Swedish denim special, part one: how friendship and craft built Jeanerica

0:11Hello and welcome to the Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. Coming up on today's show, we meet the co-founders of a European denim house based in Sweden. The European brand is all about culture, it's all about luxury, and it's also a little bit about owning your supply chain. What we said at an early stage is what Loropeana is for cashmere, we want to be for denim. And later we'll head to Japan to meet the creator of an autonomous mobility vehicle that operates at a convenient walking speed. A ride on Eno is less about reaching a specific point and more about the journey itself, about how we look at the city and how we communicate with our fellow passengers.

0:54This is The Entrepreneurs with me, Tom Edwards.

1:04You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Jonas Clayson and Lena Patrickson-Keller are the co-founders of Generica, a modern luxury denim house based in Stockholm, known for its simple, no-fuss approach. Lina and Jonas first crossed paths at H &M, forging a friendship that would grow into a long-standing creative partnership. After a number of years of separate successes in the fashion world, they reunited in 2018 to launch Generica. What began as a small denim brand has grown into a leading European label, celebrated for its timeless Scandinavian design and elevated contemporary style. I'm pleased to say they join me now.

1:41Jonas, Lina, a warm welcome to Monocle. And this feels, perhaps appropriately for Denim, like a great fit. The values we espouse here at Monocle seem to be pretty similar to those that you guys work towards. The value of craft, taking time, making things to last. Do you agree with that? Yes, I totally agree. And it's funny because Tyler Brulé was a person I met very early on in my career. And he was also a very good, how do you say, supporter of a brand we previously owned. So yes, I totally agree. I'm a big fan of your brand. Oh, that's good. It's a big love in. And tell me, Jonas, what are those values in terms of Generica as well, but just your approach to craft and to making?

2:22What are the things that have always been foundationally important for you? For us, and I mean, through our career, I think, I mean, we always aim to do good stuff and do perfect stuff. and not hide behind, you know, logos and stuff like that, or try to work through the product and the brands in real way and to make something your own and not glancing at other brands and stuff like that, but more like a real true, honest brand. And do you think that you both were always entrepreneurs? So even when you were working, say, in a big corporate, did you always think I am going to be one of those people?

3:01I want to take the risk. I want to have the control. I want to be able to follow my instincts. Was that always kind of in your mind, do you think? Yeah, I think early on in my sort of teenage years, I had this dream of being a journalist. There's no future in that business, I can tell you. But then my father was an entrepreneur and I felt quite early on, even directly after university. At one point, I will start my own company. I just felt the urge to do so. And then it became different routes and different enterprises. Well, exactly. And it's an incredibly sort of Catholic range of things that you have done to an incredibly high standard.

3:40What about, Jonas, when you guys realised you should do something together to collaborate? Tell me a little bit about that. Again, did you feel you'd met a like-minded person straight away? Did it kind of occur to you a bit over time? Was it a No, it was really like that. And we talk a lot about how we met the first time. And we were both working at H &M at that time. Many people didn't want to go out to eat Sunday dinners in Hong Kong. But we spent our last Hong Kong dollars on a nice Sunday dinner and started to become friends from there. And then when we met through H &M and later on through YRED, we and our colleague Roland, we shared the same values, really.

4:20And we wanted to do something new. We were quite new at that time. There was not so many fashion brands in Sweden or names. So we were together in this new wave of brands coming at that time, like Y-Red and Akne and all that stuff. So we felt really natural from the beginning to start to work together. And even when we sold Y-Red in 2010, we said we needed some time of healing. but even so we said we really enjoy each other's company and we really enjoy working together and we think we complement each other in so many ways so we said so let's heal and let's do something on the way and I had to spend quite a lot of time actually focusing on Patrickson Group but we always knew that we were going to start another venture.

5:13Well let's roll the clock forward then that sense then of this sort of unfinished business that you had, when's the right time? And I can't remember, when did you actually start that business? We started discussing it in 2016 and then we sort of did a test collection in 2018. Okay, so it's still, you know, it's kind of well-established but also kind of a youngster also. How did you know? We're fairly young, both of us. Absolutely. So how, why was it the right time? You never know if it's the right time. Until you've done it, I guess, right? No, but I think when we started to talk, and as Selena said, I mean, we did some healing, and she concentrated a lot on Patrician Group.

