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In a skatepark in central Copenhagen on Tuesday afternoon, Finnish designer Rolf Ekroth made his catwalk debut, showing a genderless collection that featured boldly printed outerwear, pastel streetwear and flowing, patterned skirts.
While it came off without a hitch, the designer wasn’t confident a couple of weeks before. Speaking to Vogue Business while preparing for the show, he still hadn’t secured the venue. In addition, the brand’s main financiers for this season — who Ekroth can’t name — went bankrupt a few weeks before the show. “It’s never been this hectic and troublesome. It’s the first actual runway show I’m doing, so I’m learning,” he says from his studio in Helsinki. “I’m definitely getting more grey hairs.”
Prior to Spring/Summer 2024, Ekroth couldn’t afford to put on a show, instead focusing on small presentations in Finland. This week, he hopes to win more press attention and introduce his brand to a wider pool of buyers.
Ekroth, who launched his label in 2016, is one of a swathe of fresh names on the Copenhagen Fashion Week schedule since the event launched its New Talent programme last year. The programme offers mentorship, a financial bursary (of an undisclosed amount) and support to stage a show. Ekroth is well positioned to benefit: his gender-free refined take on streetwear — peppered with experimental outerwear, patterned hoodies and intricate knitwear — is gaining a following. His business is still modest in size, with three part-time employees, six stockists and below €100,000 in sales.
Copenhagen Fashion Week has been a springboard for several now-major labels from across Scandinavia, including Ganni, Holzweiler and Saks Potts. But, while a few emerging brands like A Roege Hove have won prizes and scaled, others on the New Talent roster — like Latimmier and PLN — are still yet to win major stockists, partly due to a lack of long-term financing and buyers reducing budgets for emerging designers amid the economic downturn.
Experts have faith in Ekroth’s vision. “Rolf brings a foundation of knowledge, experience and business insight to his brand, which is a unique perspective for emerging designers,” says Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of CPHFW. “Having [put] time and consideration into the slow and steady growth of his brand, Rolf has ensured that his identity is clear and his intentions are driven for the effective expansion of his namesake company which I admire greatly in times of hyper-growth and fluctuating markets.” (He’s also one of very few emerging designers at Copenhagen Fashion Week to have already been reviewed by Vogue Runway.)
Ekroth is currently stocked at smaller concept stores including The Wasted Hour (Germany), Nighthawks (Japan) and 10 Corso Como (South Korea). He has received mentorship from buyers as part of his place on the programme, which is helping him steer a strategy to expand into bigger stores. “They basically all say the same. It takes three, four years at least for bigger stores to buy you,” he says. “I know the realities. Every season we might get one or two smaller stores. But I often lose money on producing because the orders are so small.”
Ekroth currently produces everything in Tallinn and Lithuania, close to Finland. But as he scales he has his eyes set on producing in Asia, too, to meet demand. “At the moment we still sell more in Europe, so we have to produce here and the costs are really big,” he says. The ‘magic number’ is 50 units per product, he adds. “When I get into that I start to see a good margin. If we sell 15 of a product, it leaves me in the red.”
From small beginnings
Ekroth followed a winding path into the industry. After studying psychology and working as a salesman, he became a professional poker player. A fashion enthusiast, he would spend his winnings on clothes. He decided to pursue a career in fashion and attended prestigious Finnish school Aalto, graduating in 2015. During his studies he won accolades including Nordic fashion student award Designer’s Nest and the Galeries Lafayette prize at Hyères in 2016, the latter for his BA collection, which he sold as a capsule at the Parisian retailer. Upon graduating, Ekroth was sponsored by Finnish outerwear company Halti to create a small capsule collection, which was then shown at Pitti Uomo when Finland was the guest nation in 2018.
After Pitti in 2018, Ekroth received a job offer for a major Parisian house. But, just before he signed the contract, he was talent scouted by Finnish sporting label Terinit, to revamp it into a more modern streetwear brand. Ekroth negotiated that, in return for his services on Terinit, the company would invest in his eponymous label. “I had no idea my poker bluff would do that well,” he said. “They gave me a good salary and money to hire a whole team, including my former tutor. So, I called the French house and said, ‘Thank you, no.’”
Transitioning from fashion student to the real world wasn’t easy, he admits. “My biggest mistake was when I started, I had to start two labels and I had less than half a year to do everything. And that meant finding assistants, finding graphic designers, finding factories, manufacturers and all of the fabrics,” he says. “I had no time to sit down and actually think of what I was doing. I don t think I grasped the concept of what it is to have your own label and build your own world around your brand.”
After two and a half seasons with Terinit, the pandemic hit. “Everything went to shit,” Ekroth says. He lost the investors, and is unable to speak further on the matter, for legal reasons. “It wasn’t fun, times were quite tough,” he says.
Luckily, he’d already been in talks with Finnish energy company Fortum, which had developed a new, silk-jersey like fabric out of straw. “They asked me to create a collection using it. So, I grabbed onto that boat to stop the brand from sinking — [Fortum] was a real lifeline.”
Sponsorships from Finnish design or manufacturing companies like Fortum have kept Rolf Ekroth going ever since, the designer says. Most of the time, Ekroth has reached out and pitched to organisations himself, like fabric scissors company Fiskars, which he cold pitched to sponsor his brand two seasons ago. “After I pitched, someone from Fiskars came to visit and then they asked how much I needed,” he said. “I used to be a salesman so I understand how to get people on board.” For this season, he’s relying on the New Talent funding.
Choosing Copenhagen
Copenhagen Fashion Week felt like a natural next step after a poorly attended presentation in Milan before the pandemic (his second season) scared off Ekroth from the “big four” fashion cities.
“It was a real eye-opener that we didn’t have enough money or brand awareness to show there,” he says. “We had a spot between Sunnei and Prada. Maybe 20 people came. I was super embarrassed. But maybe I’d consider Milan [again] when I’m secure enough with our visibility and finances. Paris would be really cool, but I think we’re way too small of a business yet.”
He’s also considering how to build the brand in Finland. The country hasn’t traditionally been a hub for fashion brands, despite Aalto’s prestige. However, that’s all changing now, with the growth of Marimekko and new players like Ekroth and Latimmier. “We definitely have the talent for the designing part here in Finland, but we don t necessarily have the business knowledge and the contacts — and also the money — for fashion that other countries do,” he says.
Based on mentorship advice and learnings from previous seasons, the designer has focused on product over concept for SS24, to make his collection more commercial. Where previous collections have centred on a theme like Finnish Midsummer or childhood, this season wasn’t as preoccupied with a backstory, he says. As he courts bigger stockists, he’s also hoping to secure new investment. “I hope this season gives us enough publicity to show the rest of the world and financiers again that this is something we could actually do. I just need backing now. Because I feel like we re starting to figure out what the label is and develop the commercial pieces.”
He’s confident that SS24 will be fruitful. “Every season has brought me new investors, meetings, sponsorships and opportunities. I don’t remember a season that has ended in nothing. Every season has brought me to a new level and I’m hoping that Copenhagen and doing a live show is a big step forward.”
Key takeaway: Rolf Ekroth’s label has faced multiple challenges over the last seven years, particularly when it comes to financing. However, in approaching and securing sponsors from season to season and accepting that growth can be slow, he’s now reached a new phase with a debut show. The key going forward is to boost brand awareness and secure long-term reliable investment in order to scale.
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