Bon Dep

Bon Dep is a Norwegian family-owned accessories company founded in 2012 by Vibeke Grønseth, with her husband Lars Grønseth joining the business later [9]. It began as a wholesaler of interior and lifestyle goods and grew into a maker of hair accessories, pouches, jewelry boxes and personalized jewelry, sold across Europe and beyond. The brand remains active: it continues to release seasonal collections, and in 2024 it drew wider attention when Norwegian footballer Erling Braut Haaland took a minority stake.

The company's name reflects two languages it borrows from: "Bon", the French word for good, and "Dep", which the company glosses as pretty (or beautiful) in Vietnamese. Bon Dep appears in beauty catalogues chiefly through its hair accessories and lavender-scented eye masks and sachets, though its range sits mostly in fashion accessories and jewelry rather than cosmetics.

Bon Dep traces its origins to an interior and lifestyle boutique that the Grønseths ran for several years, stocking what the company calls small indulgence items. Hair accessories were folded into the early collections, which the brand attributes to the founders' fondness for small everyday luxuries. Vibeke Grønseth has described an unassuming starting point, telling one interviewer that she had no formal education beyond secondary school and that her "biggest dream was becoming a homemaker" [10].

The colourful hair tie that would define the company reportedly began as a project in the family kitchen before becoming a commercial product. The business has stayed close to home in more than one sense: the family is based in the Slemdal and Holmen area of Oslo, and their daughter Marikken Grønseth joined the company and built its jewelry line.

Bon Dep was established in 2012, initially selling interior items such as pillows, knobs and small toiletry bags [9]. The turning point came in 2015, when the company acquired distribution rights to the KKNEKKI hair tie [9]; according to company communications, KKNEKKI originated in South Korea in 1987. The hair tie became the brand's breakout product, and in 2018 Bon Dep began selling it internationally.

By the time the company reported on its progress in 2024, KKNEKKI was available in hundreds of colour combinations and the broader range had reached thousands of stockists. Bon Dep states that the hair ties now come in 540 different colour combinations.

In April 2024, Erling Braut Haaland became a minority shareholder, with the Øgreid family investment company entering as the largest investor [9]. Haaland, a long-time user of the product, said he was "proud to enter the ownership side of Bon Dep" and called KKNEKKI "the world's best hair tie." According to the founder, the aim of bringing Haaland on board was to help scale the hair tie further across Europe and beyond.

Bon Dep is family-owned and operated. The Norwegian operating entity is Bon Dep AS, which describes itself as subject to the Norwegian Transparency Act [4]. A separate Danish company, Addcount Denmark Services ApS, based in Copenhagen, is listed on the brand's website as the seller of KKNEKKI products [1] — an operational distribution arrangement rather than a change in the brand's Norwegian ownership. As of 2024, ownership also includes minority investors: Erling Braut Haaland and the Øgreid investment company.

The company's stated philosophy centres on a single line: "Accessories makes all the difference." Bon Dep argues that accessories reveal personality, putting it as: "Your choice of accessories tell a lot about your personality, and it is noticed by your surroundings." The brand positions itself around timeless design, craftsmanship and longevity rather than fast-fashion turnover, and frames its mission as a long-term commitment to "making women shine."

That positioning extends to a deliberately measured approach to growth. Vibeke Grønseth has said the family chooses to keep the operation small enough to run locally: "If we grew bigger, we'd need to organize differently with many more employees. We couldn't be here then." The Akersposten profile described the team as around nine people, most of them under thirty [10].

Bon Dep's catalogue spans two main lines. Its accessories line includes pouches, jewelry boxes, change trays, tote bags and eye masks, often made in Liberty fabrics or Belgian linen, with embroidery personalization offered on many pieces. Bestsellers cited by the company include the Love Claw hair clip and its Jewelry Box. The hair line consists of accessories such as claws, clips, hairbands and combs.

Materials and manufacturing carry some of the brand's story. According to Bon Dep, its Liberty fabrics use British designs in production since 1875, hand-drawn or painted in London and printed in Italy near Lake Como, while its cellulose acetate hair accessories are manufactured in France, with some handmade pieces set with Swarovski stones. A jewelry line, Emilia, was created by Marikken Grønseth and is built around modular, mix-and-match charms in 925 sterling silver. The company has also produced a collaboration line themed around the television series Bridgerton.

Bon Dep has received coverage in Norwegian media and in football business press, largely tied to the Haaland investment. A 2024 NTB press release reported revenue of 97 million NOK in 2023, with roughly 75% of sales coming from exports and distribution reaching over 4,000 retail locations across more than 40 countries [9]. The Football Business Journal reported annual revenue of approximately £7 million and said revenues had roughly doubled following Haaland's involvement, citing his commercial team [11]. A local Oslo profile in Akersposten put the brand's reach at more than 3,500 stores across Europe [10].

Bon Dep AS frames its environmental approach around quality and longevity, stating that a "primary objective" of its product development is "to minimize waste generated by the fashion industry" [4]. The company says it follows the United Nations' ten principles for responsible business, covering human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption, and that its suppliers have signed declarations confirming adherence to those principles along with self-declarations against social dumping.

As of 2026, Bon Dep is an active, growth-phase brand. It launched a Spring/Summer 2026 collection introducing six new Liberty prints, and it continues to distribute across Europe — with markets including Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Benelux countries and France — alongside planned expansion further afield.

One factual point is reported inconsistently across sources. The brand's home base is given as Oslo in the Akersposten profile, which reports directly from the founding family's neighbourhood [10]; a 2024 NTB press release instead lists the headquarters as Stavanger [9]. Norwegian company records associate Bon Dep AS with Oslo, and the discrepancy appears to stem from the Stavanger base of the Øgreid investment company.