For 2026, Jeanerica charts a love story across Europe, from Stockholm to London to Paris, expressed through two collections that reframe romance and celebrate genuine connection in a fast-paced world
“Lord Byron,” Jonas Clason says, before rattling off other names – Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf. In a building overlooking a quiet courtyard just off Stockholm’s buzzing Tegnérgatan, the co-founder of European denim house Jeanerica is speaking about love letters, and about the authors behind some of history’s most passionate exchanges. Though speaking of love requires no justification, Clason’s reverie comes with context: Jeanerica has declared 2026 The Year of Love. With two collections unfolding within the year-long theme, the brand seeks to expand its timeless ready-to-wear universe with softness and intention – reaching far beyond the confines of fleeting trends.
Jeanerica was founded in 2018 by two cornerstones of Swedish fashion, Lena Patriksson Keller and Jonas Clason. Having built the Swedish brand Whyred together in the early 2000s, the long-term friends were drawn back into collaboration by the pull of creating a new denim house. Their vision was to elevate denim’s democratic spirit into a premium, seasonless brand rooted in craftsmanship, mindful production and longevity.
While denim remains at its heart, Jeanerica embraces kindred pieces such as refined workwear – in Clason’s words, “things that belong together.” At its core, the brand seeks a more European sensibility, softening Scandinavian cool with warmer, emotive tones. Alongside growing its presence across the US and major European capitals, Jeanerica opened its first flagship store in Stockholm in late 2024. And at the Tegnérgatan HQ, which houses an atelier upstairs, more expansions are already in the works. “It’s been quite the journey,” Clason says of the past eight years.
Jeanerica’s first collection for The Year of Love is Spring/Summer 26’s 'Love Letters': an ode to the written word, and to real connection in a world that moves too fast. The season plays out in London, where a French woman and an Englishman fall in love, their story unfolding across shared afternoons at home, and strolls through quiet corners of the metropolis. Clason shares that inspiration for the pieces in the collection came from musing, “How do these people who write love letters to each other dress themselves? How do they live?” The ensuing collection captures the brand’s ethos of versatility, of swapping elements in or out to suit the occasion and company. “We’re not the type of brand that tells you how to wear something. On the contrary, we make pieces that you can mix and match and wear as you like, according to personal style.”
Having enlisted the eye of stylist Benjamin Canares, Love Letters was shot on location at a house in London’s Hackney, where the slant of fading afternoon light lends the scenes a sense of longing, echoing the transience of a potentially brief encounter. Clason, whose mother taught English and French, spent many summers on England’s and France’s south coasts and knows this feeling of impermanence well. “When I was younger, whether passing through Hastings, Weymouth or Banyuls-Sur-Mer, there were fleeting moments of love or friendship, and then they were gone,” he says. “There’s a melancholy within that which is also very beautiful.”
This personal feel is echoed in the season’s hues: soft ecru, powder blue, faded greys, and sun-bleached indigo – the tones of handwritten letters and linen sheets drying in a summer breeze. Familiar Jeanerica silhouettes are gently reworked for the season, with lighter fabrics, softer structures and added fluidity lending the collection a more relaxed, lived-in ease. Love Letters also expands the brand’s chino offering, introducing a washed 100% cotton that feels worn-in from first touch and appears across a handful of effortless, everyday pieces.
With no detail overlooked, smaller touches round out the collection, from a boiled-wool pillbox hat made in Stockholm’s archipelago to subtle motifs of love that reward a closer look. Delicate brooches crafted by a Stockholm silversmith add a slightly punk edge, while a tiny letter bears the words, “Like a leaf clings to a tree. Oh my darling, cling to me” – a line from Wild Is the Wind – quietly underscoring the collection’s romantic undercurrent.
While 'Love Letters' launched The Year of Love, its sentiment is echoed in the upcoming autumn/winter collection, 'Don’t Walk Behind Me'. As the name suggests, inspiration was drawn from the lines, “Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow”. Attributed to the French philosopher and author Albert Camus, the quote ends with the emphatically heart-warming: “Walk beside me, just be my friend".
Flipping the coin on the East London component of 'Love Letters', the AW collection was shot in Paris, imbuing the imagery with a distinctly French feel. A quiet ode to community and friendship, the collection is built in softened layers. Classic forms such as duffelcoat and peacoat are reimagined in lighter fabrics, to encourage mixing and fluidity of personal expression, much like the celebration of acceptance and togetherness that inspired the collection.
'Don’t Walk Behind Me' is being showcased this week in Paris, and while the collection will be revealed in greater detail later into The Year of Love, it will surely comprise one vital component. Beyond timeless design, ethically produced fabrics, and a dedication to creating elevated pieces that endure, there is one ingredient that may not be found on a label, but can be felt in every Jeanerica collection: it’s love, actually.
'Love Letters' is live on Jeanerica’s website and in-store at Nybrogatan 3 in Stockholm, and “Don’t Walk Behind Me” is being presented in Paris, January 21-27.