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Acne Studios CEO on the journey to becoming a €500 million brand

Ahead of its show at Palais de Tokyo — which marks its 10th year of showing during Paris Fashion Week — Vogue Business speaks to the Swedish brand’s CEO Mattias Magnusson.
Acne Studios CEO on the journey to becoming a €500 million brand
Photo: Peter White/Getty Images

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Acne Studios, the high-end Swedish brand known for its wearable Scandi-cool clothes and millennial pink packaging, is celebrating a decade on the Paris fashion calendar.

The brand, which initially stood out on a Paris schedule filled with couturier names, quickly became a fashion week staple thanks to its creative clothes and conceptual shows. Its latest show and after party at the Palais de Tokyo on 28 September comes at a time of expansion. It is pushing further into North America, growing its handbag offer, and “turning up the volume” with stores in more prominent locations.

Acne Studios was founded in Stockholm in 1996 by creative director Jonny Johansson and executive chairman Mikael Schiller as a creative collective with a multidisciplinary approach, involving music, film, photography and fashion (Acne is the acronym for Ambition to Create Novel Expressions).

The founders sold a 41 per cent minority stake to Chinese private equity firm IDG Capital and retailer IT Group in 2018, but Johansson and Schiller retain control. CEO Mattias Magnusson, who joined the company in 2004 straight from university and became CEO in 2010, says Acne can “dare to be progressive in a world of still quite traditional fashion houses”, partly because it is independently owned. “It's easier for us to push the boundaries in general.”

“We're very fortunate to have long-term owners who really allow us to reach the full potential of this brand, both creatively and in terms of growth,” he adds.

To become a Paris staple is no mean feat. Benjamin Simmenauer, professor at Institut Français de la Mode, says there’s a tendency to see Acne Studios as a “clean, minimalist, functionalist” brand, “but there's more to it. It’s very creative, with powerful, conceptual shows.”

“I still remember the first show in Paris [in 2012 at Palais Galliera]. It was a good show but it was very chaotic,” Magnusson recalls. “Coming from Sweden where there is no real high fashion heritage, it was a bit of a shock to start showing in Paris. But it was very good for us. We had to learn really fast. Paris is just another level.”

Looks from Acne Studios’s AW13, AW15, SS16, AW18, SS21 and AW21 collections.

Photo: Courtesy of Acne Studios

Growth drivers: North America, handbags

Now, Acne Studios is poised for growth. It is banking on traction in the US, growth in demand for its handbags, new stores and a renewed marketing push to help it increase sales by around 11 per cent to €300 million in 2022, up from €270 million in 2021. Up next is €500 million: “There is a stronger correlation these days between scale and relevance, so we also have an ambitious growth agenda and we really want to show people what we're doing. So, I would say next up is €500 million in turnover, in a not too distant future.”

Like many brands, it is looking to capitalise on strong demand for luxury in North America by pushing further in the region. “North America is on fire,” says Magnusson. “That is geographically the clearest growth driver at the moment.”

The brand recently renovated its flagship store in New York, opened a store in Toronto and is going to open in Miami next year. “Toronto, we feel a strong relationship with as the climate is similar to Sweden. Miami is very exciting as it’s such a cultural hub.” North America represents roughly 20 per cent of the sales, while Asia and Europe account for 40 per cent each, according to the brand.

Half of its Asian business comes from China and the rest from other countries. “In China, the situation has been a bit particular in the past six months,” says Magnusson. “Up until that, the business was growing very strongly. And now in the past six months, it's been a bit patchy with lockdowns. I think once the pandemic is under control, there will be a great appetite for creativity in China.” The next store is slated to open in Singapore in December. (Acne has around 70 stores worldwide.)

On whether having Chinese investors has helped Acne Studios in this market, he says: “​​It's so nice to have people on the ground when you're moving into different geographical territories.”

AW13, AW15, AW17 and SS18 Acne Studios campaigns.

Photo: Courtesy of Acne Studios

Handbags currently represent just under 10 per cent of the business but is “by far” the fastest-growing category. “I think it can become a lot bigger. We are relatively new to accessories in the eyes of the clients,” says Magnusson. Outerwear, scarves and denim are also strong categories. “A lot of people are rediscovering our denim, which is fun because that's back to the origins of the brand,” adds Magnusson.

Womenswear represents the lion’s share of the business (around 60 per cent) but menswear is growing slightly faster, according to Magnusson. “What's most interesting is that that (gender) division is less and less relevant to our clients. So there's much more cross shopping today across the different collections. I think mostly our clients recognise good design and they care less how it's labelled.”

Brands including Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Isabel Marant have integrated resale into their business model. Is it on the agenda for Acne? “It's very important for us that we create desirable items that people want to live with for a long time and therefore dictate a high secondhand value. Whether we should be selling them ourselves or not. We haven't fully concluded yet,” says Magnusson.

Underpinning its category and geographical expansion will be a concerted effort to make the brand more visible.

“When you grow up in Sweden, you're told not to stand out, and I think in a way we have carried some of that Swedish heritage,” explains Magnusson. “We are really proud of what we do and we want more people to see it, so we will be turning up the volume going forward.”

This will start with more stores in more prominent locations. The brand opened a new flagship store on Paris’s rue Saint Honoré in June. “I told a friend after the Saint Honoré store opening, maybe we will stop hiding the stores from now on.” (Acne Studios closed a smaller store on Quai Voltaire.)

Campaign for the Acne Studios pink Musubi handbag.

Photo: Courtesy of Acne Studios

Then, there are the ad campaigns. Acne Studios has a history of bold advertising: back in 2015, Johansson featured his 12-year-old son Frasse in women’s clothes in a campaign, as he sensed a move towards gender fluidity. Acne Studios’s current campaign features a naked man with its new Musubi handbag. “We put the billboard on the facade of our head office here in Stockholm and we had a lot of concerned neighbours but then it calmed down,” says Magnusson.

There’s also the relaunch last year of the iconic Acne Paper, whose format is between a book and a magazine. The second issue since the relaunch is slated to come out in November.

From pushing the boundaries with gender in ad campaigns to the creativity of its clothes, Acne Studios is aiming to become the “most inspiring and progressive fashion house”, says Magnusson. “That’s a big undertaking.”

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