5:51I worked with Akne and found this idea for a brand called ATP, where we made handmade shoes in Italy. And I felt that ATP grew so much. I had to leave Akne because I couldn't do the same, or both of them. Then this idea of generica came. Suddenly there was time, and then we started to talk back and forth. how can we do it and when can we do it? And also that one thing that we had agreed on was to actually do something very specialized. To not do a full lifestyle brand. And I must say I have the greatest respect for everyone who do so. But we said let's get nerdy about something and dive deep into something where we can excel on all levels.

6:37And Jonas especially has a very long history in denim. and we just felt, do the world need another denim brand? Probably not. But we felt that there was a need, at least for our own sake, to do a European denim brand with the European values and going a little bit away from the Americana stuff. I love that. And it's funny, you say, did it need another brand? No. But did it need this brand? Maybe yes. Now, why so? You mentioned this idea, you'd long interrogated the very fabric of the fabric, right? And you've both had a fascination. And Jonas, obviously you'll experience some of the brands you've reeled off already.

7:15I think a lot of our listeners maybe know the brand already. If they don't, how has that nerding out, that deep dive into denim, how does it manifest itself? What are these products for the uninitiated? No, I mean, these products are, I mean, they are simplicity in brackets, so to say, meaning that we don't use so many different elements, But we tend to really concentrate to do the perfect fit, to do the perfect fabric, to do the perfect packaging and so on and so on. With values like sustainability, of course, and all this stuff. So for us, I mean, we really teamed up with the best industry leaders in our kind of business.

7:57And we wanted to create our own fabrics. I mean, we wanted to create a brand that works as a luxury brand, owning the supply chain, working through threads and fabrics and, you know, everything like that. And when we started everything, we did it as a call in Italy, a laboratory in Castelfranco outside Bassano de Grappa in Veneto. So instead of what you normally do, like sending, you know, patents and finishes to a supplier, we did it at a laboratory where we like made the recipe. so it's all about nerdiness and it's all about simplicity you get what you see there's no hiding and tell me about this idea this commitment to understanding and mastering every aspect of the supply chain and this emphasis on sustainability as well lena i'll put this to you has that got easier just in the what seven eight years because even then late 2010s people were talking about that.

8:55But I think talking to lots of manufacturers of any kinds of products, it was harder to ensure you could do it. Is that getting, well, I hope it's getting easier in a way. Is it getting easier? It is getting easier. And I think there is a complete different knowledge today among customers and also in the supply chain. If you roll back to the beginning, besides the values of the brand that we wanted to establish contemporary commodity product with timeless values, we said the industrial setup was actually crucial for the whole business because there was also something we did a lot of comparison between you know doing an american brand versus doing a european brand both has its unique selling points but the european brand is all about culture it's all about luxury and it's also a little bit about owning your supply chain so when it comes to the development of the fabrics which Jonas discussed, the supplier felt the same.

9:52We don't have enough demand. There should be a greater demand for these products. So we were very fortunate to have this close relationship with the suppliers, developing all these things for us as a newly started company and being completely unique. What we said at an early stage is what Loro Piana is for cashmere, we want to be for denim. Lofty goals, realised very quickly. What about your customers are they the customers you imagined you would be serving Jonas or has that surprised you whether that's the demographics or the geographies where are they what are they like your customers I mean we really don't aim for one type of customer I mean being a denim brand is also quite democratic and I mean we could have done a denim brand that cost three times as much but We want to be a true brand and serve many, but with good products.

10:44So I don't think, I mean, I'm not surprised of the customers we have. I think we have customers from 15 to 65. My father is 82. He bought a pair the other day. You don't make him buy them, do you? Surely you could give the old man a pair. Yeah, he got a 10 % discount. Well, that's it. There's a successful entrepreneur, so I have to stick to that. And just on that point about your actual business approach, to ask you this, In terms of the leadership structure, it's quite interesting within the business because you don't have a CEO per se. You've kind of divvy up and share the responsibilities in a way that I think is quite interesting.

