Napapiiri, Napapijri… it’s just fashion, darling!
8 September 2004, 0:00
Belonging to the huge crowd of Finnish speaking Eyeties, I've always wondered why (and why just in Italy) a rather important winter clothes brand has the Norwegian flag on its clothes and the Finnish word Napapijri (Artic circle) on it.
Later on, I discovered that "Napapijri" is actually the name of that brand.
And what shocked me the most: "napapijri" is misspelled, since it should be written "napapiiri".
What is that? Well, nothing special: just some Italian businessmen who wanted to show that a nordic flag with a strong red color (the Norwegian one suits so well!) and a strange word (what's weirder than something in Finnish?) with maybe a foreign character (oh well, two "i"'s together don't look that nice, do they? Let's do like this: let's replace the second one with a "j"; it is such an unusual character in Italian…) would make it.
How many Italians do you think would wonder, what all those things mean? It's just fashion, darling!
All the truth from Helsingin Sanomat: Seen one napa, seen them all…
23 February 2007 at 15:20
Well, I just bought an excellent outdoor jacket of Napapiiri.
But Napappiiri is a Finnish word (Arctic Circle), so why do you use the Norwegian and not the Finnish flag in your brand?
Regards
reiner Petersen
23 February 2007 at 15:27
Well, maybe you could ask them directly. I can make a guess: maybe because the Norwegian flag is more colourful than the Finnish one? If businessmen knew/respected geography I’d be a rich man
15 April 2007 at 3:34
There’s a long story to why Napaijri is based on the Norwegian flag. A Italian designer went on an expedition on some mountain and he got lost. A group researchers from Norway were also on that mountain and they happen to find this Italian designer and ended up saving his life. The Italian designer now makes a line of clothes in thanks to the Norwegian Research team that found him.
I myself am from Norway and I love how this amazing designer makes very fashionable clothes with my countries Flag on it.
15 April 2007 at 12:20
Yes, that sounds like a lovely story, but in Helsingin Sanomat facts are presented in a slightly different way (rich Italian family on Monte Rosa on an after-ski session trying to find out a nice name and logo for their clothes)
17 August 2007 at 2:41
I’ve heard another one. An Italian designer was present during the Lillehammer olympics in ‘94 when he discovered the norwegian flag. After the olympic committee said that The Lillehammer olymipic games was the best olympic winter games in history he took the flag and used it as a symbol of wintersports and the artic world. With its bright colors it was perfect as a logo for the napapijri company brand.
17 August 2007 at 2:45
The Norwegian flag appears on many of the garments as a tribute to the Norwegian explorers that first traveled to Polar
Regions by foot and by dog sled over 100 years ago. Permission to use the Norwegian flag as a Napapijri logo was happily granted by the King of Norway, Harald the 5th.
17 August 2007 at 8:37
Hmm: and the king holds the rights of the flag? Maybe it’s time to shift to a republic
12 January 2008 at 22:41
Freak’s!!!! I like Napapijri! and I am a Norwegian! We dont give a shit!
26 January 2008 at 14:00
i have just purchased another jumper ski pants etc while skiing in Spain to add to others i have purchased over the last few years, my only comments other than i love all the product is the sizing seems very strange and a wool jumper has shrunk to half size while following the washing instructions.
23 June 2008 at 1:11
Well folks, i have Napapijri shorts. I like them very much and just have discovered origin of the brand. Respect to Italia and Norway! =)
Btw, i’m from Russia and it’s a pity that we won’t play in euro 2008 1/2 final with Italy