The Mismo Story
Founded in 2003, Mismo has rapidly earned itself a highly renowned reputation within the luggage industry and is often recognised as timeless due to the brand hardly changing it's product over the past decade or so. The masterminds behind the Mismo brand, are the husband and wife team Alexander Bach and Rikke Overgaard. The duo first met at business school in 2001, however the foundations for Mismo began long before that due to their families rich backgrounds in architecture and engineering. Neither had any background in fashion but despite this the pair both had the desire to create something unique, this was instilled in them through the entrepreneurship focus of the marketing and economist program they both studied.
When the duo graduated in 2003, the landscape for men's accessories was a barren one. There was a gap in the market between luxury brands like Hermes and Mulberry and classic luggage brands like Samsonite, which Bach and Overgaard chose to exploit. With the sales of laptops on the rise, the gap in the market was becoming even greater and having just graduated, the duo felt there was no time like the present to get started on their brand.
From the outset, the aim of Mismo was to oppose the preferred, logo centric products that were saturating the market at the time, with their stripped down to the basics, Scandinavian design philosophy, that used good fabrics and good materials in order to provide more functionality.
The idea of starting something based on a hole in the market can often be seen as a very cold business technique, however, Bach and Overgaard were equally as focussed on creating good product as they were making money. With every functional product you need reliable materials and a factory to create the product in. With this in mind, the duo focussed heavily on getting the supply chain right. having tried and tested a few factories, they eventually settled with Limonata, an Italian fabric producer founded in 1893. Having established a relationship with Limonata, they were given access to some of the newer fabrics that the bigger companies didn't wan't to take on yet, allowing them to create some pretty unique products.
When Mismo first launched, the brand initially intended to sell it's products in design and furniture stores, which sounds bizarre but come 2008 when they launched their new line it made sense as the recession hit. The production timing of creating bags didn't suit the longer lead furniture and design schedule, at this point they transformed the whole business to suit the fashion production schedule.
Whilst conforming to the so called fashion requirements, it was important to Bach and Overgaard that Mismo came across as fashionable without actually being a fashion brand. This made sense as there is no seasons in contemporary day to day luggage, there's no summer or winter collection, Mismo simply provide their basics year on year with a few extras every now and again. Buyers gradually picked up on this at trade shows and instead of asking 'Whats New?' began just adding a few pieces to their standard order.
Now, 12 years on from Mismo's foundation, Bach and Overgaard are happy with where the brand is at in terms of it's growth. Whilst the brand states that they're still a relatively small company they are quick to let you know that whilst their products aren't mass produced they're not made in a tiny studio either. There's currently 60-70 accounts worldwide and although they acknowledge theres potential for growth they're 'not looking to have 300 plus accounts'.
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