Today, Axel Arigato competes in a crowded menswear market that includes luxury players such as Palm Angels, owned by New Guards Group, and Ami Paris; mass brands like J Crew, whose menswear offering is led by streetwear veteran Brendon Babenzien; and buzzy upstarts including Fear of God and Represent. But its unique approach to community building may help set it apart.
The goal, according to Johansson and Svärdh, is to build a global lifestyle platform that caters to the many who discover and engage with the brand in their own way, rather than a select elite few. The challenge will be retaining this as the company scales. With that in mind, the founders say the focus is on remaining agile and culturally relevant.
Post-funding expansion
Axel Arigato counts over 250 employees globally, with 150 based between its head offices in Gothenburg and London. To house its growing team, the brand recently moved its operations from a small central London location into The Drill Hall, a historical building previously serving as a base for the Medical Corps.
The sprawling space, which brings its creative, brand, marketing and design teams under one roof, has been vital for its expansion, says Svärdh. “It has enabled us to recruit talent that can be challenging [to find] in Sweden.” Johansson nods in agreement, adding that: “Before, one person might have three to five different roles, and now three to five people have the same role.”
Having a fully fledged team has helped to propel the business forward, says Johansson. However, he acknowledges: “Something that we’ve been great at in the past is speed. The larger you become, the slower you may also get, so maintaining that agile capability will be key for the next decade.” That doesn’t mean churning out lots of new SKUs, he quickly adds. “Our products still need to have purpose. There’s been a new curveball every year, whether it’s Covid and people aren’t going out, or inflation and people have less money to spend. We’ve had thousands of crises but we’ve been able to adapt to the situations we’ve been in.”
