Favorite Fashion Brand
Acne Studios
Acne is an acronym of Ambition to create novel expressions. Acne Studios is a high-end Swedish brand, spreading Scandinavian style around the globe. In 1997, CO founder of Acne Studios, Jonny Johansson, stitched 100 pairs of raw denim jeans with red stitching and gave them to friends and family. From this, Acne Studios flourished from the mother brand Acne. Later, in New York City in 2012, Acne Studios opened its first flagship store. According to The Business of Fashion, Acne Studios currently generates over €200 million a year as of 2018.
Who is Acne Studio’s target market? Being on the higher end of the price range, the brand is aimed at the middle to the upper class. A minimal and toned-down pallet combined with unique and abstract shapes attracts a chic client with a creative eye.
When discussing the influence of a multi-million-dollar fashion brand like Acne, it is crucial to consider the brands’ contribution to the consumption of our planet’s natural resources. Acne Studios claims that its main responsibility is to “create desirable items that consumers value and can enjoy for a long time.” Acne developed a set of objectives that aim to direct the manufacturing sector of the brand towards a more sustainable future. The sustainability ambition is divided into key areas: products, suppliers, and operations. ‘Products’ refers to selecting high-quality materials to produce garments for long-term usage. In terms of ‘suppliers and operations,’ Acne Studios is a member of the organization Fair Wear Foundation (FWF). FWF’s role is to monitor and improve labor conditions at the factories where Acne products are made. It is important, however, to note that Acne Studios uses vague language in its mission statement and is far from providing full transparency. This could be improved if Acne included statistics to support any progress made.
Acne Studios has estimated web sales of $25M-$50M. The brand competes with companies in the same price bracket like Eytys as well as brands that sell similar or complementary products like Eytys and H&M. Beyond the financial profit, what is the ‘why’ of the existence of Acne Studios? The Acne brand expects to communicate values such as high fashion, individuality and innovative style (Andersson & Robertson, 2008).
Sources:
The Business of Fashion. (n.d.). Jonny Johansson is part of the BoF 500. [online] Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/jonny-johansson.
Highsnobiety. (n.d.). Acne Studios: What to Know About the Fashion Brand. [online] Available at: https://www.highsnobiety.com/tag/acne-studios/.
Acne Studios. (2019). www.acnestudios.com. [online] Available at: https://www.acnestudios.com/uk/en/about/csr.html.
Andersson, H. and Robertson, F. (2008). Acne Jeans and Brand Associations : -A Study of the Coherency Between the Brand Identity and the Brand Image. undefined. [online] Available at: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Acne-Jeans-and-Brand-Associations-%3A-A-Study-of-the-Andersson-Robertson/fd2e70d69829b6e8b3800f3aa3d2db21949e3a1d [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].
Behance (n.d.). Acne Studios Ad Campaign. [online] Behance. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/36725373/Acne-Studios-Ad-Campaign [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].