AMBROSIUS KLAVENESS
Born on December 3rd, in 1887, Ambrosius grew up under poor conditions with his mother. At a very young age, he showed to be a good craftsman. He got his education in The State School of Arts and Crafts in Oslo and was offered a job as a teacher after finishing his education.
DAGFINN KLAVENESS
Dagfin was Ambrosius' son. He soon got the interest in crafts and shoemaking - probably inherited from his father. After primary school, he started practising shoe crafts at Peter Andersen, in Oslo. The workshop was the Norwegian royal family footwear supplier. At the age of 27, he became part-owner of the business. At that time, he got a job offer from Bergen Skofabrikk as production manager, so moved to Bergen with his family. According to the testimonies, he was an excellent manager and shoe technician at the big 300 employee company. But the very rainy climate in Bergen was challenging to manage for his wife and two children, so they decided to move back to Oslo.
In 1957 he founded Klaveness Skofabrikk, in Sandefjord.
Perfect fit, good lasts, top quality - these were the principles Dagfin applied to produce shoes.
At that time, there were about 150 shoe factories in Norway, but they were losing in the competition with lower-cost countries; across the country, businesses were closing. One major Norwegian newspaper, "Aftenposten", under the heading "There Are Still Optimists", described Dagfinn Klaveness as the man who wouldn’t give up. When Dagfinn died, in 1981, there were only five factories left.
In 1968, Klaveness Skofabrikk started exporting to Sweden.
DAGFINN KLAVENESS
Was Ambrosius son. He soon got the interest in crafts and shoemaking - probably inherited from his father. After primary school, he started practising shoe crafts at Peter Andersen, in Oslo. The workshop was the Norwegian royal family footwear supplier. At the age of 27, he became part-owner of the business. At that time, he got a job offer from Bergen Skofabrikk as production manager, so moved to Bergen with his family. According to the testimonies, he was an excellent manager and shoe technician at the big 300 employee company. But the very rainy climate in Bergen was difficult to manage for his wife and two children, so they decided to move back to Oslo.
In 1957 he founded Klaveness Skofabrikk, in Sandefjord.
Perfect fit, good lasts, top quality - these were the kind of shoes he decided to produce.
At that time there were about 150 shoe factories in Norway, but they were losing in the competition with lower-cost countries; across the country, businesses were closing. One major Norwegian newspaper, "Aftenposten", under the heading "There Are Still Optimists", described Dagfinn Klaveness as the man who wouldn’t give up. When Dagfinn died, in 1981, there were only 5 factories left.
In 1968, Klaveness Skofabrikk started exporting to Sweden.
Pair of riding boots for Queen Maud (end of 1930s)
BJØRN KLAVENESS
In 1984 Bjørn Klaveness inherited the company. At that time it remained only five shoe factories in Norway, compared with approximately 150 factories at the end of the ’50s when Klaveness was established. Due to the high cost in Norway, factories were forced to shut down or to outsource the production to other countries. In the 80’s Bjørn, together with his family, moved to Portugal to establish a new production unit. And in the 90’s he contributed to creating a new production unit in Poland.
Bjørn is educated as a mechanical engineer and has a master degree in Design. During the years he has actively contributed to develop and implement new product ranges and concepts as FIA, OIL and OAS into Klaveness Footwear. Bjørn is in constant search for new solutions to benefit the consumers. Today Bjørn is Chairman of the Board and R&D Manager.
NEXT GENERATION
Kristian Klaveness, Bjørn's son, has a master degree in design and a bachelor degree in marketing. Kristian holds the position of CEO and Member of the Board in Klaveness Footwear.
Klaveness Footwear has now 239 employees in four different companies, serving an international market.
A big part of the production is pair-by-pair, made-to-order footwear.
Klaveness is a Scandinavian footwear brand, targeting specific needs with unique solutions.