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Launched by influencers and twins Amalie and Cecilie Moosgaard in 2021, jewellery brand Lié Studio has built a global business in three years. Known for its classic, sculptural matching earrings, bracelets and necklaces in silver and gold, that retail up to €600, the brand has attracted over 100 stockists, built a budding direct-to-consumer (DTC) business and soon, will open its first store.
The Moosgaards found fame in 2015, when they were cast in the Prada Spring/Summer 2016 show aged 16, and named “the Prada twins” by The New York Times. The duo have walked for Valentino, Vera Wang and most recently Gucci (naturally, in Gucci’s SS23 ‘twins’ show).
“We always wanted to create something of our own,” says Amalie. “Being in the modelling industry, you’re just a mannequin in the end. We didn’t want to just be a part of the designer’s vision.”
Each sister has almost 500,000 Instagram followers, who flock to their pages for minimalist, Scandi-style ‘outfit of the day’ content. A third of all Lié Studio site traffic comes directly from Amalie and Cecilie’s Instagram and Pinterest pages.
Lié Studio’s revenue tripled to €2.5 million in 2023, and projections see it doubling this fiscal year to €5 million. The brand is launching leather goods at the end of the month, based on this growth, and will open its first flagship store in Copenhagen on 7 June, while trying to graduate from its influencer-brand beginnings to being a fully fledged fashion house with staying power.
Social media as a springboard
When they started out, the twins’ social media posts catapulted the brand. “We were lucky from the get-go because we were reaching globally from day one, our sales were so directly intertwined with where each of our followers were,” says Cecilie. Lié Studio’s biggest market is the US, followed by their native Denmark, the UK, Germany and Sweden.
“We’d worked with so many other brands before we launched Lié Studio. And while they would say, ‘Wow we sold so many jackets after you wore it,’ we didn’t realise the impact until we saw it for ourselves,” says Cecilie.
The Moosgaards co-founded the company along with their business partners Jannick and Martin Lyneborg-Lindberg, founders of Brand Institute, which houses several brands including cosmetics label Woods Copenhagen and creative agency Hood. They built a small, close-knit team including their current brand director, Ulrikke Louise Lahn Høyer, plus a couple of designers and someone to help with social media. They designed 10 core products, including necklaces and earrings, which remain bestsellers today.
Unlike many of Scandinavia’s brand success stories, which relied on fashion calendars and wholesale relationships to gain momentum, Lié has prioritised its own channels. The brand’s sales are 50 per cent DTC, allowing it to build a strong connection with its community; wholesale came only after retailers showed interest, the founders say.
Lié Studio is now stocked at Net-a-Porter (where the brand released an exclusive capsule last month), Harvey Nichols, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Moda Operandi and more. This has helped the brand reach new audiences, too. In Australia, the brand is seeing DTC revenues rise after launching in local department store Mode Sportif.
“Lié Studio focuses on modern-yet-timeless jewellery that reflects the busy woman’s everyday uniform, which perfectly aligns to our customer’s wants,” says Net-a-Porter market director Libby Page. “Despite the quality of materials used and the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into creating the luxury aesthetic of the brand, the price points remain aspirational.” The sisters use their personal uniforms as a source of inspiration for the brand’s future collections, she adds, meaning that each small drop is centred on the label’s strong visual identity.
Relying on experts when testing new ground
While the growth is encouraging, building such a global consumer base so quickly posed a challenge when it came to logistics and shipping. “We went very naively into it,” says Amalie. “It’s been a steep learning curve and we relied on our team who had experience in areas we didn’t, like shipping or production.” Lié Studio produces between 80 and 90 per cent of its jewellery in Thailand, at a factory that the brand’s technical jewellery designer has had a relationship with for a decade.
Now, the brand is embarking on leather goods, another timeless category that fits their ambition to build a classic wardrobe and “make getting dressed easier”, says Cecilie.
For its leather goods launch, the Moosgaards tested a few suppliers in Asia, but eventually found their current leather suppliers in Italy, and manufacturers in Portugal — at a factory fittingly owned by two sisters. The offering will include a tote, a clutch and a wallet, inspired by some of the luxury handbags the twins were gifted in their modelling days, that have stood the test of time.
“Leather is a very different category to jewellery. We learnt that the hard way,” says Amalie. “We tried some suppliers in Asia but we needed clearer communication. I think what we’ve learnt in this process is that being able to easily fly down to your factory and have an actual connection with the people who are producing your stuff makes a huge difference.” The bags are available to pre-order, and already, the brand is seeing a strong appetite. The sisters have been carrying various styles on their Instagrams for weeks to drum up demand.
Another focus is the new Lié Studio store, on street Vognmagergade 9 in the centre of Copenhagen, just next door to buzzy homeware label Tekla. Lié Studio held a pop-up in the city last summer during fashion week, to test the demand for a bricks-and-mortar location. Footfall was strong, so they took the leap. “It’s been challenging getting a permit from the city council, all those things. But it’s worth it. We’ve never had this physical appearance and a physical aesthetic,” Cecilie adds. She jokes that the sisters’ boyfriends have likened the inside of the store to their respective homes. But that’s the point, she stresses, “It’s meaningful that we have brought the feel of our homes to the store. It has to be a true extension of Amalie and I.”
The store won’t look like a classic retail space, and the duo have avoided heavy casing or spotlights on the jewellery. Instead, it’s set up for hosting buying appointments, press events and client activations. “We want our customers to feel comfortable, get a coffee, sit on the couch, wait around, try on some jewellery with the help from our team and just feel at home,” Amalie says. The duo are hoping that international fans will stop by as a pit stop when visiting Copenhagen, too.
While a lot of Lié Studio’s DTC revenue comes from the Moosgaards’ socials, the goal is not to be a typical influencer brand. “We might be influencers, but what you normally see with an influencer brand is that you push sales, make it and it rises. And then in two or three years it doesn’t [resonate] any more.”
Scaling wholesale is helping them prove appetite for their product outside of their own followers. “In Bergdorf Goodman, I don’t think people know Amalie and I, they know Lié Studio, and I think it’s been so rewarding for us to know that the brand can stand alone,” Cecilie says. The twins are also appearing less and less in the brand’s visual materials, focusing the content on busy working women, working nine to five in the city. “None of our campaigns are focused on images of jewels on bare skin,” Cecilie says. “It’s always about the full outfit and their full identity.”
Looking ahead, the plan is to continue building a wardrobe for this woman. “We’re not trying to do something insane or crazy or pushing something. We’re really just sticking to our gut feeling,” says Cecilie. “That’s what’s resonated with a lot of people so far.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
Update: The story was updated to include that Lié Studio was co-founded by business partners Jannick and Martin Lyneborg-Lindberg.
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