In the 90s, Terje Berg traversed Norway on skis (!). He found it so rewarding and fun that he decided to do it again, this time running the length of Norway. As if that wasn’t enough—after all, there was yet another way to do it: cycling the length of Norway. So, he did that too. In other words, he knows Norway better than most and understands what an adventure is all about.
These journeys alone are enough to tell Terje’s story, but there are actually other reasons why we love his story: it's the way he lives and his attitude towards nature, life, and not least, the clothes he owns.
Terje Berg is a southerner, but he has lived in Northern Norway since 1974 and is the most northern Norwegian of them all. He swears like a northerner and lives for, off, and in nature.
For the past 1.5 years, he has lived in a cabin outside Tromsø. He wears very few clothes, preferably inherited flannel shirts from his father, or old t-shirts from the hospital where he worked for 40 years. A couple of years ago, he received a t-shirt from Northern Playground as a gift, which he immediately became a big fan of. It turned out that it didn’t need washing, just airing and an occasional rinse. This was perfect for a man like Terje. Eventually, he got another one of the same type since he was so satisfied with the first, and he has been alternating between these two t-shirts every day while at the cabin.
Now the first t-shirt looks like this.
Why are we sharing a story about a completely worn-out t-shirt? Because we all have something to learn from Terje—he is someone to look up to. If we are to achieve the goal of reducing global clothing production, we must think differently than we do now and reduce our own consumption. We must use our clothes for everything we do, use them a lot, and use them until they are worn out. When we reach the point where the garments are unusable, we must use the material from the worn out clothes to repair other garments to extend the lifespan of future items. That’s when we’re talking about improvements that approach sustainability!
We have received Terje's t-shirt and will take care of it and use it for repairing other clothes. With this, we want to encourage you to send in worn-out NP clothes to us or to take care of them yourself so that together we can save more garments in the future!
10-YEAR-OLD vs. 100-YEAR-OLD
In September this year, Northern Playground celebrates 10 years. We want to celebrate ourselves in the best possible way; go after a 100-year-old who has ruined too much for generations to come. Yes, we'll raise our glasses, but we'll also throw stones. We'll laugh and enjoy ourselves, but we'll also be angry! Because we want to reach 20, 50, and 100 years, and therefore we will look forward and find solutions that lead us in the right direction.
