MWB-ONLINE.CO.UK JANUARY2017 | INTERVIEW | 22
INTERVIEW
ALBIN JOHANSSON The Axel Arigato brand launched online in July 2014. A little over two years later, after a phenomenal response driven largely by a major social media push – and a growing following for its desirable sneakers – it opened its first shop in London’s Soho, at 19-23 Broadwick Street. Co-founder and CEO Albin Johansson tells Tom Bottomley the secret behind its rapid success. —
Tom Bottomley: Where does the Axel Arigato name come from? Albin Johansson: Axel is the Swedish term for ‘axis’. The globe is turning on its own axis and that’s pretty much the same with our brand. Arigato means ‘thank you’ in Japanese. We take a lot of inspiration from Japan. In the past 15-20 years Sweden and Denmark in particular have been famous for the minimalist look, but the way we see it, minimalism has existed in Japan for centuries. You see it everywhere, in their architecture, fashion and in their whole society. Hence we are saying ‘thank you’ in this way with our brand name. — TB: Who owns the brand? AJ: I am one of two owners, my partner being Max Svärdh, who is also the creative director who designs all the shoes and lays the guidelines for the brand. I am more on the business building and strategy side. That’s where my experience and background derive from. We’d never worked together before this, but we were friends. We had both been working with e-commerce and fashion, so there was a common thread. — TB: What made you decide to launch your own brand and why footwear? AJ: We had always liked footwear a lot and, since working in e-commerce on the fashion side,
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO AXEL ARIGATO