11:18Is that a consequence of the fact that you've worked together before so you knew how to complement one another? Why have you set it up that way? No, I think we wanted to control the business. I mean, we know at a certain level we probably need an external CEO, but instead we spent a lot of time and effort into recruiting the right management group. So I think we're very happy about the team we've created internally. But then me and Jonas, we complement each other without really knowing how we do it. So some things you run on, some things I run on. and I spend like one day a week at the office because I have other businesses.

11:59But at that day, we go through everything from collection to the next campaign to, you know, how should we develop our e-commerce? Is this region a new region we should enter into? So it's actually what we say micro and macro. At the same time. Yes. And do you think that will become more of a challenge? Presumably it will be more of a challenge as the business scales and grows and you have to divest yourself of responsibility. Of course. Does that become more difficult? Or actually, conversely, as the principles that define where the business is going become clearer to people, maybe it's easier because people will be like, I get it and I can deliver that for you.

12:37What's that journey going to be like, do you think? No, but I think what we have, we work very much with internal leadership and we just felt that this group of quite young people and not that experienced, they have grown tremendously under this leadership. so we think there is something in us you know believing so much in the team and we always have this philosophy of you know hiring people who are much better than we are and i think there are so many post covid there's so many way of running a company there is no set formula so i can't really answer exactly how that will look that's the case if it was easy everyone would do it i suppose and tell me a bit what's the hardest part jonas of what you do is it just having enough time i I mean, we were talking a little bit before.

13:20You both have so many different things. You still do. I don't know how you have the time, but is it time management? Is it resource? Is it talent? What's the trickiest thing? It's really hard to answer, actually, because I think now when we reached a certain amount of turnover or how we can drive the business on a daily basis, I think timing, I must say, is quite easy. Even though we have a lot of things to do, it works very well. And I mean, maybe finding the perfect people, recruiting. We have a beautiful setup of supply chain, we said. No, but I think the hardest part now, because that's so much on my mind, is the retail expansion at the moment.

14:02Because we believe very much in a sort of singular approach that we just opened our first store in Stockholm a couple of months ago. And it goes tremendously well. And now we're looking at the second one. and we want every store to sort of reflect the city and that will demand something different. So that's what's on my mind now. But I mean, scaling is super tricky, especially in this world. We thought we had to set a goal before Christmas and then there came a new president in the US and you have to rework your strategy. And I think all in all, that's the new normal. There is no normal anymore.

14:39And that I think is a new time we live in. And that's hard because I guess your colleagues and anyone involved, your other partners will come to you and they want you to answer that question, right? Oh, Lina, how do we make sense this volatility? What's the impact of the new landscape of tariffs and unilateralism? And they expect you to have the answer, right? That's not easy. No, I said, you should go for a lunch with this and this person and ask them and I go for this. but they also I mean when it came to the tariffs I really feel that we have this kind of team and they're really proactive they come with suggestions and they say yes exactly how do we do this okay this is my suggestion we handle it in this way and then they check with me and Lena and then we we move quite fast we're quite light fit we like to move that's interesting because that's a quality actually that lots of the entrepreneurs we're fortunate enough to speak to for this program and talk about this idea of being nimble.

15:37It's almost become a cliche, but how do you ensure that you stay nimble? And it's interesting, I mentioned all these other things you do and you sit on so many advisory boards and I believe you're on the, is it Sweden's, we have the British Fashion Council. No, I was a co-founder of Association of Swedish Fashion Brands, which is the equivalent of British Fashion Council, but I'm not involved there anymore. But yes, how do you stay nimble? I think one thing that we spend a tremendous amount of time on is research and sort of the geopolitical outlook, but high and low. It could be political, it could be also cultural influences.

16:17So I think if I would look at a path during my career, I would say that I invest so much more time today on doing research on what's happening in society. That's really interesting. And you sort of do that, you interrogate those things yourself? You don't farm that research out to... Not very often. Once in a while, but... You've got the curiosity. And that's funny, because that's another really important quality, I guess, to stay curious. Let's just talk about products again quickly. And I'm loathe to always ask founders this, because it's difficult to make them choose. But is there a hero product, even amongst...

