PARIS — Sustainable couture house ArdAzAei is ramping up for its next step of development, with the nomination of Ulrik Garde Due as chief executive officer.
“Ulrik is a seasoned executive with a deep understanding of how to translate creative excellence into market opportunity,” says Johannes Falk, cofounder of ArdAzAei. “This marks a pivotal evolution for our maison. His leadership will allow us to balance our uncompromising artistic standards with the operational strength required for growth.”
A trained gemologist, Iranian Swedish cofounder and creative director Bahareh Ardakani came to couture while taking a technical look at the supply chain combined with an old-world French craftsmanship.
She and Falk founded the brand in 2018 in Stockholm and established it in Paris in 2022, with an off-schedule couture show followed by the opening of a showroom and atelier on Rue Saint-Florentin in the 1st arrondissement.
From the start, the goal was to build a house complete with couture, ready-to-wear, accessories and high jewelry, all while making it sustainable.
For her first Paris show, Ardakani told WWD her ready-to-wear would “eschew trend-based consumption” — tackling the overconsumption problem of multiple “must-have” collections a year — and be released in small, in-season drops.
ArdAzAei became a guest member of the couture federation starting with the fall 2024 couture season. Its fall 2024 ready-to-wear was its first fully Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-certified collection.
For Garde Due, who has served as strategic advisor to ArdAzAei since 2024, the company is “building something truly exceptional.”
“ArdAzAei is answering a global demand for fashion that carries meaning — crafted with precision, driven by purpose,” the veteran executive declared. “We’re entering a chapter where emotionally intelligent design must meet commercial scale, and I’m excited to bring this vision to the global consumer.”
On his roadmap is the brand’s expansion into a “complete wardrobe of ready-to-wear,” slated to be unveiled during October’s Paris Fashion Week.
Garde Due has extensive experience in the fashion and luxury space, most recently as operational chairman of the board of Cecilie Bahnsen, a position he has held for over nine years.
He is also chairman of the board at sustainability reporting and consulting firm Positive Luxury.
Previously, the executive served stints as president and CEO of American leather goods brand Mark Cross; president of the living division of Fiskars Corp., which operates Wedgewood, Waterford and Royal Doulton and other home labels; CEO of Temperley London, and president and CEO of Georg Jensen.
Earlier in his career, he served as senior vice president of Burberry; global director of marketing and sales at Cerruti, and vice president of North America at Celine.