GQ story
How Our Legacy Became the Biggest Little Fashion Brand in the World
February 28, 2024
The Our Legacy HQ is divided in half by a long curtain.
On one side sits the sales and marketing teams. On the other is design and production. There are clothes everywhere you look. Racks of samples and prototypes run the length of the dividing curtain. In one corner of the design side, there is a proper sewing room, where samples can be developed and retooled as the design work is happening.
Bernasconi is a merchandising ringer—a specialist with a unique combination of skills that he uses to help supercharge the efficiency of fashion brands.
Bernasconi’s work with the brand began in 2021 with an assessment.
“I interviewed basically the entire company,” he says. “I spent an hour with each and every one of them and absolutely saw the potential, but I saw that it was purely, entirely creativity driven. Which is great. So the need was really to set up process and give structure to the product offering, and this is exactly what I do: optimize the product offering in order to basically turn creativity into profit.”
The need was really to set up process and give structure to the product offering, and this is exactly what I do: optimize the product offering in order to basically turn creativity into profit.”
Nying is very hands on as a designer.
The first step in making any Our Legacy garment is often a sketch he draws in pen on paper. Bernasconi helps optimize the strategic process that turns that sketch into a finished product. Twice a year, he meets with menswear designers Johannes Wieser and Harry Peter to run through every detail of every garment, discussing fabric treatments and fit, color, and texture; they look carefully at zippers, hoods, collars and cuffs, scrutinizing every conceivable component, then assess the price accordingly. “The product gets so analyzed now,” Nying tells me. “Which is very good. I like that, to turn it inside out so many times, and when it finally hits the floor, it will be very rare that something is wrong.”
Bernasconi helps optimize the strategic process that turns that sketch into a finished product.
Price is an important part of the Our Legacy business.
Fans of the brand and experts in the industry alike will tell you that what makes Our Legacy so great is the value. Which is interesting considering the brand sells shirts for $300, sweaters for $500, and pants for $400. But in the high-fashion universe these prices are reasonable. In fact, for a brand with a reputation for excellence in design and quality like Our Legacy, these prices are more than reasonable. This was a crucial part of Bernasconi’s initial assessment. “That’s why they’re doing well these days, because you have the creativity and you have the price point as well,” he says. “The price point is slightly lower than luxury. I hate to say affordable luxury, but this is what makes them really unique.”
“Their way of approaching fashion is truly unique,”
Bernasconi says. “People talk about quiet luxury—Loro Piana or Brunello Cucinelli. This is something totally different but that is also quiet. It’s more like quiet fashion. It’s that sensibility for people that want to dress in a way that is unique and is obviously more punk but still subtle, still quiet.”
Back at the studio the big, bright future for Our Legacy is already underway.
New stores are a priority: Milan, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Shanghai are all under consideration.
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