16:50You mentioned it's the simplicity to the range and to the approach. But is there a product, Jonas, that in your mind is the perfect distillation of what you were trying to do? Is it the jacket? Is it a particular cut of jeans? No, I don't really think there is one product like that. It's obviously the five pocket denims that are closest to our heart. But it's really not. I don't see it as one brand or one product brand. It's a mix of the different things that we are doing. But I mean, everything goes back to what we talked about before, the values and the nerdiness and the idea of doing something beautiful and serving in that kind of sense.

17:33So I wouldn't say there is a particular style or something like that, but obviously the fire pocket. A singularity of approach. Yeah, but we, I mean, we would never choose to do something that didn't fit into our kind of DNA. But I mean, there are certain styles that you love more and it can differ between the two of us. But we're quite good at, we talked a little bit about pattern recognizing. We understand how we want to move and we understand what we want to fill this brand with in terms of physical products. But also in terms of campaigns or photo shoots or collabs or stuff like that. What about ongoing inspiration?

18:12And I often ask people this because I'm fascinated by how busy people make the time to get out of the day-to-day grind and ensure they're finding other things that are beautiful or products that are inspiring. Alina, what does that look like? Do you just have to have this very refined radar so that wherever you are and whatever you're doing, you've got the bandwidth to see something that's amazing, a great retail fix, an amazing product, a new designer, whatever it might be? How do you allow yourself the time and scope to get that inspiration? Very often I think an inspiration comes from the places where you least expect.

18:50And it could be at that walk with your dog and you actually get some peace and quiet in your head and something comes to you. Or you listen to something or you, we tend to catalogue our ideas and inspiration. But as an example, I remember it was this snowy Christmas day like three years ago. and I watched the French Dispatch had just released. And for me, that was, I couldn't get it out of my head. That was an inspiration for us for such a long time. So we, in the end, made an A to Z with the same illustrator for the movie, Javier. And then we agree. I talked to Jonas and said, you must watch this film.

19:28Maybe it's the snow. I don't know. But it sort of hit me. But I think there is so much noise in the world we live in. So finding that sort of peace and quiet once in a while is, at least for me, where I get it. No, that sounds very relaxing. I like it. I like the idea. I wish I could find that peace and quiet, whether at work or at home. But it's really like, I also feel it could be that kind of moment. But it could also be, I mean, I have a list like in my notes that are just right things that you see high and low. And sometimes you're blushing because you wrote something that had a glass of wine.

20:04but you know but it could be really anything from movies or a look in a movie or somebody wearing a beautiful belt or a shoe or you know or jewelry or something and I mean we also pick that up into our retail store in Stockholm we have a small collab with Silver Ostrich a fantastic guy that makes handmade belts in Italy we do some silk scarves we call it by his name through a French girl that we know I mean so this is really ongoing and if you ever stop working I wonder what my head would be like because maybe it would be totally empty because you're so used to taking this stuff in all the time and putting it in the phone taking pictures, thinking about them talking back and forth If you would ask our kids they would most probably say that we don't have a lot of hobbies that the hobby is them or our job but I feel very fortunate to work with something I love so much.

21:05I love going to Patricks on every day and I love going to Generica and I just feel very fortunate in that sense. Well, we're fortunate to have you here to talk about it. Just quickly and finally, what's next? What are you most excited about? Genesis, I'll come to you first of all. Expansion, products, places you're going. What's exciting? I'm really excited about moving on with where we are right now. We put a lot of work into our products and to some new guys in Italy and we have fantastic opportunities and we have such a nice setup. So, I mean, I think we can create beautiful products and I really look forward to continue that trip.

21:43And as I said before, that we reached a certain level so we can leave a little bit of the other stuff behind. We are a little bit more people at the office that can help us with day-to-day business and are really talented people. So I just want to enjoy this trip now and I mean continue to work, do things better and explore new possibilities. I love that. What a great ambition. And the world needs some beautiful things, right? Especially at the moment like this. Lena, last word to you. What are you most excited about? No, but I think exactly what Jonas described. What's on my mind now is what is the next city for our next door.

