. By the end of the year, around 60 retailers are crowded together. Yabba! Now we have to arrange business cards – Anna gets severe anxiety over what title she should have; designer sounds pretentious, she thinks. If it can say Mom/Designer, she’s in. But then problems arise with the title when contacting foreign manufacturers, and the budget does not allow for double business cards. Designer it shall be. Jante is not a partner in this company, says sister Sara.
Outerwear and fleece sleeping bags take a place in the collection. Most clothes are still sewn at home in the studio. Mom is still the best, but she needs help. The sisters get good tips and track down the most skilled makers, and parts of the production begin to be sewn professionally in Lithuania and India.
The Topline cap is launched and sells like crazy (and is still a bestseller today). Tens of thousands of Topline caps are worn by small children every year. Striped, plain, and patterned – everyone finds their favorite.
Grandfather’s basement starts to feel a bit like a sardine can. Party tents are set up when orders from all over the country are to be gathered. Family and friends help out and work late nights with order picking and inventories. Gratitude is just the beginning.
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Goodbye, Grandfather! We are moving all the way across the street. 160 square meters of office and storage. A big step for a small company.
Demand for organic children's clothes and products is increasing. Geggamoja becomes one of the first companies to work with GOTS-certified suppliers.
Choosing organic and sustainable materials instead of conventional ones helps protect nature and animals as well as the people who work in production. It costs a bit more but is worth it. As a result, a new slogan is launched:
WE DO NOT SELL JUST ANY CRAP, WE SELL GEGGAMOJA.
The first product catalog is photographed and family and friends' children step in as models!
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Function plays an ever greater role. In 2010, Geggamoja Outdoor was launched – excellent functional outerwear for children who jump, play in mud, bounce, laugh, roll, and are just… well, children. When producing outerwear, one must apply knowledge to the utmost, and it turned out that we succeeded! Good functions and good materials meant that we produced outerwear for children who love Geggamoja.
We dress, You raise became our theme. It reflects children’s charm in their sincerity.Children don’t hesitate before telling you that your breath smells bad, before announcing that Grandma’s food is awful, or before asking strangers about the red spots on their face. As annoying as it may be, in many ways their blunt honesty is all part of their charm. At Geggamoja we have no wish to change this honesty. On the contrary, we feel that we adults would sometimes benefit from applying some of it to our own lives. Therefore, we are committed to only making clothes in materials and designs we would love to see our own children dressed in. Rather than guessing what might sell five seasons ahead, we stay true to our own feelings about what is right and what is not, for families as well as for business. You see, to us there is no difference between these two since we are a family business made up of two sisters with two young families. In short: We dress. You raise.
And YES! We get our first distributor. We also begin exporting to Japan.
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Geggamoja Store, the address of the first own shop will be Grev Turegatan 10, right in central Stockholm next to Stureplan. Not much more than a hole in the wall, but we get a presence in the capital where we can showcase the entire collection, and also test sales in the shop for new models. A place where we get direct contact with customers and can have a dialogue about what is good and less good.
We let the children design! In 2011 we have a contest where children can send in their striped design. The winner becomes a blue/yellow Sweden cap created by a 9-year-old boy from Vemdalen.
The feet become the main thing – almost. Geggamoja begins producing sneakers. Now it is time to stumble over Geggamoja sneakers in the hallway… Geggamoja shoes are launched
Geggamoja in book form! We launch the book Captain Geggamoja!
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We love colors and stripes, now to the extent that we combine several colors in the same stripe. The multistripe rules!
Princess Estelle is born and Geggamoja is interviewed by TV4. We hope that the new princess will wear Swedish children's clothing.What can we do to make life better? Cooperation with the Infant Fund begins.
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New move to even larger premises. We are now 6 employees.
The first cuddly toy, Doddi, comes to life in spring 2013. A sweet little dog made from salvaged leftover fabrics from collections. A quite natural consequence of the environmental thinking we share with our customers. It felt crazy to throw away the leftover fabrics. The name comes from Anna's son Vilgot's nickname for his cousin Valter.
