Swedish ICIW grew 20% in 2024, aims for more European markets

One month after Swedish sports brand ICIW (ICANIWILL) opened its first physical store, SGI Europe met with the company’s CEO Anders Wallstedt at the combined store/gym in central Stockholm. The store is based on a unique idea developed jointly by ICIW and the gym chain Ignite Training Hub: inside the gym, which offers everything from gym, cycling, and running classes, ICIW’s collections for men and women are available for purchase. It was in the gym and fitness industry that ICIW started in 2012 when the company’s founder, Gustaf Ollas, felt he lacked the right clothes for his training. Ollas, who has since left the company, founded the brand name based on a mantra he lived by: ICANIWILL. In 2024, the company had a turnover of SEK 361 million with a profit of SEK 40 million.

Today, ICIW is established in several of Sweden’s largest gym chains, but is also available in over 300 stores in the Nordic region and Europe, at sports giants such as Stadium, Intersport, Swedish gym chain SATS and is also sold via the online retailer Zalando.

Since 2018, Anders Wallstedt has been the majority owner and CEO of ICIW. As we look through the brand’s latest collection hanging on the hangers, it is clear that Wallstedt is pleased with the company’s development. 

ICIW started 12 years ago, and now you have around 50 people working for the company and are currently experiencing growth that last year amounted to 20 percent. Now we are also standing in your first physical store. How does it feel to have come this far?

It feels very good. We have experienced strong growth since 2018. During the post-pandemic period in 2022 and the first half of 2023, consumer sentiment was weaker, which was noticeable in retail, but I would still say that we did better than many others! We managed to maintain growth in both 2022 and 2023. We then shifted our focus to profitability growth, which we achieved while also gaining market share. In the second half of 2023, the tide began to turn. We shifted from a defensive to an offensive strategy, replenished our stocks, revived colors and styles that had been put on hold, and developed new ones, which caused growth to pick up again. 

How do you feel about the brand now?

Now, in 2025, optimism is even stronger within the company, and in Q1 we grew by 44 percent.

Why is it going so well now?

I attribute that to the brand and the work we have put into building it over many years. We have chosen to focus on training, being present in gyms and where our core customers are. We have also always built and nurtured our community, organizing 70 events in 2024, which we are increasing to over 150 events this year, allowing us to hammer home our message and what we stand for, namely that we are “True to training.”

What is ICIW’s plan for the next five years? 

We are focusing on growing within our four categories of power, cardio, balance, and athwear, and above all in the European countries where we most recently launched the brand. We have come a long way with the brand in the Nordic region, and the goal now is to continue the brand journey to become an established sports and training brand in Europe as well. We are well on our way. We like rapid growth, as it allows us to become a larger team and do more things faster. But we focus all our work on the ICIW brand and what it stands for, and we work based on the brand’s growth. That way, we know that sales will follow.

How big could your international sales be in two years? 

I definitely think that one of the European markets could be our largest by then. We have been very successful in all the Nordic countries. Sweden is no longer our largest market, and growth in the markets that are relatively new to us is growing very quickly. It’s great because not everyone succeeds outside their home market.

There are many training brands to compete with in the market. What has made ICIW successful?

We have a full range of the right products and have built up a brand with high credibility. We notice this not least when we come down to Europe and enter new markets for us. Our reputation has already preceded us. Our reseller customers also know that we keep our promises, because we deliver quality on time.

I am proud of ICIW and how far we have come with the brand. The next milestone is to achieve the same success in the European market and reach an even broader target group.