This is Svensson
Svensson is a Swedish family-owned company founded in 1887. Since then, we have developed textile climate solutions that combine quality, function, and design. The company is run by the fourth generation, siblings Anne and Anders Ludvigson, with entrepreneurial drive and a focus on creating measurable value for customers in public environments and professional greenhouse cultivation.
With a presence in over 130 countries and local teams in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, the USA, Mexico, South Korea, and China, we stay closely connected to our customers’ needs. This international foundation enables us to develop solutions that are relevant, sustainable, and effective.
Expertise in climate solutions and textile development is combined with long experience and close customer collaboration. Technology and material development are central and ensure high performance and long product lifetimes.
Production takes place in our own factories in Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands, and China, providing control over quality, transparency, and continuous improvements together with selected suppliers and development partners.
Through solutions that contribute to energy savings, better climate control, increased well-being, and reduced resource use, long-term value is created for our customers. Guidance and training ensure that the products are used optimally and deliver the right effect throughout their entire life cycle.
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- 130 countries served:
- Our interior textiles and greenhouse solutions are used wherever people care about the indoor climate. From how it sounds, to how it is shaded to how people and plants thrive within.
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- Turnover 800 MSEK:
- Our financial strength over many decades has enabled us to faithfully serve our customers and mount a world-class research and development initiative.
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- 380 Employees:
- We're proud that we undertake every step in designing, manufacturing, distributing, marketing and supporting our products and services.
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- Founded 1887:
- Svensson is one of those companies where three generations of employees can meet in the same cafeteria. And where family ownership has now stretched across four generations.
The way we see sustainability
Our overall goal is to reduce our carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, with 2030 as our time frame. Our sustainability work is based on three core areas – People, Planet and Profit – where we strive for a balance between social responsibility, reduced environmental impact and long-term economic development.
People – Well-being for employees, end users and society
Profit – Economy, governance, culture and behaviour
Planet – Consumption, waste, resources and CO₂ emissions
As a supplier of climate solutions, we aim to help our customers improve their growing and working environments and reduce their climate impact. Together with our suppliers, we are developing a more circular and resource-efficient value chain.
We take a long-term approach and assume responsibility for reducing the use of energy, water and chemicals both in the production and use of our products. By owning the entire manufacturing process, we can ensure quality, transparency and continuous improvements.
Our work is guided by the principle of “more with less,” meaning efficient resource use, safe processes and compliance with legal requirements. Since we cannot solve all challenges on our own, collaboration is essential. By sharing knowledge and working together with others, we can reach our sustainability goals.
The story of Svensson
The story of Svensson begins in 1887, when Ludvig Svensson started weaving textiles in a small rented building in Kinna. Steam‑powered machines soon followed, and by the early 1900s the company had become Sweden’s first curtain manufacturer. Through economic crises, world wars, and a rapidly changing industry, the business stayed in family hands, passing from Ludvig to his son Ivan, and later to the next generation.
As global trade opened up in the 1950s and ’60s, new synthetic fibres like acrylic and polyester reshaped the textile world. Svensson embraced the change early, winning major customers such as IKEA and Åhléns. The purchase of the first warp‑knit machine in 1957 marked another turning point, unlocking new production possibilities and accelerating growth.
But the company’s roots were much deeper than technical progress alone. Kinna sits at the heart of the Sjuhärad region — an area shaped by forests, waterways, and generations of textile know‑how. What began as small cottage workshops grew into mills and later into full‑scale factories. The region became a powerhouse of Swedish textile manufacturing, and Svensson stood at the centre of it.
Inside the red‑brick factory, the work has always blended craftsmanship and innovation. Many employees joined as teenagers and stayed for decades, becoming experts in weaving, dyeing, knitting, warping, and machine operation. Their hands, skills, and problem‑solving mentality built the company’s reputation for quality, reliability, and precision. Staying in Kinna was never just tradition — it was the company’s strength.
Then came the 1970s, and with it, the energy crisis. Faced with rising costs and piles of leftover curtain material, Svensson began searching for new opportunities. A simple suggestion — “Why not make curtains for greenhouses?” — sparked a breakthrough. Working with researchers in Alnarp, the company developed its first energy‑saving climate screen, a knitted solution that kept heat in while letting light through. By 1977 it was ready, and in the early 1980s a new generation of screens made from aluminum and plastic took performance even further.
The timing was perfect. When Svensson expanded to the Netherlands in 1981, the world’s leading horticultural market, growers quickly recognised the value: climate screens could cut heating costs by up to 70%. Led by pioneers like Cees den Boer and Göran Henningsson, Svensson built strong relationships with greenhouse builders and growers — partnerships that became just as important as the product itself. Even after a warehouse fire destroyed equipment in 1984, the team bounced back quickly.
From those early screens grew an entirely new business area. By 1982, the company had become such a symbol of Swedish industry that Prime Minister Olof Palme said, “If Ludvig Svensson in Kinna is doing well, it means Sweden is doing well.”
More than 130 years after Ludvig first started weaving, the fourth generation of the family continues to run the company. And while the products now reach every corner of the world, the heart of Svensson remains exactly where it began — in Kinna, where knowledge, craftsmanship, and innovation have been woven together for more than a century.