Aéryne’s CEO: The future of luxury fashion
At just 27, Anna Helander is building the next luxury fashion group under her company Seezona, which she runs from her office in Stockholm. In 2019, she acquired Aéryne, a Parisian brand empowering women through style and fighting for inclusive female education; a portion of each sale is donated to a girls’ school in India.
We couldn’t wait for her to talk us through the line and her inspiring entrepreneurial journey.
E: Tell us about your background…
A: I was born in Sweden but moved to the south of France when I was seven and lived there for most of my life. I moved back to Stockholm about five years ago when I was done with my business studies and wanted to focus on building my company, Seezona.
E: How did Aéryne originally start out and how did you come to head up the brand as CEO?
A: Aéryne was founded in 2015 by Siri Vikman, with the desire to create a brand that empowers women and challenges the sustainability aspect in the fashion industry. I truly believe in that vision. So, when the company filed for bankruptcy in late 2019, I decided to acquire their assets through my company Seezona, to keep the brand alive and take it further into that vision. As owner and CEO of Seezona, it was quite natural that I came to lead the ‘new’ Aéryne as well.
E: Before Aéryne, did you see yourself as a CEO of another brand, aside from your own?
A: I have always had big dreams. My ultimate goal is to create a digital luxury group. It already encompasses three companies at the moment, and I aim to keep growing it over time. Leading other companies alongside Seezona has long been an aim in my career. I enjoy working with a lot of various areas; it’s very stimulating and keeps my creative flow going.
E: Have you stayed true to the vision of Siri Vikman?
A: We kept the core values of the brand that Siri Vikman instilled: sustainability and female empowerment. We continued her on-demand model, we moved the majority of the production to Europe, we use eco-friendly fabrics (mostly stock fabrics) and donate a portion of our sales to the same girls’ school in India that she worked with. On the other hand, we updated the aesthetic of the brand to make it more fashion forward, edgy and premium. We also stopped working with wholesale to focus only on our own channels, which guarantees lower retail prices since we can skip the middleman.
E: Describe the Aéryne woman…
A: The Aéryne woman is a millennial who just entered the job market, primarily working in fashion and marketing. She likes the Scandi-chic style, follows the latest trends but also cares about quality and sustainability. She wants reasonably priced pieces that she can wear over and over again.
E: What are you in charge of as Aéryne’s CEO?
A: For Aéryne, I mainly supervise design, production, the general strategy for marketing and daily administrative tasks. I am mostly involved in creating the collections, including selection of fabrics, price calculation, fitting of samples, analysis and planning of monthly activities, collection schedules, strategy and budgeting for marketing campaigns, copywriting, payments and bookkeeping.
“My ultimate goal is to create a digital luxury group…Leading other companies alongside Seezona has long been an aim in my career”
E: How does the work culture compare between your offices in Stockholm and Paris, and can you imagine relocating to the French capital?
A: The work culture in both offices is aligned. It’s a friendly, casual vibe with open communication. We make most important decisions after discussing it all together and agreeing on a path forward that we all believe in. We had only set up the Paris office two months before Covid-19 hit last year, so unfortunately there have not been any trips to the Paris office yet. There is no plan to relocate to Paris at the moment, since most of the team in Stockholm is also working with Seezona.
E: Can you tell us about some of the women that you work with at Aéryne and how your team was created?
A: We have a great team of smart, driven and hard-working women. We have a designer and production logistics manager in Paris; everything marketing related is done from Stockholm. The Stockholm team work for both Seezona and Aéryne. I recruited them initially for Seezona and they were all very excited to welcome Aéryne as a new project and started dividing their work between both brands. There are nine of us who work with Aéryne at the moment.
E: Tell us about someone who’s influenced your career…
A: My father is also an entrepreneur; he has always inspired me to build my own path. He has always supported my projects and helps me in my strategic thinking. I admire his creativity, solution-oriented mindset and relentlessness. He never sees problems, only solutions, and never gives up. My mum’s love for fashion has definitely influenced my own affinity with the industry and led me to choose it as my career path. My fiancé has great leadership skills; I get a lot of help and support from him, too. I also admire women in my own field that have tried to create something different with an international vision. Such as Glossier’s Emily Weiss, Moda Operandi’s founder Lauren Santo Domingo, Dame Natalie Massenet who founded Net-a-Porter and digital fashion investment pioneer Carmen Busquets, among others.
E: How are your collections divided, and what’s the inspiration behind your most recent one?
A: They are season-based. We decided to divide them into spring, summer, fall and winter. Our latest collection is greatly inspired by Scandinavian minimalism. It was also influenced by the more casual style invigorated since the start of the pandemic. Comfort has become a focal point, but it can still be stylish and trendy, so that’s what we focus on.
“Producing high volumes of garments goes against a sustainable thinking, but as a fashion business your goal is to sell as much as possible, so you need to find a balance that you feel at peace with”
E: How does Aéryne and the woman you design for align with your own personal style?
A: Aéryne’s designs are for sure a reflection of my own style. I would wear all the pieces in the collections we produce. I also like to mix and match with pieces from our marketplace designers on Seezona.
E: Where in Europe are your fabrics sourced from and made? How are you practicing sustainability and ethical working conditions?
A: Most of our fabrics are sourced from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Romania. We prioritise stock fabrics to avoid producing new ones and try to choose recycled fabrics as much as possible. Our production is held in factories that have all the accreditations necessary; we have personally vetted them to ensure ethical working conditions.
E: How would you advise other women to transform their passion project and vision into a sustainable business model?
A: I think setting the goal and vision for your company is the first step. How you produce and where should reflect that long-term vision from the beginning. Or you at least need to have a clear plan of how to transition in order to scale while still keeping your production as sustainable as possible. This is a big problem with sustainability in the fashion industry. Producing high volumes of garments goes against a sustainable thinking, but as a fashion business your goal is to sell as much as possible, so you need to find a balance that you feel at peace with. You’ll probably not get it right on every level and that’s OK. Do as much as you can and always strive to do better.
E: What’s the most empowering piece in your wardrobe?
A: It’s a red Alexander McQueen blazer from a couple of years ago. I love blazers overall; they always give me confidence. But the structure and colour of this one makes it my most empowering piece.
E: How’s life away from being a CEO and founder?
A: The line between my professional and personal life is very blurry. Even if I am not at the office or not actively working on the computer, I am thinking about work, planning ahead and brainstorming new ideas. I also have board engagements in other companies, where I am needed on an ad hoc basis every week. I try to take time to relax every other night by cooking and watching a TV series or having an early morning tennis training. I try to listen to my body and do the things I enjoy without planning too much in advance and spend time with people that give me energy.
E: Where do see yourself taking the Aéryne brand in the next year or so? And where do you see yourself?
A: I see Aéryne gaining traction, increasing both brand awareness and sales. We have a lot of exciting plans and are working hard to execute our vision for the brand. As for myself, maybe I will have an additional company under my wing. One thing is for sure, I will be busy! And hopefully married (I got engaged this summer), if Covid restrictions are lifted later this year.