Our mission
We specialise in apparel rental, offering skiers & snowboarders a new, circular way to reduce the impact of their sport by renting premium outerwear.
Join us on our mission to make outdoor adventures more sustainable, convenient, and accessible to everyone.
Buy less, use more, go explore.
Our service
Our platform allows users to rent technical outerwear from top brands. Because many skiers and snowboarders only get to the mountains for a week or so each winter, a huge amount of outerwear sits in a closet for most of the calendar year. Through Cirkel, we bring circular economy principles into play, enabling those occasional adventurers to reduce the impact of their next big trip.
We are focused on a seamless customer experience that lowers the cost barrier for those looking to explore new challenges in the mountains. We believe that our pricing will encourage more folks to get out and enjoy nature. This increased accessibility has the very positive side effect of a society more engaged with nature and less demanding on our planet's resources.
“From looking at the fashion industry rental models, I was inspired to see how we could bring this to the outdoors, with a focus not just on accessibility and convenience - but also to build the model with the explicit intent to have less of an impact on the environment.”
- Anders Bergenstrand
Our founders
Cirkel Supply Co. was founded in 2020 by Anders Bergenstrand and Per Berthels - two friends and keen skiers who saw an opportunity to improve the traditional, linear model of outdoor retail.
Per and Anders bring different strengths to the table. Anders with his analytical mind and commercial experience, and Per with his out-of-the-box thinking and creativity. In winter ‘22, Anders and Per met Anna Smoothy - a freeride skier and outdoor aficionado who was searching for a circular business project to finish her MBA. They teamed up, and Anna’s project proved the environmental potential of Cirkel’s model and highlighted hotspots to focus on.
The Cirkel team is committed to accelerate environmentally friendly consumer behaviours, so that future generations can continue enjoying and exploring the world we call home. In order to drive sustainable business practices, Anna completed (the) cirkel by joining as a co-founder.
“In Swedish, we have a special word called bjussig. It roughly translates as being generous and kind. As we started to build Cirkel, we’ve experienced so much bjussig energy from our partners, and advisors - and this is something I want to channel into everything we do at Cirkel - some bjussig energy to help people and the planet.”
- Per Berthels
“The deglaciation and increasingly unstable weather patterns I’ve witnessed in the Alps over the past decade is alarming. I’m excited to drive Cirkel´s business model to decouple access to gear from the extraction of natural resources.”
- Anna Smoothy
Status quo
The global fashion industry is valued at approximately 2.5 trillion US dollars. Production of clothing has more than doubled since 2000, while usage has declined by nearly 40%. Overwhelmingly, these clothes are made with the ‘take, make, dispose’ method of linear retail. Meaning that we are overusing the planet's resources, and producing more waste than we know what to do with.
There is a big responsibility for the outdoor clothing industry to do a better job of caring for the environment on which we depend.
Our vision for the future
Circular business models such as rental and recommerce are vital tools to decouple the consumption of planetary resources with economic growth. These new business models are a rising tide that is changing the way the outdoor industry does business.
Our vision is for circular business models to be the first choice when it comes to the consumption of outdoor equipment. Join us in the rental revolution!