Our Legacy CEO Talks Betting on China and Its Biggest Store Yet

Reported by Vogue.

There's a specific kind of cool that doesn't travel well — too tied to its city, its subculture, its particular shade of post-industrial grey. Our Legacy has spent twenty years proving that Swedish cool is the exception. And now, the Stockholm label is making its most confident move yet: a flagship store in Shanghai, its largest anywhere in the world at over 300 square meters.

The brand — founded by Jokum Hallin and Cristopher Nying in 2005, with CEO Richardos Klarén joining shortly after — isn't arriving in China cold. According to Vogue, Our Legacy first entered the market through 10 Corso Como Shanghai in 2015, then doubled down starting in 2018 with placements at SKP, Lane Crawford, I.T, and Assemble. That groundwork paid off: China now accounts for roughly 13% of the brand's global revenue, which crossed $50 million in 2025, with regional sales growing around 25% annually. "That was an important turning point for us," Klarén says of the 2018 shift. For the new flagship, Our Legacy is partnering with Dongliang — the pioneering Chinese multi-brand retailer with 15 locations nationwide — as a franchise operational partner. Smart move. Local expertise matters more than bravado when you're navigating a market that has humbled far larger houses.

The Store, The Street, The Customer

The Shanghai space sits in the Former French Concession, inside a Spanish villa — which sounds jarring until you step inside and find co-founder Nying's austere industrial interiors referencing Swedish civic architecture, ceramics by American artist Kris Ruhs, and an upper floor designed to evoke a construction site. It's precisely the kind of deliberate weirdness that the brand's cult following expects. Dongliang co-founder Daniel Du notes that younger Shanghai shoppers are actively moving away from mall culture: "They want to experience life and culture on the street." The Former French Concession, with its tree-lined blocks and pre-war European buildings, is where that demographic already congregates. The store also integrates Our Legacy's Work Shop arm — a circular upcycling platform launched in 2016 — which signals something beyond pure retail.

What's driving the brand's resonance in China specifically? Partly timing, partly positioning. While major luxury houses have struggled with softening demand and logo fatigue, Our Legacy's quieter aesthetic is gaining ground. "People are appreciating our brand to a higher degree as logos become less popular," Klarén says. Dongliang's Charles Wang adds that Chinese consumers bracket the label alongside The Row and Lemaire — aspirational company, given Our Legacy's comparatively accessible price range (jeans around €300, leather jackets at €1,700). Womenswear already represents 35% of Chinese sales, well above the brand's global average — a number Klarén says will only grow. Backed by a minority investment from LVMH's Luxury Ventures Fund in 2024, the label is clearly in transition: from beloved Scandinavian cult label to something with genuinely global weight.

Klarén is careful not to overcorrect. More stores are planned — Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen are on the table — but the pace will stay measured. "It's like an indie rock band," he says. "If you start to compromise with your design or try to get too many people at the same time, maybe it's not gonna work." The brands that survive their own success are always the ones that knew when to slow down.

Our Legacy's China play is a masterclass in patient expansion — proof that building cultural credibility before chasing scale is still the only growth strategy worth having.

Read the original at Vogue.