Firm Believers

October 30, 2009 5:23 pm

“What do we love about jeans?” is the question Stockholmers and Tiger of Sweden alums Richard Hutchinson and Axel Nyhage asked themselves when launching The Local Firm in 2007. They found their answer in their teenage memories of acid washes, Levi’s posters tacked up to the wall, and “Sean Penn and Madonna,” as Nyhage put it in between appointments with New York retailers. The Local Firm’s mix of eighties grit and Bauhaus cool proves a winning formula. The Italian-made denim, cut slim in the Swedish style, has a distinctive edge not always seen in the overcrowded denim market—a pair with quilting at the knee especially caught our attention. So did the sharp sunglasses reminiscent of the work of eighties artist Patrick Nagel. (Trivia for those too young to remember the decade: He designed Duran Duran’s iconic Rio album cover.) Come Fall 2010, Hutchinson and Nyhage will put their best foot forward with their first shoe collection. Clearly The Local Firm is running on the express track.