Store Acne Studios

Product range. All Acne items are distinguished by distinct contours, asymmetry, and unisex-style free cuts. The clothing looks demure and is executed in saturated colours of natural beauty and purity: soft palettes of greys, grassy green, bodily pink, yellow ochre, and all shades of the sky.

Originality. Acne epitomizes the so-called Scandi style fashion: deceptively simple asymmetric dresses of elaborated cuts, eye-catching footwear, leather shorts, silk blouses, voluminous jackets and coats, as well as the knitwear that knows no size charts. At Acne they are not afraid of colour statements and explore the whole gamut enthusiastically in their collections, also making a number of printed items with truly unique designs. For example, one of the Acne Studios capsule collections features skirts, baggy pants, and T-shirts with the drawings by an Art Deco illustrator Eduardo García Benito that he made for the covers of Vogue magazine back in 1931.

Chic. Acne is often thought of as a trend spotter: they follow no one, but many try to follow them. According Johnny Johansson, ACNE's co-founder and Creative Director, one has to overcome the default attitude to fashion. That is, instead of being inside the fashion world one has to keep a bit at a distance to be able to make something worthwhile.

Pricing. All but cheap. A pair of iconic jeans will cost you no less than €100; tops, shirts, and sweatshirts are about €150 each, while sweaters are from €200 onwards; outerwear costs more than €400, with the average price for footwear being €300.

Corporate history highlights. Acne Studios was founded in 1996 as part of the creative group ACNE. ACNE stands for Ambition to Create Novel Expression. In 1997, ACNE's co-founder Jonny Johansson made 100 pairs of unisex jeans with red stitching and distributed them free of charge among his friends and family members, thus launching a new fashion business in a somewhat idiosyncratic way.

Acne Paper. Acne Studios avoids lookbooks, advertising campaigns, and other hackneyed marketing tools, publishing instead its biannual Acne Paper magazine that covers the topics of design, fashion, photography, and arts, and only modestly if at all promotes Acne Studios clothing. The content of Acne Paper resembles that of a mood board rather than a usual magalog (a hybrid of a catalogue and a magazine). Acne Paper was recognized by Vogue Paris as a leading magazine for the next generation.

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