. Despite all this, the designer found himself searching high and low for good quality, mid-priced everyday garments with clean lines that are responsibly produced in small quantities—clothes, in essence, that reflect what he calls a “new Scandinavian vision,” and which avoid the usual shortcomings of a cumbersome and sometimes old-fashioned system.Photo: Kevin Sinclair / Courtesy of Melbostad
Born outside of Oslo, he studied fashion in the Norwegian capital before leaving to get a Masters from the Royal College of Art in London. Back then he wanted to escape what he felt was a conformist culture; today he finds the city more cosmopolitan. But also, the more global the world gets, the more attractive the local becomes.
This isn’t the first time Melbostad has built a brand from the ground up; he did so in the 2000s with Phi, which was backed by Susan Dell, in one of the first Silicon Valley meets Seventh Avenue ventures. In the past, the designer says, he “never questioned the system.” But that’s not the case with this new, self-funded label.