Acne Studios is part of the creative collective Acne (Ambition to Create Novel Expression) which was founded in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden in 1996. In 1997, co-founder Jonny Johansson created one hundred pairs of jeans in raw denim with red stitching and gave them away to friends and family in Stockholm. This became the foundation of the clothing branch of Acne, now known as Acne Studios. Acne Studios designs, markets and distributes fashion apparel and jeans worldwide.

Acne Paper

Acne Studios does not advertise or market itself through traditional and/or visual fashion campaigns or communication channels. Instead, the label markets itself through its publishing arm, bi-annual magazine Acne Paper

Acne Paper

Founded in 2005, Acne Paper is a bi-annual culture magazine and the publishing arm of the Stockholm-based creative collective and fashion label Acne ....

. Acne Paper covers the disciplines of art, fashion, photography, design, architecture, academia and culture. Each issue is based around a theme that is interpreted by selected contributors from their field of expertise. Contributors to Acne Paper have included Carine Roitfeld

Carine Roitfeld

Carine Roitfeld was the Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue from 2001 to January 21, 2011. A former fashion model and writer, she announced her resignation on December 17, 2010; she was succeeded by Emmanuelle Alt.- Family background :...

, Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...

, David Lynch

David Lynch

David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

, Lord Snowdon, Azzedine Alaïa

Azzedine Alaia

Azzedine Alaïa is a Tunisian-born couturier and shoe designer, particularly successful since the 1980s.-Biography:Alaïa was born in Siliana, Tunisia on 7 June 1940. His parents were wheat farmers but his glamorous twin sister inspired his love for couture. A French friend of his mother fed Alaïa's...

, Mario Testino

Mario Testino

-Early Life:Testino grew up in Lima, the eldest son of a businessman. When he was young he wanted to be a priest. Testino recalls being unpopular at school because of his flamboyance. He was good at math and went on to study economics at Universidad del Pacífico, where his insistence on wearing...

, Sarah Moon, Tilda Swinton

Tilda Swinton

Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...

 and Paolo Roversi

Paolo Roversi

Paolo Roversi is an Italian-born fashion photographer who currently lives and works in Paris.Born in Ravenna in 1947, Paolo Roversi’s interest in photography was kindled as a teenager during a family vacation in Spain in 1964...

.

Studios

Acne’s stores are known as studios as they aim to recreate the atmosphere of a working creative space. There are 21 monobrand Acne Studios stores in eight countries, e.g. Stockholm, Paris, London, New York, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Oslo. Acne Studio’s Stockholm flagship store on Norrmalmstorg is the location where the paradoxical psychological phenomenon Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm syndrome

In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...

 was coined in 1973 as hostage in a bank robbery turned emphatic to the robbers.

Collaborations

Acne Studios have collaborated widely with representatives from the creative industries. In 2008, they collaborated with the world’s oldest bike manufacturer, Bianchi Bicycles

Bianchi Bicycles

F.I.V. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A is the world's oldest bicycle-making company still in existence, having pioneered the use of equal-sized wheels with pneumatic rubber tires in 1885. It was founded in Italy in 1885. It produced cars and commercial vehicles from 1900 to 1939; and motorcycles from 1897 to...

,, to produce a bespoke fixed gear racer bike in custom colours. Also in 2008, Acne collaborated on a denim-based capsule collection with the couture house Lanvin (clothing)

Lanvin (clothing)

Lanvin is a high fashion house founded by Jeanne Lanvin.-History:Lanvin made such beautiful clothes for her daughter that they began to attract the attention of a number of wealthy people who requested copies for their own children...

 as well as a pair of ‘gentleman’s jeans’ with magazine Fantastic Man (magazine)

Fantastic Man (magazine)

Fantastic Man is a semi-annual men's fashion magazine which was launched in 2005. It presents men's fashion by detailed interviews with male celebrities and intellectuals from many different backgrounds....

. To accompany the fashion collections, Acne has collaborated with jewelers Mikael Zobel and Husam El-Odeh. In 2010, Acne commissioned artist Katerina Jebb

Katerina Jebb

Katerina Jebb is a British-born artist and photographer based in Paris. In 1984, she moved to California to study photography. In 1989, she moved to Paris where she continues to work and live.-Images and techniques:...

 to create a video incorporating a Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski is the brand name for a range of precisely-cut crystal and related luxury products produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria...

solitaire crystal. In September 2010, Acne launched a furniture line of sofas based on Swedish furniture designer’s Carl Malmsten’s sofa Nya Berlin. In 2011, Acne collaborated with transsexual magazine Candy on a cross-gender collection of six blouses.