The History of SAYSKY: Year One

This is the first blog post in a series of five about the history of SAYSKY. We're celebrating our 5-year anniversary on July 1, 2018, and we'll be looking back upon each of the five years with pictures and stories. Read below for the history of SAYSKY: Year One.

 

Surfer Vibes and Laid-Back Attitudes

The SAYSKY founder, Lars C. Pedersen, comes from a background in professional windsurfing, where the attitude is notoriously laid-back and casual. Whether you're on the board, beach or in the bar, you'll look, feel and act the same. It's a sport and a lifestyle at the same time.

So, when he decided to take on running and triathlon in the early 2010s, he quickly realised that the market offerings back then didn't meet his needs. When training or racing, he felt that he had to compromise with his personal style. The gear at the time was all very generic, technical and fast-looking. This definitely didn't go hand-in-hand with his urban and street perception of how he wanted to look and feel - whether on the run or go.

 

Scenes from the first-ever SAYSKY photo shoot. Pictures by the renowned photographer Bjarke Johansen.

 

Getting Ready for the Launch

This eventually led to the launch of SAYSKY in the summer of 2013. It was a very busy first year and time definitely wasn't wasted. The first lookbook was shot together with internationally renowned photographer, Bjarke Johansen. You might be familiar with his long-time project: 100 Great Danes (NSFW).

The athletes used for the first photo shoots were just casted from the streets. However, both of them have stayed on board ever since and are now working full time for SAYSKY. But we'll get back to that.

 

The RUN CPH design was an early SAYSKY icon. It was a tribute to our Copenhagen origins.

 

The Classic Logo tee is a permanent stable in all of our collections and it has been so since the very beginning. The Russian Tights with the magic star on the knee were also an instant hit.

 

First-Movers on an Altered Path

With the products and marketing material ready, it was time to serve the passionate runners of Copenhagen. Specialist running store and next-door neighbours, Marathon Sport, was the first retailer to sell and endorse SAYSKY in a market dominated by the big corporate brands.

In many ways, SAYSKY was also a first-mover. At the time, we were one of the first small brands coming with a different approach than the established players on the running and triathlon markets.

 

This was the first SAYSKY triathlon design to hit the market. You'd already see it on a lot of athletes at the IRONMAN Copenhagen in 2013, shortly after the launch.

 

The Danish tri set was designed for those athletes, taking on adventures and races outside of Denmark. As such, IRONMAN Frankfurt became the first international race with SAYSKY present.

 

Racing with the Magic Star

The interest and curiosity around SAYSKY started to grow and it was absolutely fantastic to see the first athletes wearing and trusting our gear at important events such as Copenhagen Marathon and IRONMAN in Copenhagen.

 

A SAYSKY star taking on the Copenhagen Marathon course in 2014.

 

Race day has always been important to us, and you'll often find us either racing or on the sidelines cheering for all the cool SAYSKY stars. Just look at the cover picture - that's Lars on the SAYSKY music bike. He's playing music and handing out high-fives at Copenhagen Marathon in 2014. This is something we still do and enjoy very much.

We are the community that we serve. We love be out there with you guys. That's how we started and how we kept on running in the years that followed.

 

A happy 2013 Copenhagen IRONMAN finisher in the SAYSKY Lightning Tri Set.

 

This is Alex - one of the first athletes to race in SAYSKY. He's one of the many great friends that has helped us at events or whenever we needed support. Without him and all the others (you know who you are), we wouldn't have made is this far.

 

Next: SAYSKY Year Two