Retail competition in London continues to intensify, with neighborhoods cultivating unique identities. Adding to Soho’s stylish mix is Asket, a Stockholm-based menswear brand that stands firmly against fast fashion. The label has opened its first store outside Sweden on Brewer Street, taking over a space formerly occupied by Carhartt. The area’s surrounding businesses, including British cycling brand Rapha, grooming destination Murdock London, and the elite gym Third Space, provide an ideal backdrop for a menswear brand aimed at quality-conscious consumers.
Asket cofounder Jakob Dworsky expressed that opening a store in London had long been a dream. While Stockholm remains the brand’s home base, London represents Asket’s largest customer market globally. After two years of research and planning, the decision to plant roots in Soho became clear. Dworsky and fellow cofounder August Bard Bringéus even consulted their local customer base during the process, finding broad consensus that Soho was the perfect fit for Asket’s first international location.
The new store reflects the brand’s minimalist ethos and desire to slow down the retail experience. Architecturally, it resembles a modern gallery with high ceilings and open space, allowing each garment room to breathe. From the street, the storefront is understated. A single white T-shirt and Oxford shirt hang on a simple wooden fixture, positioned next to a plain white block reminiscent of an archival unit found in fashion museums. Inside, a shelving unit of more than 40 compartments holds the brand’s permanent menswear collection of 50 core pieces. A solid oakwood credenza placed among the displays serves as the transaction point, further reinforcing the idea of experience over impulse.
Currently, the store exclusively carries Asket’s menswear line, which still comprises the majority of the brand’s sales. Since its founding in 2015, Asket has deliberately grown its product range and only introduced womenswear in 2021. According to Dworsky, the brand saw strong early growth, though the pace slowed in recent years due to global challenges like inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Asket remained profitable, benefiting from its largely online business model. With the opening of physical locations, the brand is now poised to accelerate its growth.
Asket’s core markets—the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Sweden—account for over 80 percent of its global sales. Among its bestselling items is the classic white T-shirt, priced at 40 pounds and crafted from organic cotton in Portugal. Its unique selling point is its availability in three lengths: short, regular, and long. Dworsky credits much of the brand’s early traction in the U.S. to conversations on Reddit, particularly focused on the quality and fit of their T-shirts. Other top-performing items include Oxford shirts, chinos, and raw denim jeans.
As the brand marks its 10-year anniversary, it plans to pause the introduction of new menswear categories and instead focus on refining its existing garments. Dworsky emphasized the brand’s ongoing pursuit of perfection, suggesting there’s always more that can be done to improve the quality and longevity of each piece. The brand also aims to inspire similar buying behaviors in its growing female customer base—specifically the idea that staples should be consistently available season after season.
Opening a brick-and-mortar location has also brought valuable lessons for the cofounders. One unexpected discovery was the necessity of a physical cash desk—an element they had initially overlooked. Dworsky and Bringéus have evolved significantly since Asket’s early days, becoming more receptive to new ideas. Though originally committed to a strict direct-to-consumer model, they now acknowledge that a move into wholesale might eventually be considered. For the time being, however, the brand is focused on delivering a curated, high-touch retail experience that tells the story of Asket on its own terms.
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