Independent Mercantile: Westerlind, New York

It was the little backpack that did it. Especially after Madonna got one. Fjallräven’s adorable and colorful Kånken backpack, now ubiquitous in outdoorsy boutiques in every chic neighborhood in the country, has been sold in Scandinavian countries since the late 1970s but wasn’t available in the United States until 2007. Nothing made by Fjallräven was, for that matter, until a twenty-four-year-old Swedish entrepreneur named Andrea Westerlind convinced the brand to let her take over North American distribution.

Fjallräven had burned through a fortune each time it tried to penetrate the U.S. market through traditional outdoor industry channels, with no success. But Westerlind, who has a background in fashion, had a different plan. Have at it, said the Fjallräven brass.

Westerlind was friends with one of Madonna’s assistants, and she used that connection to land a Kånken in the megastar’s orbit. Soon after, Madonna was photographed next to her son, who was wearing a forest green pack. With that