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The demand for organic products is increasing further, and Geggamoja becomes GOTS-certified. One of three Swedish children's clothing brands to hold the certification. Feels good! Now not only our suppliers are reviewed but also we.
We pat ourselves on the shoulder – nominated by the fashion industry's magazine HABIT as children's clothing supplier of the year!
“Secure in the family business's professional and personal entrepreneurship and with a desire to build good relationships, Geggamoja grows steadily and firmly on its own strength. The business idea with organic production of baby and children's clothes in safe design for a conscious target group, smooth delivery and payment routines, as well as sales through retailers, webshop, and own store, meets broad market and demand. Great customer focus, responsiveness, and innovation characterize a quality brand with feeling and uniqueness in the design.”
"What an honor and how proud we are of this nomination. It gives us extra energy and strength to continue working in the same spirit and together with our customers and partners create the best Geggamoja" – says Anna Rietz, one of the founders of Geggamoja.
Product development continues and the next cuddly toy will be the monkey Kokki. Uses leftover fabrics from other collections just like the dog Doddi. The name is Sara’s son Valter’s nickname for cousin Vilgot.
From stripes and solid colors to all-over prints! In 2014 we sew our first garments in fabric with prints. Stars and dots in a wildly comfortable mix. Of course produced in sustainable materials.
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We are launching Geggamoja Classic – a basic collection in black and pink, in true Geggamoja spirit.
Suddenly, we realize that just over a dozen agents around the world work for us and that we exhibit at at least 6 trade fairs each year. We are available at 250 retailers outside Sweden. The best markets are Germany and Switzerland.
"Working with the fantastic Brand Geggamoja is a huge privilege for me. Having daily contact with the professional and ambitious people behind this Brand is an enrichment, also because I’m Swedish and live and work in Switzerland, it feels a bit like 'home'.
I’m very happy to be part of the 'Geggamoja Family' - Nina Kern, Agent
We want to make life better for more people! We are collaborating in a campaign with A Non Smoking Generation.
– To achieve a smoke-free generation requires several forces and that is the foundation of this collaboration. Together we want to create a safer and healthier environment, says Ann-Therese Enarsson, chairperson of A Non Smoking Generation.
For 35 years, A Non Smoking Generation has made a difference through its innovative information efforts as well as educating and inspiring young people in thousands of schools. Most recently, they are involved in the work to introduce smoke-free outdoor dining areas, playgrounds, and public transport stops.
– All work that can benefit children is important. That is why it felt rewarding to do this collaboration with A Non Smoking Generation, says Sara Sidenbladh, one of the founders of Geggamoja.
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The children who were first dressed in Geggamojak clothes are now 10 years old, and we are increasing our sizes to 146/152.
We grow along with our customers' children, one can safely say.
We continue to work on function! Who doesn't love garments that can make everyday life easier? One example is pajamas with a two-way zipper that have become a hit. Product development continues, and the development of baby products is gaining momentum. We manage our own warehouse and distribution. Something that is starting to become a challenge.
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The market for children's products and children's clothing is growing, and the advance of e-commerce is swift! We are moving our warehouse to Dream Logistics in Habo - to be able to offer our customers faster service and deliveries!
The range for our baby shops is expanding, and we are signing an agreement with the Swedish chain Babyproffsen.
In 2017, we have shipped Geggamojaprodukter to as many as 40 different countries (Yihhaa)
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Online only is born and new e-commerce
We want to offer Geggamoja’s customers unique products that are only available at www.geggamoja.com. Online Only is born. The range includes everything from outerwear to baby products, these products can only be purchased at www.geggamoja.com. We are moving our office back to our roots in Enebyberg – imagine, we are back!
The Geggamoja Store on Grev Turegatan is closing to make way for street renovations – the search for a new store location is underway, but we now refer to our wonderful retailers across the country.
