Les Deux opens first store outside Scandinavia in Paris’s Marais district, London also planned

Danish men’s ready-to-wear label Les Deux had been expanding its presence in Paris over the last few seasons through its concession at Galeries Lafayette‘s menswear store. Premium fashion consumers in the French capital appreciate the street-casual, preppy-inspired style of Les Deux’s collections, featuring formal jackets, fine knitwear and shirts, and more laid-back items like oversize t-shirts and hoodies. Characterised by a pared-down Scandinavian vibe and quality looks with an affordable price positioning, Les Deux has been thriving both in Europe and North America. Riding this success, the label founded in 2011 by Andreas von der Heide and Kristoffer Haapanen has opened its first store outside Scandinavia on October 30.

Les Deux’s new 85-square-metre store is located at 32 rue de Poitou, in the Haut Marais district of Paris, an attractive but highly competitive neighbourhood. The interiors, featuring exposed beams and choice materials, have a cosy feel inspired by the US East Coast’s Ivy League codes, which Les Deux openly references.  

The founders opted for a blend of varsity, vintage and sporting memorabilia as the store’s main interior design elements, for example the basketball hoop, net and backboard affixed to the dark wood wall panelling. Formal shirts, t-shirts and plush, logo-heavy organic cotton sweatshirts are elegantly displayed on brass hanging rails. At one end of the store, the fitting rooms, cached behind forest green curtains, feature steel racks and thick carpets with Les Deux’s signature pine green, cream and maroon patterns. The label has designed a series of exclusive products for its Parisian opening.

Starting its international expansion by opening in Paris ahead of London is a nod to the label’s French name, adopted nearly 15 years ago when von der Heide teamed up with Virgil Nicholas Mwepele to launch the project, later to be joined by Haapanen. Les Deux stands for the unusual match-up between an upper-class Dane, von der Heide, and Mwepele, the French-speaking son of political refugees from the Congo who grew up in Copenhagen’s suburbs. The name signals the duality of their life’s journey and of their cultures and styles, a blend that is ever-present in Les Deux. The label started out with 500 white t-shirts on which the founders embroidered a variety of military crests.

Les Deux has managed to build a growing community around its international, urban and inclusive fashion. Proof of its success is the double-digit revenue rise it posted in 2024, to over €65 million, with EBITDA of over €8 million. In 2021, Les Deux inaugurated new Copenhagen headquarters which include a basketball court, a gym and a meditation space, and is clearly aiming to extend its reach by opening a first store outside its home country. It has also opened offices in London and Amsterdam, from where it will manage its direct retail expansion in the UK and the Netherlands. Les Deux is available at over 1,000 retailers worldwide, and is established with major names like Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Selfridges, KaDeWe, De Bijenkorf, Galeries Lafayette, and La Rinascente. 

In France, Les Deux has a solid presence in over 100 multibrand retailers besides Galeries Lafayette, among them Lothaire, Reboul, Citadium and Le Printemps.