Our Legacy used to be one of menswear’s best kept secrets. Founded in 2005 by a trio of stylish Swedes in Jockum Hallin, Christopher Nying, and Richardos Klarén, the brand spent its first few years making some of the cleanest workwear-inflected menswear on the market. Then, in 2012, Our Legacy made a shift for the wilder. The founders leaned into their idiosyncrasies, and Our Legacy became the brand that in-the-know folks couldn’t stop whispering about—and buying up, gleefully filling their closets with funky camp shirts, slinky sweaters, and baggy jeans years before they had widespread appeal.
While OL’s wares are grounded in the building blocks of menswear—suits, button-up shirts, jeans, trousers, boots—the brand’s got range. You could quietly outfit yourself in Our Legacy’s exquisitely made “staples” (like the ubiquitous-for-a-reason Camion boot) or flex on your most fashion-savvy friends with, oh, slashed-and-patched jeans or a rubberized deflated puffer. Connecting it all is an aesthetic that’s best described as…”Our Legacy.” You’ll see a little Americana, a little art school, a little Scandi cool, a little mad-scientist textile wizardry, and a lot of European craftsmanship.
The Best of Our Legacy’s Menswear, by Category
You won’t find many logos, minus the rare, feverishly-followed drops from its experimental sub-label, WORK SHOP. Last year it collabed with both Stüssy and Armani on separate capsules, and both broke menswear—in an era where collabs are kind of toast. And then there’s the lookbooks and on-site shop, which are basically locked-and-loaded moodboards with guru-level styling and a punk DIY ethos. Everywhere you look, you’ll see Our Legacy—and you’ll know it when you see it.
So, yeah, in 2024, the secret’s all the way out. Our Legacy is bigger, freakier, more expansive, more experimental, more sought-after, and still extremely itself. It’s a testament to Our Legacy’s ability to be both ahead of the curve and unbothered by whatever else is happening. That also means whether you’ve been a longtime devotee hunting for the label’s finest and freakiest or you’re just waking up to the brand’s slow-and-steady rise, you’ve got some competition. Below we’ve rounded up the OL pieces you’ll want to grab before someone else does.
Not-So-Scandi Suiting
There’s maybe no better category for proving that Our Legacy doesn’t care about your Scandinavian expectation than its suiting. Where you might be imagining some ultra-minimal single-button distillation of a two-piece, you’ll instead get suits that run the gamut from soft-and-sized-up double-breasted beauties with a professorial rumple to razor-sharp sharkskins that’ll make you feel like a Blade Runner kingpin. These are suits worn for style, not to adhere to a dress code—a.k.a., the best reason to wear a suit.
Good Jeans
Our Legacy can do it all in denim. You could pick up maybe the best-cut pair of relaxed black jeans on the market—or you could build out your rotation with the label’s truly freakified pieces. Our Legacy’s got models with trench-like tears up the front and others with added panels to the knees, but it’s the brand’s Third Cut Distressed Digital Denim—relaxed fit jeans with printed trompe l’oeil fades on the face of the fabric—that have put the style algorithm in a chokehold the last few seasons. In Our Legacy’s hands, something that sounds wacky becomes singular and special, and way more wearable than you’d expect.
Freaky Sweaters
Every season, Our Legacy bolsters its solid lineup of Italian-made polos and classic cardigans with a candy store smorgasbord of head-turning knitwear in bubble gum-hued mohairs, boxy-fit Fair Isles, and slinky, sexy, open-collar pieces designed to never play the wallflower. Don’t overthink it—just pull one on, and strut out the door.
Bizzarro Shoes
Our Legacy’s Camion Boot currently reigns supreme from atop a mountain of beautiful boots, favored by menswear-podcast-subscribing downtowners and NBA stars alike. That makes them the de facto gateway into OL—and a reason to grab a pair of the side-zip, rubber-soled do-it-all boot for yourself, if you haven’t already. But once you dip a Camion-covered toe into the Our Legacy world, you’ll need to keep a close eye on your credit card and your closet space. The brand’s footwear spans everything from hefty black leather derbies to bog-stompin’ hiking-inspired sneakers to a buckle-adorned calf-hair mule that we can’t look away from.
Retro-Sleazy Leather Jackets
Our Legacy might not boast the historic pedigree of leather specialists like all-American Schott or very-Italian Valstar, but these days, no brand makes cowhide looks more covetable. Naturally, OL sells a cropped riff on 2023’s hottest leather jacket—along with a near-perfect take on the classic double-rider—but that’s just the tip of the leather-shod iceberg. Come for the sleazy, Howard Ratner-adjacent blazer, stay for contrast horsehair zip-up.
Sultry Shirts
In the market for a crisp, starchy button-up you can wear to the ol’ 9-to-5? Look elsewhere (right here, for example). If, however, you’re looking for a collared shirt you can wear with your freakiest jeans and kickiest boots, you’ve come to exactly the right place. Our Legacy specializes in some of the sultriest shirts in the biz, from slinky seersucker joints to gauzy cotton-rayon numbers. Even the brand’s more traditional button-ups tend to come boxy and oversized, often done-up in early-aughts-esque stripes that feel more 2003 Heath Ledger than Bob from IT.
Oddball Accessories
If accessories are the cherry on top of your fits, Our Legacy might be the Maraschino of menswear. Each season, the brand releases an eclectic mix of belts, bags, and sunglasses designed to be freaked to your heart’s content. You probably know that a western belt looks killer with jeans, right? The Our Legacy team does, too—but they’re more likely to style it with a retro-sleazy suit. Bug-eyed translucent shades will keep the rays out of your eyes during the day, but it’s hard to beat the jolt of swagger they promise when you wear them at night with sawed-off jorts and a ringer tee.
Read the full article here
