INTERVIEW WITH OUR CEO & FOUNDER NICOLAJ DUE

What does DANISH ENDURANCE stand for? What are the values, we believe in? These are a few of the questions we asked Nicolaj Due, our CEO, and Founder. Indeed, who better than him could explain the essence of DANISH ENDURANCE?

I have been running marathons for more than 25 years. Running has shaped and continues to define a great deal of who I am. When I run, I feel free, and I feel happy. I can let go of everything. I can focus on pushing my body forward – nothing else. The focus combined with pushing yourself to the limit and sometimes even beyond is extremely rewarding for me. This is also pretty much my attitude to life. I always want to improve and I’m not very fond of giving up. You need to do a good job no matter what you are doing.

Passion for the outdoors. My father took my brother and me into nature as soon as we were capable of walking. I have loved it ever since. But I also have memories of itchy socks and cold feet. Later, when I served in the military and started running marathons, blisters became my number one enemy. So, my brother and I had a genuine desire to see if we could do it better when it comes to pampering your feet. As with all good start-ups, we designed our first socks in my basement. Our ambition from the beginning was to create the wolrd's best socks!

I think everybody dreams of becoming a success when you are an entrepreneur and found your own company, but you don't set specific goals - it the beginning it is just about surviving. However, I never imagined that we would be so successful and grow so big. It almost feels beyond imagination that we now have more than 5 million unique customers worldwide and that we have sold more than 25 million socks and underwear.

I think our name is very self-explanatory. The Danish part is our dedication to quality and design. We design all our products in Denmark, where there is a long and strong tradition for design and quality. The Danish focus on sustainability and our ambitions towards protecting the planet is also very important to me. I'm extremely proud of our first DANISH ENDURANCE Forest Project, where we have just planted at forest consisting of more than 37,000 trees. The forest is planted on the family farm where I grew up. The farm has been in the family for many generations and now we have planted a forest, that will protect the ground water, increase biodiversity and reduce carbon emissions and it will be around for generations to come. The last trees were planted by the entire team at DANISH ENDURANCE and we had so much fun! The endurance part is also very important. We want to create products that last, that is why we have had a long tradition for developing our products with Olympian athletes and extreme outdoor athletes. You don't get better endurance testers and it ensures that we continuously improve our products.

Endurance is personal. It is about setting your own goals. Your endurance goal can be to run 5K for the first time in your life or to climb Mt. Everest without the use of oxygen like Rasmus Kragh, one of our great ambassadors. Rasmus was defeated by Mt. Everest twice, but he did not give up and that is why he succeed in the end. That is the spirit of Danish Endurance – We want to inspire a state of mind where life in physical and mental balance is not only the key to greater personal endurance, but it's the key to happiness. To sum it up; we are serving people, who appreciate high-quality products made with Danish dedication to design and sustainability. Our customers love to push boundaries and they are attracted to the Danish story of happiness and quality of life.

From the beginning, we have been extremely dedicated to socks. We are nerds when it comes to socks, and we are proud of it. We want to be the best at making socks and we always try to improve; there is still so much we can do in order to deliver the perfect sock. We constantly get a lot of feedback from our customers, and we implement that in our development. Our Merino Wool Hiking Classic Sock, which is one of my favorite socks, has probably been improved at least 15 times over the last few years. It is just small changes every time based on input from our many happy users, but it means that the sock continues to evolve toward the perfect sock. The Hiking Classic Sock has sold more than 3m pairs alone and is most likely the most popular high quality hiking sock globally. This is in my mind a unique approach and because we have local production it is extremely flexible when it comes to upgrades. We are not into fast fashion; we like to see our products improve and mature over time.

For me, running has always been about getting energy not consuming energy. It gives me an invaluable kick of endorphins every time I run. I have never understood people who say they don’t have time to exercise. It is simply not true. The time spent on running is an investment you easily recoup in terms of extra energy, and it enables you to stay more focused and concentrated when you are working. For me, running is also problem-solving. Over the years I have learned that when I run at a slow pace, I get in a state of mind where I’m very good at coming up with solutions to even complex problems or planning future strategies. So, I can almost say that I run as an integrated part of my work and I’m a much better version of myself when I have been running. By the way, forget about thinking when you are running at a fast pace. That is completely impossible – just try to survive. I have also taken up biking. Recently, I joined La Marmotte in France which is regarded as one toughest one-day amateur races in the world climbing some of the most iconic mountains in the Alps ending on the top of Alpe d’Huez. It was truly an amazing experience.

To be completely honest – I often sleep in them. And yes, I always exercise in DANISH ENDURANCE socks. So does my family – but then again, they probably wouldn’t dare to wear any other brand, because they know I am always keeping a close eye on their feet! The first thing I look at when I meet a person is what kind of socks he or she wears. It is a bit scary but that is just the way it is.

The fact that we never stop improving our products based on customer feedback and input from our ambassadors is extremely important to me. We are also a family business. I founded the company together with my brother and we work together every day, but we also have an amazing team. There are 25 nationalities in the company, and I really get inspired by working together with so many different nationalities. It gives a very diverse approach, which I think makes us a lot stronger and gives us a better understanding of our customers throughout the world. When our employees travel the world they often return to our office and share that they have seen our hiking- and running socks - charactarized by the Danish Flag - in the Alpes, Nepal and even off the beaten track in Mexico. That, to me, is simply a great success.

That is like asking a mother to choose between her children! It is impossible. However, DANISH ENDURANCE has developed so much over the years that we now have an extremely strong range of socks that can cope with almost any situation. We have developed a Long-Distance Running Sock. In my view, it is the best running sock on the market. We are working with a new “secret” yarn and the sock has fantastic features when it comes to absorbing the hard impact of long-distance running. When it comes to underwear our Bamboo trunks are my favourite. You get addicted when you start wearing them because they are so soft and comfortable.

We want to continue to inspire people all over the world to get out there and pursue their goals big or small because I think that is what makes you really happy! Our ambition is to deliver the best performance socks and underwear the world has ever seen.