David Ekelund, former marketing director at Icebug, the Swedish brand of running footwear for icy conditions, climbed into the company’s chief executive seat at the beginning of this year. It was previously filled by Arne Törnqvist, the husband of Eliza Törnqvist, who is David’s mother as well as the founder of Icebug. Until the beginning of this year she was in charge of design and development at Icebug, but she handed over these responsibilities to her assistant, Karin Lundqvist. The latter is backed up by Erik Öhlund, who was just recruited by Icebug after he graduated as an engineer. Eliza Törnqvist is now working as a senior adviser to the management, helping out with marketing and customer service, while Arne Törnqvist is in charge of logistics and purchasing, which he already handled as CEO. The generation change comes as Icebug continues to expand, with sales of about 19 million Swedish kronor (€1.79m-$2.38m) and 65,000 pairs in 2008. The company expects to raise the figures to SEK 27 million (€2.55m-$3.38m) and 75,000 pairs in 2009. The discrepancy between the expected increase in turnover and the pairage is due to the fact that Icebug will continue to increase the proportion of shoes it sells under the Icebug brand, while reducing the share taken by other brands, for which it only earns a commission. Its novelty for this winter is an addition to the web system it introduced last year, to be affixed to running shoes. With the Attla Bugweb, the same web is fitted with a gaiter, which will enable brave runners to keep their feet dry.
