Explaining a brand's surprising historyfrom @designleaks

Transcript

Did you know that Rank Studios didn't start off as a fashion brand? Acne Studios was originally founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996, launched by the now legendary designer Jonny Johansson. Acne was originally a design agency that focused on graphic design, film production, and creative advertising. The name Acne is an acronym that originally stood for ambition to create novel expressions. Johansson once said about the name Acne, the idea of appropriating a difficult word is about making it sound cool. Acne's mission was to push the envelope across many creative fields and to be a cultural beacon for the youth of Sweden. Then in 1997 no launch the fashion arm of Acne, Johnny created 100 pairs of raw denim jeans and handed them out to friends and family and clients as a gift promotion to test the waters of their new idea. The popularity of the jeans gained so much media coverage that it prompted Johannessen and Acne to expand the company into further fashion. Johannesen and Acne leaned on their outlier status in the industry. Instead of placing ad campaigns in other publication, they launched their own publication called Acne Paper. One fun fact about Acne's store's headquarters in Stockholm is that it's actually located in a famous bank that was the site of a robbery in 1973. During the situation, the hostages were taken to the surprise of everyone. The hostages took the defense of the kidnappers and refused to cooperate with police. This leads to the phrase Stockholm Syndrome. So just in case you're curious, the original separate ACME still exists, and you can check it out here at acme.sc.