About Us
Grip where you expected to slip. Welcome to the world of Icebug, where slippery conditions make it more fun to get out.
Our mission is to get people out more AND be a leader in transforming our industry to be completely sustainable. Therefore, we:
- Produce the world's best traction footwear
- Minimize our negative environmental impact
- Inspire and invite others to join us outdoors
The Journey of Icebug
''No one believed in us. They were wrong.''
Icebug was founded by mother and son in 2001, and is still an independent, privately owned company.
When we started the company, our business idea was to sell well-gripping shoes with dynamic steel studs. The idea of this was that the shoes, in addition to keeping feet warm and dry, would save people from the winter's biggest problem – slipping.
At first, no one believed in us. Colleagues in the industry said that we did not have a sufficiently relevant product, and no one thought we would survive in the long run.
We were saved by the wow factor.
To this day, the wow factor is our greatest asset. Putting on shoes with one of our traction technologies – the dynamic steel studs on ice, the RB9X rubber on wet cliffs or tractor pattern in clay – and experiencing grip where you expected to slip is simply something unique.
Our wow factor makes our customers love Icebug, and they are happy to recommend our products to their friends. With that foundation, we have, step by step, been able to make traction footwear into its own product category.
Icebug makes shoes that make it easier for people to get out into nature, and for us to continue to exist, we are therefore directly dependent on the world around us doing well. Icebug constantly tests all materials and components in each shoe, to see if they can be replaced by something that – without compromising function – is better for the environment.
In addition to minimizing our negative impact, we also overcompensate for our carbon emissions. In the Spring 2019, we became the world's first climate-positive manufacturer of outdoor shoes, and we have put on the leader's jersey for the rest of the industry to follow suit.
One of Icebug's most important tasks is also to get people outdoors. We manufacture products that make it easier to get out, but we also regularly host different outdoor events as well. We call it Icebug Xperience, and the whole thing is really very simple; we do things we think are fun, invite others to participate – and we do it at a level where everyone feels included and welcome to participate.
Each week, for example, we have open lunch runs in the forest outside our office in Jonsered, Sweden, and in ten cities across the world (right now – we are growing fast) we host Forest Femmes, which brings together women who want to run the trail together. Icebug Xperience houses a number of smaller camps and activities – but two of the races we are most proud of are the Frozen Lake Marathon, which is the ultimate winter running experience taking place fully on a frozen lake in Norway, and the three-day West Coast Trail race, where people from all over the world come to experience the Bohuslän cliffs in Western Sweden for three days on foot.