A modern-day market offering essential products for men, women, children and the home. ARKET’s mission is to democratise quality through widely accessible, well-made, durable products, designed to be used and loved for a long time.

A nod to our Nordic heritage, ARKET means ‘sheet of paper’ in Swedish. It combines concepts that were often returned to while developing the brand: archive, archetypes and the market.

A common thread in both a metaphorical and physical sense. From an expression of the long-lasting nature of our collection, to an extensive and easily accessible library of vintage sample research, to the name given to the shelving system developed in-house, the notion of the archive is ARKET’s central theme.

The simplest expression of the archive is the ARKET id, a unique 9-digit code given to and shown with each product. For example, a women’s recycled cashmere sweater, 222045-087R. A simple numerical system broken down by department (2: Women), category (22: Knitwear), product (045), material (087 is Cashmere, ‘R’ stands for recycled). A system created to make it easy for customers to find and re-find products both in physical and digital stores, and a tool for our archive – a way to record and preserve our products.

The archive is the collection’s point of departure, a solid foundation of products you want to find again and again. It also offers scope for playing through the seasons, varying materials, colours and proportions to create an ideal everyday uniform. Each item in the product family is intended to be a perfect version of itself – everything has earned its place on the shelf.

Going back to the original idea of each product category to understand why it was developed and why it looks and works as it does. Beautification enhances this foundation of function and utility to help products find their place in the modern world.

A theme that connects products to the archive and forms the basis of the collection’s organisation and presentation. It is applied literally when an archetypal style is repeated in many fabrications, or when a single material is used throughout a collection.

A basic tool for structuring the female wardrobe. Defining and clearly presenting recurring silhouettes in the core collection and elaborating them seasonally, as with suiting in the opening collection.

Shades and nuances within a limited colour palette respond to the materials while lending depth and richness. Print, pattern and shape families are explored and articulated. Material families become recognisable through repetition.

Stores include a café, founded on the New Nordic Food Manifesto and its vision of quality ingredients and healthy living. The cafés aim to express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics naturally associated with our region and reflect the changing seasons in the dishes we offer, with cooking based on the produce and other ingredients that distinguish our climate, landscapes and waters.

The starting point in each production is defining the quality we want to reach, and building on the strengths of each production market. Value for money will be achieved through economies of scale, with the use of initiatives such as the yarn projects and, above all, by establishing styles that endure. The result will be a seasonless production flow, lower development costs, and the ability to refine over time. Most importantly, it helps achieve strong, long-term relationships with suppliers, working together towards the same goal.

To attempt to make products with a longer life, we invest time in their development. This can be in the form of studying vintage garments and source material to identify the archetypal qualities of a particular style or print, the development of custom yarns and fabrics by our in- house knitwear technician, or long-term collaborations with experts such as Japanese outerwear fabric suppliers or Italian suiting mills.

Besides being a consequence of a focus on the long-lasting in design and production, sustainability has been a primary consideration in developing the ARKET brand and naturally incorporated in all processes, from the choice of suppliers and materials to informing customers about how to care for their products to prolong their lifespan.