'Power has transitioned': Axel Arigato's founders on the importance of listening to customers

Axel Arigato co-founders Albin Johansson and Max Svärdh have worked from the bottom-up, in the literal sense. "The footwear market -- that's where we saw the gap," Svärdh said on the Glossy Podcast. "How can a shoe cost this much? We couldn't understand that," Johansson added. But like many companies that start out with just one kind of product, shoes were just the entry point into a broader slate of products, which now include head-to-toe clothing items and a range of accessories. "This is where we'll create, hopefully, some brand awareness, and then we'll explore with other categories," Svärdh said about the founders' reasoning when launching the brand in 2014. Despite an ongoing pandemic, the Swedish company has opened two new stores in Germany in recent weeks, and has one in Dubai planned for the first quarter of 2021. Last month, private equity firm Eurazeo took a majority stake in the company, to the tune of a $66.1 million (56 million euro) investment. The United States is one massive market it could turn to next. Online sales from the U.S. make up close to 10% of the brand's digital total, Svärdh estimated.