PARIS — Danish menswear brand Les Deux Is continuing its growth streak with big expansion plans for both Europe and the U.S.

The privately held Copenhagen-based company released its 2024 numbers in early April, reporting gross profit was up 13 million to 13.9 million euros, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, at 8.26 million up from 8 million euros in the 2023 fiscal year.

It follows a steady 12-month stream of retail openings, including 25 new shops-in-shop around the world at key retailers such as Galeries Lafayette in France and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands. It also entered Nordstrom in the U.S., where it already had a presence at Bloomingdale’s.

Chief executive officer Kristoffer Haapanen and chief brand officer Andreas von der Heide are the duo behind Les Deux. Launched in 2011, it’s now carried in more than 1,200 retailers worldwide.

The U.S. is now the brand’s sixth largest market, and shows no signs of slowing down thanks in part to a successful joint venture with Blackwatch Agency with Marc Gammiero and Marc Psarolis that has helped build the brand in the U.S. over the last two years with a focus on independent retailers.

“The whole personal relationship with the shops [strategy] that we have succeeded with in Europe, we want to do in the U.S.,” von der Heide said in an interview.

While post-pandemic communication patterns can facilitate sales, von der Heide finds that fashion is “in the end, no matter how you look at this industry, a ‘people’ business.” Case in point: the wildly popular collaboration the brand did with Yale University, which came through a kismet connection.

As part of its company mission, Les Deux invests in what it calls its “Legacy Program,” to support community works in local markets. To mark the expansion in New York, it refurbished a basketball court. Von der Heide and staff were shooting hoops one night when Michael Feinberg, point guard and former captain of Yale’s basketball team, happened to join in.

The brand had been looking for a collegiate collaboration to strengthen its Ivy League aesthetic, and Feinberg connected the company and college. The result is a collection of logoed hoodies, half-zip fleeces, basketball jerseys, varsity jackets and preppy knitwear. The first capsule debuted last year, the second dropped in March.

Overall, the brand plays on the codes of prep and collegiate wear, mixed with casual street style. But for all the T-shirts, basketball shorts and coach’s jackets, Les Deux’s bestselling item is a short-sleeved lace button-down. The popularity of such a piece speaks to a growing interest in more fashion-forward pieces for men, one of the few bright spot categories at departments stores as luxury sales have slowed overall.

“At some point we will look toward more formalwear,” von der Heide added.

With production at 37 suppliers in Europe and China, the company is still formulating a strategy to handle potential import hurdles for the U.S. market. At the moment von der Heide is taking it in stride, noting that the business has already weathered COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the spike in interest rates over the last few years.

“We have always come out on the other side, better than before the crisis,” he said. “We are going to sit down with our partners.…We don’t have all the info yet. I think there will be necessity for finding solutions both from the U.S. side and also from the Europe and China side.”

The brand launched in Australia this season. And while the U.S. remains a growth region, tariff jitters are also pushing the founders to solidify their positioning in the nearby markets in Europe. Germany, France and the U.K. are particular targets.

The company opened two new sales offices in Paris and Düsseldorf, Germany, to strengthen its presence in those territories. It is also moving sales in-house for the U.K. and an office in Munich opened last year. Moving sales in-house has strengthened results.

“From a strategic point of view, it just makes sense because we have now reached a level of turnover where we need our own people on board,” he said. “We see a positive change when we have our own sales [operations]. We can be more in the market, more on the road, and be there more for the customers. That strategy really works.”

Les Deux now has four stand-alone stores: three in Denmark and one in Oslo. Plans to open in Paris are in the works, with an eye toward the fourth quarter of 2025.

The company will also continue to expand its footprint in department stores through shop-in-shop spaces.

“Every time we build our shop-in-shop environment, we see high traffic and we see some really high turnover,” he said. “We will focus in developing the whole shop-in-shop experience.”

While the Yale collection is unisex, the brand has no plan to launch a women’s line.

“Considering the market right now — we’re really good at menswear and we are focusing on the product, on the brand. With the basketball [positioning], we have become very clear and very strict on what we do well,” he said.