News - Skoaktiebolaget launches its own brand

Leading Swedish men’s shoe store Skoaktiebolaget today announces its own brand: Löf & Tung. Goodyear welted in Spain in the mid-range around €350, with a very flexible MTO service.

Since Skoaktiebolaget opened the doors in Stockholm 4,5 years ago, they have sold a number of different brands in the store, many of which were strong brands when they were taken into the store, several of which Skoaktiebolaget has been a major part in building strong. Now, however, it is time for something different when launching its own Private Label brand Löf & Tung. This trend with stores making their own brands is nothing new, but within the menswear sphere it has grown more and more and will most likely continue to do so. It is about being able to offer something unique to its store, and to have control over things.

Spectator brogue from Löf & Tung.

Löf & Tung, named after the founders of the shop, Patrik Löf and Daniel Tung, are made in Spain in on the country’s shoe districts. Especially Patrik has spent a lot of time in the factory to set all the details and develop their own lasts on which the shoes are made.
The shoes are Goodyear welted with closed sole channel, slightly bevelled waist and heel stiffener in leather board (leather dust mixed with glue and compressed). The upper leather comes mainly from the regular major European tanneries, mainly French, the suede is from an Italian tannery. I have looked closer at a number of Löf & Tung’s shoes and they are solid stuff for the price, neither sensationally good nor bad compared to the price level of €350 incl. VAT (this for the low shoes, loafers a bit cheaper, boots a bit more expensive). You get what you pay for, simply.

Burgundy cordovan brogue on a last with the name T.

What Löf & Tung’s main competitive advantage will, which also been the plan from Skoaktiebolaget, are the great choices that both the store and the customers have in terms of the design of models and choice of leather. Skoaktiebolaget will have its own assortment that rolls in and out, and varies through seasons. To add to that, many Group MTO models will be offered, not least in various special leather choices, and they have a very flexible MTO service. For example, things like width of the sole edge, shape of the heel (straight, slightly tapered, cuban heel that are a little concave), which kind of fudging (decoration on top of the welt), etc. is all customisable. A number of different lasts that in my eyes look really nice are offered, where the base is the same but the tear shape varies. There are several different types of rubber soles, and as mentioned there’s many leather options, ranging from Horween cordovan to various exotic leathers. The MTO surcharge is €120 with approximately four months’ waiting time.

It will be interesting to see how the brand is received by customers in Sweden and abroad. As always, when something new is introduced you can probably count on a start-up period before fit and so on is edtablished, and people online dare to order to a greater extent, but the potential is clearly there.