Keen Phantom collectors might have come across merch labeled Gulbla or Gul & Blå, here is the story about this company and their history with the Phantom.
The first Gul & Blå store opened in central Stockholm of Sweden in 1966 to sell modern jeans to the youth generation that listen to Beatles. With low waists and wide legs it was a hit and the queue to the store was always a block long (at least according to my mom and dad).
The store was divided for men (blue / Blå) and women (Yellow / Gul). Blue and Yellow is also the colors in the Swedish flag. Even though the store and brand was the most sought after for the youth of 1960's and 1970's, when I, myself was a teenager in the 1990's it was not as cool and they closed their doors.
But they did not only sell jeans, they sold other pop cultural things including popular brands such as Mickey Mouse, Superman, Betty Boop, Dick Tracy and of course The Phantom.
Their own brand usually was written as Gulbla, my guess to sound more international. Wikipedi makes mention that there was even a hand painted Phantom in the display window of the store, I have however not found any photos or pictures of it. Has anyone else?
Latest news is that the store will soon reopen in new regime, it will be a brand where celerity designed clothes will be sold, if there will be any Phantom licensed product are still unknown. If they do, we of course will let you know.
Alongside clothes, they also produced non clothing related items like zippo lighters and posters. What is interesting is that we have managed to find a photo of Lee Falk wearing a Gulbla scarf - we believe this photo was taken from a 1993 New York Comic Show.
Here is a sample of some of the products that we have found. If anyone has any that we have not included, please contact us.
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