GEAR Made in Denmark: VERDANDE.EU in the interview

Equipment is always a matter for the manufacturers. And what they imagine - we want to present to you. We are starting a new series on SPARTANAT: "GEAR Made in ..." will travel throughout Europe and introduce known and unknown companies that produce your gear. We start today in the north: "GEAR Made in Denmark: VERDANDE"

SPARTANAT: Verdande is a small gear manufacturer from Denmark. What are you specialized in?

Verdande: We design and manufacture special products on request for military, police, and rescue units. And at the same time, we are slowly starting to produce products with a standard design, preparing to sell to international retailers. But the majority of our work is still custom-made.

SPARTANAT: Since when have you been making equipment?

Verdande: We started as a company around 2014. But we actually started in 2006 when we were serving in the Danish infantry. We reached a point where the equipment needed to do the job was either simply too poor or not available at all. So we started learning how to sew on an old Pfaff 230 sewing machine. And as a result, we basically taught ourselves everything, slowly getting better. And the machines needed to produce the gear also improved over time.

SPARTANAT: What stands out at Verdande is a significant sense of design. Where does that come from?

Verdande: Here personal experiences from missions with KFOR, in Iraq, and with ISAF come together, as well as the insight that the user has very different needs in very different missions, ranging from police operations to combat. You must have experienced that you have to march with equipment where 40 percent of the weight could be saved if it were manufactured differently. But many customer ideas also flow into our work. Because they often come to us with ideas that make their work easier and help them focus on keeping themselves and their comrades alive.

SPARTANAT: Something you want to tell your customers?

Verdande: The goal of our designs is to make products lighter. The heavier your equipment, the less ammunition you can take with you on a mission. Our kits are also "low profile" because it is simply too difficult to attack through the narrow doors of a compound if your kit is too bulky. And we always strive to offer the highest level of quality. After all, people's lives depend on our equipment. In the Danish infantry, we are trained to work transparently and to tell new soldiers about our mistakes and experiences so that we can all improve together. We have also taken this attitude into our company. But we know that there are many gear manufacturers in Europe who are not willing to provide information on how they produce their things. Everyone is welcome to ask us a question. We believe that many European manufacturers are still working at a hobbyist level, but have the potential for much more. We are still on our way there too...

SPARTANAT: Last question: Why are you called Verdande?

Verdande: We chose the name Verdande because we wanted a name from Norse mythology, as it is part of the history of our country. So the name of the Norn Verdande became our name. And our logo is, by the way, the World Tree Yggdrasil.

VERDANDE on the Internet: verdande.eu

VERDANDE on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Verdande.EU