The History of SAYSKY: Year Two

This is the second blog post in a series of five about the history of SAYSKY. We're celebrating our 5-year anniversary on July 1 and we'll be looking back upon each of the five years with pictures and stories. Read below for the history of SAYSKY: Year Two.

 

The Formation of a Team

Year two and the pace is still high. Up until this point, Lars, had been taking care of business himself, albeit with help from friends and family. One of these was, Nicklas, the athlete used for the first photo shoots. While finishing his master's degree from Copenhagen Business School, he'd been hanging around the office, helping with whatever and whenever possible.

In the summer of 2014, Lars, decided to hire him on a part-time contract, as the first official SAYSKY employee. Today, Nicklas is taking care of marketing and all things digital in SAYSKY, on a full-time basis. He's also still serving as the house model.

 

The first SAYSKY employee, Nicklas, on a photo shoot in 2014. Today he's taking care of marketing, while still being the male house model.

 

The First Official SAYSKY Athlete

Nicklas wasn't the only one to join the team early on. The running enfant terrible, Michael Jeppesen, was the first official SAYSKY athlete. He's later been joined by many other cool personalities, who you can check out on the SAYSKY athlete page. Michael is one of the best long-distance runners in Denmark, with a marathon PR of 2:23:34. Other than being super fast, he's also a stand-up guy, who's actually now also working for SAYSKY. But, more on that later.

 

This is Michael Jeppesen, the first official SAYSKY athlete. He joined the team in 2014 and is still representing us today - on and off the course.

 

Runners with a Passion for Triathlon

Although running is the core of SAYSKY, it was actually triathlon that helped put SAYSKY on the map. Many of the early adopters of SAYSKY were in fact triathletes. A lot of these passionate athletes would represent us in races or training and as such helping us a lot with showcasing the best of SAYSKY.

Today, running is our main business, but we still have a deep passion for triathlon. There's just something inspiring about the sheer will, determination of steel and relentless training that gets to us.

 

When you just want to go out there and let your performance do the talking for you. This is probably one of the most iconic and bold SAYSKY designs to date.

 

We're running brand, with a passion for triathlon. Lars C. Pedersen, the SAYSKY founder, is also a passionate triathlete with several IRONMANs to his name.

 

Joining Forces with Copenhagen Friends

It was also during our second year that we teamed up with other brands for the first time in co-creating and collaborating on smaller capsule collections. First, we partnered up with our friends from the Le Fix - a Copenhagen-based streetwear brand and then also that year, Danish nutrition powerhouse, Nutramino. You can read much more about our different collaborations right here.

 

The SAYSKY x Le Fix collab was the first we ever did. It was launched as part of our SS15 collection.

 

 Champions train, losers complain: one of three statement tee's from the SAYSKY x Nutramino collab. This collection was also released as part of the SS15 range.

 

Running through Central Park with a Dream

SAYSKY is deeply rooted in Copenhagen and the Scandinavian way of living. However, our vision has always been international. SAYSKY represents an urban and metropolitan attitude that'll fit right in whether on the streets of Paris, Tokyo or New York.

We've always talked about how cool it would be to run through Central Park in New York and then high-five another runner wearing SAYSKY. No words needed. Just the mutual respect and acknowledgement that we're all in it for the passion.

Little did we know that this scenario would actually take place within the next couple of years. But we'll share that with you later.

 

South Korean runners rocking SAYSKY on a social run in Seoul.

 

The Beginning of an International Journey

The SAYSKY international adventure also took off during our second year. We shot our first lookbook outside of Denmark. It was shot on Mallorca, a running and triathlon paradise. It was part of a one-week training camp, where the SAYSKY founder was training for Copenhagen IRONMAN at the same time. Two birds with one stone, you might say.

We also starting working together with our first international retailer. It was in Seoul, Korea - a relationship that is still standing today.

 

A scenic shot from the SAYSKY SS15 lookbook in Mallorca. Capturing cool running pictures, often requires waking up early in order to catch the morning light.

 

Previous: SAYSKY Year One

Next: SAYSKY Year Three