22:21But I'm very hopeful, despite everything that's happening. I'm very hopeful for Europe and I'm very hopeful for our brand. And there are so many opportunities. and we are at a place where scaling is very easy but we still want to do it in a controllable way. So big is not just a goal. It has to go hand in hand with product and something we're very proud of and all of that. Well, look, best of luck with the expansion. I'll lobby London. Let's have a store in London. Come on, come and be a neighbour of ours. Lina and Jonas, or Jonas, as I've been calling you incorrectly all the way through. it's been an absolute pleasure to chat to you thanks for coming to see us that was lena patrickson keller the executive chairman of patrickson group and co-founder and chief brand officer of gene erica alongside her co-founder and the brand's creative director jonas or yonas gleyson you can

23:27You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Japan is known as a country that creates advanced mobility technologies that make travel faster and more convenient, whether that's bullet trains or automotive. However, a new mobility service is emerging that has little to do with speed or convenience. It's a vehicle called Eno that operates at less than five kilometres per hour. Monocle's own Ryuma Takashi spoke with the creator of Eno and sent this report narrated by Monocle's Tokyo Bureau Chief Fiona Wilson. Eno is an autonomous mobility vehicle that moves at a gentle walking pace, less than 5 km an hour.

24:01At the moment, you'll find Eno in operation at Takanao Gateway, one of Tokyo's newest, most innovative stations. It's part of the Yamanote line, the busy, overground train line that runs around the city. Eno is a moving platform with room for three people. There are no handles and no sign of operating equipment. With its stylish wooden curves, it looks more like a piece of furniture than a vehicle. It might not at first glance seem like an obvious mode of transport, but its creators think Eino can play a role in mobility in the future. We spoke with Eino's creator, Yusuke Shimada, CEO of Gekidan Eino.

24:52Please use your hand. Inno is an autonomous mobility. That speed is under 5 km per hour. This is the same as walking fast. And its mobility runs only the pedestrian area. Instead of sitting down to ride, stand up and lean back. And mobility's floor is so low, so you can get on and get off anytime, anywhere. As for us, the size is the same size as a wheelchair. That's why Iino can drive in pedestrian area. And Iino can carry up to three people. We choose a multiple-person ride so that the riders could communication with each other. This is the best seating arrangement for the three people. We have always valued things that people want to touch and lean on.

25:50That is why we used wood. This next generation vehicle was inspired by scenes you might see every day in Japan. After work, I came up with the idea of free ride mobility. So the idea was originated with a garbage truck. garbage truck stop, staff can get on and get off easily. So this is our backbone. At first, I did not intend to run at 5 km per hour. We experiment with 7 km per hour turret truck, you know, fish market or vegetable market. We experiment with 7 km per hour with turret truck and getting on and off on the university campus. But seven kilometres per hour is too fast. I was so wrong.

26:47Nobody can get on and off. Eno has no fixed routes. It takes passengers on spontaneous journeys, deciding its own path as it goes. Unlike buses or trains, it's not designed for travelling between destinations. So what is Eno's purpose as a mobility vehicle? We envision, you know, as a creature-like existence. So creature inhabits the city. And the creature knows the charm of the place better than anyone else. So people come to the city, sometimes ride on the back of the creature to explore and get information about the city. It's our purpose. A ride on Eno is less about reaching a specific point and more about the journey itself, about how we look at the city and how we communicate with our fellow passengers.

27:48Shimada shared with us his vision for urban mobility, a future that he wants to create together with Eno. Modern people's movement is purposeful. So they travel from point A to point B. and after that return home when they have completed their goal and job. But originally, human beings can enjoy wandering walking and like side trips. We believe that makes life well. So we think mobility will be more than just a means of transportation. It is not only a convenience, but also a media. They will no longer exist only for the sake of convenience. We would like to redesign the transportation experience in the walking area.

28:44For example, by introducing walking speed automated mobility like Arras, many drop-off points will be created and the entire area will be activated. We believe that chance encounters and side trip have the value. Thanks to Fiona Wilson and Ryuma Takashi for that report. And you can find out more about the brand by heading to gekidanino.co.jp.