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It’s one of Scandinavia’s biggest brands, but there’s a chance you haven’t heard of Norwegian label Holzweiler. This weekend, the founders hope that’s about to change, as the brand decamps from Copenhagen Fashion Week to show in London, with a 300-seat show in a garden in Kings Cross.
“To boost brand awareness, you need to try new things,” says co-founder Andreas Holzweiler, speaking at a cafe near the brand’s temporary studio in Shoreditch. “We started in Oslo at a very small fashion week and became the biggest show. Then we went to Copenhagen and started from scratch again as the youngest student. Now, we’re sort of in high school in London. Nobody knows us. It’s a new situation but we love being in the challenger position.”
Holzweiler was founded in 2012 by Andreas, his sister Susanne and wife Maria Skappel Holzweiler, the label’s creative director. Known for simple, refined casualwear, outerwear and tailoring, the brand was one of the biggest labels on schedule at Copenhagen Fashion Week. It’s a premium label, with prices ranging from £90 for a T-shirt up to £1,125 for a coat.
However, while Holzweiler has a loyal following in Scandinavia, it’s not yet reached the same international status as Scandi players like Acne Studios or Ganni. In 2021, Holzweiler announced an undisclosed majority stake investment from Chinese firm Sequoia Capital, to aid its international expansion. (Sequoia also invests in labels including Ami and We11done).
This London show is “central to the globalisation strategy” post-investment, Andreas says, with brand awareness as the most important goal. After investment in 2021, Holzweiler envisaged 60 per cent growth from 2021-2022. But that was before the economic downturn brought new challenges for fashion labels, slowing growth. Its revenues in Norway grew 21 per cent in 2022, to €2.7 million.
Despite the challenging economic climate, it’s crucial to invest in marketing now, Andreas says, so when conditions improve, Holzweiler is well placed. Already, the London show has attracted a more senior press and buyers than previous shows in Copenhagen, says chief marketing officer Victoria Meekings: “While Copenhagen is definitely growing, it’s always an advantage to be part of the ‘big four’,” she adds.
Galeries Lafayette began stocking Holzweiler for Autumn/Winter 2022. The first two seasons were “so-so” in terms of sell-through, says buyer Léa Maran, because of a lack of brand awareness in France. “The London show will raise brand awareness and give more visibility to the brand which is precisely what’s lacking at the moment,” she says.
The brand has worked extensively with a swathe of high-profile, London-based creatives since the Sequoia investment, including movement director Yagamoto and stylist Fran Burns, who help bring an international sensibility to the Scandi label. “They have their crowd and their influence,” Maria says. “And, getting input from other places is so important for us going forward,” Susanne adds.
Like many Scandi labels, Holzweiler’s shows have typically erred on the side of wearable and commercial. For this season, for the first time, the brand has also worked on eye-catching pieces that will up the artistry and craftsmanship, using new fabrics like patchworked silk. They won’t be just for show, either — the team will produce them. “We need commercial pieces, but we also need more mind-blowing pieces, something to bring attention to the brand ” Maria says. London Fashion Week is later than Copenhagen, which gave the team the time to develop more intricate looks and prime suppliers to produce them, she adds. “It will be very exciting to see how these pieces actually work in stores. I believe it will be really good for the brand to have more fashion items.”
Producing the showpieces is one thing, but getting them into the UK has proven difficult, Maria adds. “Brexit has been the biggest challenge,” says Maria. “My technical team that’s supposed to sew showpieces have just been working with logistics to help get the clothes into the country.”
Retail expansion and long term gain
Sequoia has also helped Holzweiler expand its internal teams internationally, while providing guidance on scaling. “With Sequoia, it’s a strategic partnership, rather than just Excel spreadsheets,” Andreas says. Holzweiler already had six bricks-and-mortar stores in Norway and international presence via stockists including Net-a-Porter, Browns, Ssense, Selfridges, Neiman Marcus and Galeries Lafayette China. The brand is now focusing on monobrand stores. It opened a Copenhagen flagship in January this year, followed by a flagship in Chengdu, China, in July. Further openings in Shanghai and Beijing are slated by the end of the year, and the brand now has an 11-strong team in China and a 20-strong team in London, alongside its central Oslo HQ.
The US is another target market, and for now the brand hopes to boost its wholesale footprint. To build brand awareness across the pond, Holzweiler held an event in New York’s Hotel Chelsea last December, to celebrate a collaboration with A$AP Nast, attended by New York names including photographer Quil Lemons and photographer Richie Shazam. It’s these types of activations and retail investments that provide long-term growth in a market, Andreas says, that aren’t possible when working as an independent label.
“With funding, you’re able to make a lot of investments in advance and expect results at a later stage,” he says. “In a family-funded business, each dollar spent needs to give results almost straight away.” While they are patient for results, the London show is a test-and-learn, the founders agree. They aren’t committing to showing every season. But they do feel strongly about switching things up. “We want to create these different events that are landmarks in our path,” Andreas says. “We don’t like the comfortable spot,” adds Maria. “Once we feel comfortable, we tend to do something new.”
Correction: The 2022 revenue figure was for Norway only, and is in euros not dollars. Victoria Meekings is chief marketing officer. (17/09/23)
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