The history of Jyden Konfection

A dedicated Danish merchant called C. A. Christensen founded the company in 1923. In 1923 they started to produce under very simple conditions. It all started in an apartment in „Ryes Passage“ in Aalborg. They had only 2 sewers and 4 external sewers. Mr Christensen cut all garments by himself and his oldest daughter was responsible for everything – production, business administration and service.

In the spring of 1926, the company moved to Havnegården, Nyhavnsgade 6 in Aalborg. The first clothes they produced were shirts for agricultural workers. One of C. A. Christensens’ younger sons joined the company as an accountant.

In 1927 the company realized again that the premises were much too small and so they rented a building in Vesterå 7 in Aalborg. The number of employees increased once again.

Another son of Mr. Christensen joined the company as a seller in 1932. Until that time they produced only shirts. In the same year they started production of heavy workwear under the name “Jyden”. Jyden stands for a person who comes from the Danish mainland “Jutland”.

In 1934 they bought the first factory at Jernbanegade 14 for the price of 48,000 Danish crowns. Compared to the first two locations, it was a very big building with 830 m² spread out over 3 floors. The building had to be modified for the production and the first floor was used as the cutting department. The ground floor was used for the office as well as for stock and packing. The cellar was used for another stock and the canteen. This renovation costed 50,000 Danish crowns and was more expensive than the whole building had costed.

Due to a lack of raw materials the production was very difficult in the years from 1940 to 1945. In these years no company could keep their production intact because of the Second World War. Jyden decided to produce workwear made of paper and they gave a guarantee of 24 hours on this product, except it rained.

In 1957 they changed the companies’ name into “I/S Jyden Arbejdstøj” and two sons of C. A. Christensen (C. M. Christensen and Juul Christensen) started as partners in the company.

In 1958 C. A. Christensen died and both sons became directors of the company.

The present owner Jørgen Christensen who is the grandson of C. A. Christensen, started as a seller in the company after his career as an officer in the Royal Lifeguard.

On 12 November 1958 C. M. Christensen suddenly died and his brother became sole director. In 1960 they bought the premises at Lyngvej 2 in Aalborg where the company is producing still nowadays. The ground is 8,000 m² and they bought it for the price of 13 Danish crowns per m². A factory with the size of 1,250 m² for the amount of 627,000 Danish crowns was built in 1965.

The present owner, Mr. Jørgen Christensen, started as distributor and became director in 1966.

In 1965 Jørgen Christensen found Polyester/Cotton in the USA and started as the first manufacturer of workwear to produce in Europe. The company became a leading supplier of workwear, laundries and all Danish hospitals were distributed with Jydens “princess dress”. The photos showed the new models that changed all what had ever been seen before.

In 1993 Jørgen Christensen withdraws from the management but was still owner of the company. Since then, Leif Ginnerup had been manager of Jyden.

In 2003 Jørgen Christensen sold Jyden to the new owners Ole Sørensen und Preben Nielsen By selling the firm Jyden became a private limited company and is hold by Ole Sørensen with a share capital of 75% and by Preben Nielsen with a share capital of 25%.

The company has been existing since 80 years now what takes along a big store of experience on the one hand and a lot of energy and commitment on the other side by the new owners.