Financier give up job to launch Norwegian Wool—billionaires put on his luxurious coats

It was 95 levels when the primary prototype of a Norwegian Wool jacket arrived at Michael Berkowitz’s condo in The Bronx, New York, in August 2014.

Needing to check the waterproof knee-length wool coat with out getting warmth stroke, the founder and CEO of the then-fledgling attire model took it to a grocery store in West Harlem. “[I] paced forwards and backwards for half-hour in a walk-in freezer” to guage its lining for heat, remembers Berkowitz, 38. “It is New York, so nobody stops you, nobody asks you. My face was chilly by the top, however my physique was completely heat. I keep in mind considering, ‘OK, we’re on to one thing.'”

On the time, Berkowitz was a commodities dealer hoping to launch his personal enterprise. Right now, Norwegian Wool’s coats adorn the shoulders of billionaires, actors, politicians and financiers — at marketing campaign occasions, in the course of the annual World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, and in a Season 3 episode of HBO’s “Succession.” The attire model was worthwhile in 2024, and has been for seven out of the final eight years, Berkowitz says.

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Berkowitz declined to share different financials, citing aggressive stress — however says his firm’s merchandise are actually bought in additional than 100 shops worldwide, together with Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and his appointment-only New York showroom.

The attraction of Norwegian Wool coats is an element type, half perform. Financiers are anticipated to decorate a sure manner, however the traditional wool Italian coats most of them put on aren’t designed for sub-40-degree climate, says Berkowitz.

“In case you present up sporting a [puffer coat] that appears like you are going to the Arctic, but it surely’s solely 40 levels, you don’t appear to be the person who’s going to have the ability to break via partitions and get a deal completed,” he says.

Norwegian Wool’s bestselling mid-length Euro Coats at the moment vary from $1,545 to $2,945 every, relying on the kind of wool used. The model sells different lengths and types, together with blazers, sport coats, rain and ski jackets, and a wide range of winter coat choices and equipment for women and men. Roughly 40 billionaires have bought Norwegian Wool coats, Berkowitz estimates.

Berkowitz had the concept for Norwegian Wool whereas shivering on a subway platform with a pal in 2013, he says. “I informed him, ‘I would like a coat that appears good, that I might put on to work, that can truly maintain me heat,'” Berkowitz remembers. “He put his arm on my shoulders, like, ‘Dude, while you discover it, get me one, too.'”

After performing some analysis, Berkowitz recognized a easy offender, he says: Many trendy coats are designed in components of Italy the place the air not often freezes. The common January temperature in Florence, for instance, is roughly 40 levels Fahrenheit — in comparison with 30 levels in New York and 25 levels in Chicago.

Firms primarily based in Canada and Scandinavia make hotter coats for harsher winters, however as one designer informed him, the 2 industries “do not speak to one another,” he says.

Berkowitz spent months flying to Italy and again to satisfy and woo manufacturing unit homeowners, who’d ship prototypes to his condo. He finally spent $250,000 — $50,000 of his personal cash and a $200,000 funding from the previous CFO of his firm, who’d heard about Berkowitz’s efforts from a colleague — to pattern the prototypes and order an preliminary run of 200 coats, he says.

On nights, weekends and trip days, Berkowitz carted these coats — one on his physique and two in a small suitcase — to family-owned luxurious shops throughout the U.S., he says. He usually pitched on to gross sales associates, who knew their purchasers’ shared dilemma of eager to really feel heat whereas wanting good in a luxurious coat, he says.

He bought all 200 coats in three months and resigned from his day job in early 2015, he says.

“I did not sleep a lot that 12 months,” says Berkowitz, including that by day, he tried to cover his efforts to keep away from jeopardizing his job. In line with his former boss Alan Kestenbaum, now the CEO of New York-based holding firm Bedrock Industries, he solely ever got here throughout as a “road sensible” and keen worker who was “the primary to reach and the final to depart.”

In 2017, Berkowitz landed his first partnership to promote coats at a serious division retailer. The next 12 months, Norwegian Wool participated in two fundraising rounds, each seven-figure offers with personal traders, Berkowitz says. He stays the corporate’s majority proprietor, he notes.

Norwegian Wool coats are typically costlier than Canada Goose parkas, and fewer expensive than cashmere coats from established Italian luxurious manufacturers like Loro Piana. However the high quality of its supplies is excessive, says “Succession” costume director Jon Schwartz: Norwegian Wool’s cashmere appears like “dipping your hand into heat butter.”

Berkowitz’s dream for Norwegian Wool is a fame akin to Vary Rover automobiles — identified worldwide for a mix of fashion and performance, he says. He plans so as to add extra product traces, put money into advertising and host pop-up retail occasions to enhance the model’s visibility, he provides. Already, he is overheard Norwegian Wool come up in natural conversations, even when no one realizes the model’s founder is in earshot, he says.

And as somebody squarely inside Norwegian Wool’s goal demographic — businesspeople who need to make an impression with their look throughout chilly winters, he says — he nonetheless exams most of the firm’s prototypes himself.

Berkowitz outfitted himself and his buddies with not-yet-released parkas for a February ski journey within the Alps. He introduced a pattern of a lately launched bamboo blazer to Paris in September, tossing it on high of his rolling suitcase and into the aircraft’s overhead bin to check it for wrinkling and pilling, he says.

“I check issues out going to my workplace in Midtown or in trip to the Alps,” says Berkowitz. “It does not matter the place it’s, as a lot as how I am sporting it. It needs to be consultant of how our clients would put on it.”

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