In the latest round of fashion musical chairs—a backflip, this time, rather than an exit—Johan Lindeberg will return to J.Lindeberg, the company he founded in 1996, as a creative consultant. Stefan Engström, Dan Friis, Allan Warburg, and Anders Holch Povlsen now own the company, with Engström acting as the CEO. Engström is a mogul skier who has won several World Cups, and he also owns Swedish skiwear company Peak Performance.
“For some time now, we have been in a strong growth period, doubling our turnover over the last three years,” said Engström. “Soon, we will be going into 20 years of business, and with this solid foundation we are very excited about having Johan back at the company to contribute to the next step of the brand’s growth. It feels like a natural step to close the circle with the re-entrance of the founder of the brand in our journey to becoming the leading international lifestyle brand from Stockholm.”
Lindeberg served as the marketing director at Diesel in the ’90s before decamping to launch his own label, which was created with the intention of providing cooler clothing options for golfers, but evolved into a menswear brand. Lindeberg parted ways with his namesake company in 2007 and went on to become the creative director for Justin Timberlake’s William Rast line. In 2010, he founded the label BLK DNM, which he left earlier this year. “I’ve seen the company grow and evolve over these years and was really grateful to Stefan to have initiated my return,” said Lindeberg. “Of course, the decision to reopen a previous relationship is never an easy one. But the more we talked the more it made sense. It feels like the right time to put our experiences together, to bring J.Lindeberg into the next phase, as one strong international voice.”
Jessy Heuvelink will continue to serve as head of design for the company’s fashion collections, which are distributed in more than 950 stores in 35 countries. Lindeberg has signed a contract for two years and will reportedly be working with Engström to concentrate on the brand’s growth.