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New www.geggamoja.com is born
We want to offer Geggamoja’s customers a smooth online shopping journey at www.geggamoja.com. 2019 is the year we launch a new online shop to make things easier for you as a customer. The Geggamoja customer club is born, where you as a member receive extra great benefits - join us on our journey! -
The year that did not turn out as expected..
Covid-19 struck us all suddenly, and as business owners, we had to roll up our sleeves and become even more inventive to meet new needs. Things we took for granted were now something slipping away from us. B2B meetings are going digital, and a shaky world affects shops across Sweden and the world. As business owners, you love challenges and often choose to see the opportunities – of course, we did too. We met new target groups online that required extra care and information – exciting and instructive. -
We are growing and meeting our new customers through online trade. Oh, so many web orders are coming in!
Jennie is hired to take care of customer service, Katarina to upload products to the online store, and everything else that must be in place to sell on the net. What stars! We also started with reviews on the website – what do customers really think of us? We are embarrassed by all the lovely reviews! Most of the time we do a good job, sometimes we make small mistakes, but we and our team in the warehouse are only human. We make sure everyone is satisfied.The effect of Covid 19 showed itself, delayed and missing deliveries and great challenges that we chose to tackle, with a smile on our lips and the goal in sight. We managed to bring home most of it, thanks to Anna who is great at solving things. Yes! More children can walk around in our Geggamojakläder.
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You read that right. The house on Kvarnängsvägen where we have our office caught fire, and the office burned down to the ground. The firefighters are struggling to save as much as they can, but about 95% of all the things in the office burned up. Fortunately, no one was hurt; it was only belongings that burned, but things that can be useful when working with designing children's clothes are now gone. What do we do now? After the years with Covid, we are all used to working remotely. But of course, you miss working close to your colleagues. Luckily, we did not have our warehouse in the building—so you customers did not notice it that much.
As the positive team we are, we look ahead and see solutions. The experience was terrible, and it has been a lot of work and taken much energy to get everything in order. Now we finally have a new Geggamoja house in Enebyberg—where together we create magic.
Together we are strong! We are launching several collaborations during the year. Geggamoja X Mrs Mighetto—two fantastic collections from two Swedish companies, both of which started in their own basements.
Child car seats do not have to be colorless and dull. We are launching a collaboration with Swedish Axkid with colorful covers—a smart move, we think!
We like characters with humor—in September we launch a collection together with Mamma Mu and the crow!
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So, we have realized that the world is like a giant candy bowl and Sweden is just a small sugar cube in the corner. We have decided to jump out of the safe sugar bowl and set out to explore new markets. It has always been possible to shop from all corners of the world, but now we want to make it a little easier and better for our customers. We have started high and fast by launching in Norway, Estonia, and Finland, and during 2024 we will learn even more languages.
We feel it is time to show the world what we have to offer!We do our best to present our products as thoroughly as possible, but sometimes there are wrong purchases and then you as a customer want to return. In 2023 we launched a new smooth return service, where you as a customer can safely follow your return and we can become even better at understanding why you returned. Convenient, right? You know what, we have reduced our returns thanks to your feedback. Good for us, good for you, and good for the environment.
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We have succeeded! We realized that the world is like a giant candy bowl, and even though Sweden is just a small sugar cube in a corner, we have dared to step out of the bowl. We have left our safe base and begun to explore new, exciting markets. Shopping from all corners of the world has always been possible, but now we have made it easier and better for our customers. With great success, we have launched in Norway, Estonia, Germany, and Finland, and during 2024 we are ready to conquer even more languages and markets. We are opening our first warehouse in Germany and ready to ship Geggamoja throughout Europe.
We feel proud and ready to show the world what we are capable of!When we said we wanted to "go big on flow" in the business in 2024, we did not mean it literally. Mother Nature had other plans and offered a heavy downpour that turned part of the warehouse into a small-scale lake. Thankfully, we have the world’s best team who quickly rolled up their sleeves (and trousers!) to save both products and spirits :)
We are making more friends! During 2024 we launched our first collection together with Humlan Djojj and Pettson & Findus. Our customers like what we have created together, and that is the most important thing for us.