Why it belongs in ORBIS
Copenhagen menswear brand founded in 2011 by two friends from contrasting backgrounds who met over a hand-patched T-shirt in a bar; blends preppy and streetwear influences and now employs around 100 people.
Les Deux ('the two', in French) takes its name from its two founders, who met in a Copenhagen bar: one a law student with a preppy sensibility, the other a creative with an urban aesthetic. The spark for the brand was a plain white T-shirt one of them had hand-patched with military-style badges; the pair decided to build a menswear label that united their contrasting styles. The company grew from a small operation run out of a founder's apartment into an international business employing roughly 100 people, while keeping its French name and Danish design and production sensibility.