THE REPORT

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Orange is the new black? Ermmm no, BLK DNM is the new black. From the man who brought us J Lindeberg, BLK DNM is Johan Lindeberg‘s New York inspired brand which is far from the soft tailoring and golf attire we’re used to. I’ve been saying it for months, the brands coming out of Scandinavia are the ones to watch right now and sure enough it’s been a great year for them with that simplistic and clean cut nordic style becoming increasingly popular. We already house a handful of brands who hail from the northern reaches of Europe, with Swims in Norway, J Lindeberg, Nudie Jeans and Tiger of Sweden all from…Sweden (funny that), along with our new addition Sandqvist luggage. J Lindeberg has been a favourite of ours for years, possibly due to the amount of golf enthusiasts we have in the office, but mainly because of it’s easy style and quality designs that seem to attract all ages and styles. So we were all pretty excited  when we heard that the founder’s new brand BLK DNM would be coming to our doors…

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Johan Lindeberg has been making waves in the fashion industry for years, working as the head of marketing for 20 years for American brand giant Diesel was just part of his amazing career. In between all this he also worked with pop icon Justin Timberlake on both his personal denim line and as his stylist. After living and breathing denim for years, both at Diesel and William Rast, Lindeberg went back home to Sweden and created his namesake label, J Lindeberg. But now years later he’s reverted back to his old favourite – “Jeans has always been a symbol of freedom to me”. After years of to-ing and fro-ing between the states and Europe, calling Milan, Stockholm, London and LA all home, the Swedish born designer decided to settle in NYC where he aims to stay forever.In 2010 he started creating BLK DNM, despite the name it’s more than just pieces of black denim…it was a range which he channelled all his energy into after his separation from his wife of 15 years, making it a very personal and emotional project for him. He says the brand is ‘a manifest of my personal background, and my entire career’. Within the collections you’ll see aspects of Diesel denim, the American lifestyle he saw when styling JT and the soft tailoring from his home label. Lindeberg has created this brand under the unconventional concept of bypassing seasonal collections and extravagant fashion shows, updating only it’s key pieces as and when they want to.

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The brand is his depiction of the downtown New York style, the attitude and colour palette are all in reference to his home city. Lindeberg states that his source of inspiration came from his childhood growing up in the small University town of Lund, where political activism was prominent and the uniform for it was denim….The brand is unique in the way that at it’s core it’s all about denim, however there’s the classic combinations of leather and tailoring to sit alongside it, pieces which are not effected by trends and that stay in their perfect state. BLK DNM is also quite hard to come by as it’s not sold in any old department store, with an urge to stay off the commercial retail route, it’s mainly found in select fashion boutiques around the world. We’re very proud to be representing this brand and it’s an honour to stock it in our stores across the south west. At the moment we’re loving the BLK DNM leather jacket 5 which we’ve seen on the likes of Kanye West and Motorhead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, it’s been added to the growing wish list of SS14. This jacket is a key piece from BLK DNM and has even been adapted for the women’s collection, I’ve always believed that everyone should own one stunning leather jacket and this is it. Expect more from the collection in the coming weeks with jackets and jeans arriving soon, it’s going to be an important collection to keep your eye on….

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