Twenty-year-old Swedish Acne Studios has launched their first denim concept store in Shibuya, Tokyo on April 6th. The new store is called Blå Konst (which translates to 'Blue Art') and introduces Acne's new denim collection which also dropped worldwide simultaneously. This collection features six jean styles and a few other denim pieces, however, it is only half the product assortment the company usually produces. As a substantial part of their turnover, this is a huge risk.
The next day, Acne's chief executive officer Mattias Magnusson went to Hong Kong to open the brand's second store and can be found on Ice House Street. Magnusson headed to Beijing on April 9th where he unveiled the brand's first presence in the Chinese capital.
“People have been telling us for a long time, ‘You need to have a much bigger presence in China and in Hong Kong',” Magnusson said. “While we found them really interesting markets, we also found that China in particular is a very complex one with many layers and dimensions to it that we didn’t really understand. We have the greatest respect for doing business in China so we took it very slow until we felt ready to do it.”
These new stores expand the brand's reach to 50 stores globally. Acne Studios is looking to open another store in Milan during men's fashion week in June, and then San Francisco. Long-term, he believes Acne Studios could have up to ten stores in China alone. Magnusson added that he didn't want to overdo the number of units. “There’s so much push for ‘new’ in this climate. Today everything is going so fast they’re just doing more and more and more.”
