The label’s official birthdate is 2015, though the pair set up the company as years earlier as teenagers, selling handmade ties from their hometown of Vallentuna, on the outskirts of Stockholm, where their interest in fashion was mostly considered strange. Amel studied at The Academy for Cutting and Pattern Making in Stockholm; Granath has a BA in economics from Stockholm University. “When we were 12 or 13, Saman was already very articulate that he wanted to do clothes—couture-level women’s—and have a house, like Dior or Balenciaga,” recounts Granath. But while at school, he switched to menswear, and looked to Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren for inspiration.
Around 2012 on trips to Pitti Uomo in Florence, their ties and accessories started to garner attention—and after stints at J Lindeberg and learning everything they could, they began to make their own suits. “It is still Dag and I who own the business,” says Amel, proudly. “We haven’t taken in any external investments. We have tried to keep it super tight, so we can control the narrative, control the product, and not do things too hastily.”
In 2018, to give clients “food for thought” they introduced Curated Looks, which is around 25 styled foundational outfits, and the closest they get to traditional seasons, though these are not sold as ready-to-wear. Think of them more like a library of possibilities, from shape and cut, through fabric and color palette. “It’s a way to let customers imagine versions of these pieces that might work for their wardrobes,” says Amel. Everything starts from fabric—they’re developing their own which is a key part of their long-term strategy. “We are not working in specific drops or thinking about what we need to develop for the next season. We sample things only when we think we have something really worth doing and then that is field tested,” says Amel of the design process. “Sometimes, we don’t have anything new other than fabrics,” Granath adds. “It’s not so much about finding new things that are exciting, but more about identifying what we feel is the best version of something.”