Jeanerica's co-founders Lena Patriksson Keller and Jonas Clason on the brand's elevated new seasonal denim programme
Though its roots lie in America, Swedes have a certain affinity for denim. Following in the footsteps of its predecessors – Nudie, Cheap Monday, Acne Studios – Jeanerica takes a decidedly obsessive approach to jeans. “I think it has a lot to do with utility – being practical,” says Lena Patriksson Keller, who co-founded the brand in 2018, when I ask why Swedes have such an inextricable relationship with denim. “We’re very practical.” Her co-founder, Jonas Clason adds, “The American way of living has also been quite present in Sweden for a long time.”
We’re sitting in the new-ish Jeanerica showroom in Vasastan surrounded by racks upon racks of jeans in various fits and washes. Hanging on a partition in the centre of the room is the brand’s forthcoming Atelier collection, a tightly edited collection of jeans, denim jackets and skirts launching December 12th. “We were looking at the old luxury houses and we got inspired by how they work with production and craftmanship,” says Patriksson Keller. Releasing seasonally, the Atelier programme will see Jeanerica experimenting with more decadent fabrics and techniques – not to mention collaborations – within denim.
This first collection elevates denim from an everyday staple to something special – the sort of pieces one would expect from a house in Paris or Milan. “We wanted something to happen with the fabric,” says Patriksson Keller. “It feels like an ocean or something.”
Clason hands me a swatch of the fabric to examine. The various threads weave together to form a sort of denim mosaic. “We construct a mix of cottons and threads that are dyed different weights or thickness of the threads. Plus, it’s over-dyed on top,” he says. “It’s quite complicated.” Each piece is handmade in a small studio in Portugal.
It’s unsurprising that Clason and Patriksson Keller would be responsible for Sweden’s next major denim player. The former co-founded Whyred before leading the denim program at Acne Studios, honing his expertise with the fabric, and Patriksson Keller is responsible for Stockholm’s influential communication and brand house, Patriksson Communication, whose clients include Louis Vuitton and Cartier. Together they can both create an extraordinary product and market it.
Still, in this case, the marketing is the product (which, by the way, is underscored by an unwavering commitment to sustainability through its fabrics and dying processes). The Atelier project aside, Jeanerica jeans don’t have many bells and whistles. I ask the duo if they can always spot them in the wild. “Yeah, usually I know. You see it in the fabric and the cut,” Clason says, adding that they have the classic brand patch on the back – a clear indication if the wearer’s shirt is tucked in.
These are the sort of jeans one simply has to wear to love. Is their intention to be as ubiquitous as Levis? Clason smiles and says, “At least”.