The Swedish brand has struggled with financial difficulties in recent years. Last autumn, the problems culminated when the company applied for reconstruction with debts of nearly 100 million Swedish krona. The situation was due, among other things, to a rapidly discontinued clothing collection, costly store establishments in cities such as New York and Oslo, and the effects of inflation and a cooler consumer market.
This summer, a rescue plan was approved. The company raised 45 million Swedish krona in a new issue, making the venture capital firm Eequity the largest owner when they increased their share from 21 percent to 31 percent. At the same time, the company has been forced to make savings in administration, logistics and purchasing to get the business back on track.
Experienced CEO Takes Over Leadership
To lead the company forward, the board has now recruited Pernilla Ekman as the new CEO. She replaces the acting CEO Helena Torkelsson, who will instead assume the role of Vice CEO.
Pernilla Ekman has a background from several leading positions and comes most recently from the design company Aarke. Before that, she was CEO of the audio company Zound Industries for six years.
In a written statement, the new CEO explains what attracted her to the assignment. She describes her view of the company's market position and highlights the goal for the coming period, where profitability is the focus of the business.
I have followed Chimi for a long time and think they have built an incredibly strong brand, with a lot of potential internationally. The next phase is about profitable and long-term sustainable growth and the company is already profitable at an operational level, says Pernilla Ekman to the website.
In parallel with the savings programs, the management team has seen several departures in the past year. The founder Daniel Djurdjevic left the CEO post last autumn and the creative director Sebastian Brännén recently moved to a company in the hair care industry.
Decreased Turnover and Increased Loss
The company's financial reports for the financial year 2025 show a worse result. Turnover decreased by 4.2 percent, from 170.3 million Swedish krona the previous year to 163.2 million Swedish krona. At the same time, the operating loss increased by 1580 percent, from 3 million Swedish krona to 50.4 million Swedish krona.
Although the reconstruction is completed, documents from earlier this year show that the challenges were present until the very end. The company has had judgments from the Swedish Enforcement Administration totaling 200,000 Swedish krona and utilized tax deferrals of 10.2 million Swedish krona.
With the new management and capital injection in place, the strategy now is to build a stable business.