Stoov

In 2005 Teun van Leijsen bought a second-hand car. It had seat heating, but it did not work. On the premise of ‘how hard can it be’, Teun opened up the upholstery.

In 2005 Teun van Leijsen bought a second-hand car. It had seat heating, but it did not work. On the premise of ‘how hard can it be’, Teun opened up the upholstery. “I am not a techie myself, but I understood how the technology worked and got it going again.” Later this turned out to be the first seed of Stoov, by now a major international player in the market for heat cushions and blankets.

Teun van Leijsen, Founder & Chief Impact & Innovation at Stoov, tells the story.

In 2012 Teun and his wife moved from Amsterdam’s Rivierenbuurt to De Bilt, where they bought a house with a garden. “Our first little one was on the way and during her leave my wife loved sitting outside. When it got chilly, we would light the fire basket. On the evenings I was not at home, she would sit inside, because she often would not make a fire just for herself. So I made her a heat cushion with a switch: in fact the very first Stoov. She loved it and happily sat ‘brooding’ on it until our son was born. Straight away I knew: I can do something with this.”

At that time Teun was still working in banking. “The longer I worked in that world, the more I disliked it. One thing was crystal clear to me: I was completely done with the tailored suits and wanted to make the world a slightly better place. With the plan to buy myself into a cool company, I resigned from my job. But the idea for the heat cushions kept simmering in the back of my mind. In the end I simply went for it.”

At breakneck speed through word of mouth and a bit of luck

That turned out to be a gap in the market. “With a few adjustments we made the cushions suitable for home use. We built a good website and repositioned Stoov in the consumer market, with a presence at the VT Wonen fair as the highlight. By mid-November, before winter had even properly begun, the entire stock was sold out.”

After that it all went at breakneck speed, Teun says. Stoov now sells sixty times as many cushions per year as in 2019. Around 30% of turnover is generated in the Netherlands, but Germany has been the largest market from the start. “An article about Stoov once appeared in the widely read weekly Die Zeit – partly because of that we sold very well with our eastern neighbours. This was a clear signal that consumers were looking for such a product.” The biggest success factors, moreover, are customer satisfaction (the Net Promoter Score averages around 60) and word of mouth. “Forty per cent of people in the Netherlands buy a Stoov on someone else’s recommendation.”

Teun points out that a bit of luck was involved too. “In 2020 people were at home a lot because of covid. They started paying more attention to their interiors and, to reduce heating costs, a Stoov was ideal.” The high gas prices of the past year have contributed to Stoov still growing fast, because you can turn the thermostat down 1-2 degrees when you sit on the sofa with a heat cushion. “Both of these factors worked in our favour, but we are able to hold on to our market share under our own steam because the product is of good quality and people are enthusiastic about it.”

By now fifty people work for Stoov at the Dutch head office in Utrecht. “In the beginning people thought heat cushions were naff and something for the elderly – back then it was not easy to find talent. Fortunately that image has disappeared. We have a nice mix of young talent and people with a few decades of work experience walking around. They keep each other creative, fresh and sharp.”

The highlights of Teun’s entrepreneurial journey so far? “I am most proud of becoming profitable. There have been several moments when it got very difficult and I considered stopping. Now and then I had to ease off the accelerator, but that is precisely why we grew at a healthy pace.” Becoming profitable under our own steam; that was the goal. And it worked. “This sets us apart from other scale-ups: we are financially healthy and not dependent on fresh capital.”

Another highlight for Teun is that Niek became CEO. “Since early 2022 we have been doing it together: he handles the strategic and administrative matters, I guide the creative processes and act as head of sustainability. That works like a charm.”

Every cushion climate-neutral within a year

Stoov is well on its way to securing B Corp certification. “The vast majority of the materials we use are recycled. We also make sustainable choices in storage and transport. A Stoov consists of three parts: the cushion, the cover and the heating element. By having the consumer ‘assemble’ the cushions themselves, we can store and transport them far more efficiently and sustainably. What is more: when you sit on the sofa with a heat cushion, you can turn the thermostat down, so you use less energy. So: the more cushions we sell, the more impact. Our estimate is that every Stoov cushion is climate-neutral within a year of purchase.”

Wearables and conquering the world

There are plans to bring new products to market under the Stoov label. “We keep the focus on warmth, but we are thinking of soft furniture (poufs, chairs, benches, curtains) and wearables (jumpers, scarves and capes). All products will be sustainable and timeless and will match anything in terms of colours.”

There are also ambitions to launch Stoov in even more countries. “Great Britain is going very well now. And from there the ‘island’ on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean beckons too, of course: there is some delay, but America is on our list. We are also looking at Australia, partly because of the reversed seasonality. When things are quieter here in Europe in the summer, it is winter there, and we can direct our energy towards a new market. On top of that, Australians are real outdoor people, with whom Stoov probably goes down well.”

As long as Teun learns new things every day, he will keep developing Stoov. “Forward is always the goal and we have wonderful plans. That said, I am a restless and ambitious fellow, so it could be that in time I will do something else. But: for me life is about freedom. As long as Stoov does not feel like ‘work’ and I can be creative every day, I can see myself doing this for a good while yet.”