Kai Rand, please

BITTE KAI RAND was founded in 1981 when Bitte, as a newly graduated designer from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, bought the renowned knitting company "Steen's hjemmstrikkerier", with which she soon became Copenhagen's answer to Sonia Rykiel in Paris.

"We only made made-to-order products and I learnt so much about knitting machines, the close customer contact and not least about working with unique bodies instead of standard sizes," says BITTE KAI RAND.

"I had no strategy, no plan and no goal. I was not ambitious. I just loved going to work every day."

Fortunately, her husband, Michael Rand, had an eye not only for Bitte's talent but also for her potential. In 1983 he joined the company and together they created the success that has now lasted for over 40 years and that has taken the Danish collections all over the world - long before the Noma effect had taken hold and "Scandi Cool" was a household word.

The designer's greatest strength at the time was also her Achilles heel. She admits this straight away. "I was not ambitious. I just wanted to have fun with everything I did. Illums Bolighus wanted to place a big order for scarves with me, but I turned it down because I couldn't do it with a single knitting machine." Luckily, BITTE KAI RAND quickly learnt to adapt supply to demand. And then everything went from strength to strength. From Brdr Andersen, Birger Christensen and Illums Bolighus in Denmark to department stores and design shops in Stockholm, Oslo, London, New York and Antwerp.

BITTE KAI RAND and her team can look back on four unpredictable decades. From the sculpted shoulders and harem pants of the 80s, through the denim worship and logo symbols of the 90s, to the play with proportions of the 00s and the exploration of the aesthetic core of the brand in the 10s. The masculine versus the feminine, the architectural lines versus the organic shapes, the artistic prints versus the monochrome surfaces.

BITTE KAI RAND has always been ahead of its time. The brand has been using real people instead of models in its commercials since the 1990s, including a mum breastfeeding her baby, an elderly lady with a gold tooth and a delightful street cast of bubbly and happy people from all over the world.

Today, Bitte Kai Rand's traditions are stronger than ever, as passion, creative play and a rejection of commercial constraints and short-term fashion fads remain at the centre of every collection. The clothes are made for real people, colourful parties, the joy of work and everyday magic. They are made for all those women who would rather stand out than fit in.