About us

PALKAN is a premium sustainable casualwear brand founded on three core principles:
Feel, Quality and Inspire.

  • Feel

    You can look good and be comfortable.

  • Quality

    Designed and made in England from the best materials.

  • Inspire

    Helping you to become your best self.

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The story of the Palkan

When I was about 8 or 9 years old I was feeling a bit crap - down, lonely, just generally not great. My dad noticed and sat me down on his lap and started to tell me a story.

He told me about the time when he was young that he felt the same way. One day he went on a trip to the coast and was walking along the beach. It was a cold and miserable day and it looked like it was about to rain at any moment.

As he walked along the shore, he noticed a large, flat white stone that had washed up and was partially covered by the sand. He picked up the stone, which promptly introduced itself to him as a palkan. A little surprised, my dad said hello back. The palkan told him that it was glad he had found it, and that it wanted to take my dad on an adventure.

My dad, of course, said yes and off they went. On their adventure they met some new friends, played on the beach, went fossil hunting, and my dad even told the palkan all about his favourite books and his model planes.

At the end of the day my dad went back to his holiday cottage and placed the palkan on the table next to his bed and thanked it for such an awesome day. When he woke up in the morning it was gone, but my dad had a feeling that rather than being lost, it had gone back to the sea to wash up on another beach for the next young child who needed it.

Fast forward a few years and we went to the seaside on a short family trip. While walking along the beach myself, you'll never guess what I found, poking just a little out of the sand. A palkan! I was so excited, I picked it up, told it my name and set off on my own adventure that day.

Looking back now, at age 35, and nearly two years on from losing my dad to cancer, I realised what a palkan actually is. It wasn't the palkan that set off on the adventure that day, it was me. The palkan just gave me the nudge I needed to find my foundation. My center of gravity. It helped me to help myself, and taking part in your own recovery is the first step to becoming your best self.

Was the palkan just a crutch? A placebo? Maybe. But when the chips are down, take all the help that comes your way. And sometimes, you'll find it in the most unlikely of places.

Whatever you're going through, I hope you too can find your PALKAN.

Chris Bennett
Founder

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Meet the founder

Hi! I'm Chris and I founded PALKAN in late 2022. The brand name is taken from a story my old man told me when I was little and, when he lost his battle with cancer in 2021, I wanted to start something positive that connected me to his memory.

The core story of a palkan being an 'artifact' to help someone find that spark of strength in themselves was born into reality when I needed to find my own strength dealing with grief.

I hope that you can find something in PALKAN that helps you to become your best self.