Eytys Returns to Footwear Roots, Relaunches With Experiential Store in Stockholm

LONDON — Eytys, the Swedish brand known for its chunky sneakers, is back with new backers and a physical store in Stockholm, set to open Friday.

The brand’s cofounder, Max Schiller, was able to purchase the Eytys brand earlier this year with help from a group of investors, including Uchu, the investment company of Nils Thams, one of Sweden’s youngest billionaires, and his brother Mikael Schiller, co-owner of Acne Studios. Karl Lindman, cofounder of Toteme, also serves on Eytys’ board of directors.

Uchu acquired the bankruptcy estate of Eytys from its creditors prior.

The brand filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of 2025 in the Stockholm District Court after years of heavy losses.

“We were hit by the supply chain mayhem that came with the pandemic. We missed season after season because we couldn’t get our deliveries, and it was the starting point to the downfall,” recalled Max Schiller, who exited the business around the spring of 2024, while his former business partner decided to keep running it.

“Eventually investors backed out, and it led to the company going bankrupt. I was actually applying for jobs as a bicycle courier. I was unhappy and miserable. I just went cycling after dropping off my kids at school to clear my head. I figured I could do that for a while, but it turned out they only accept full-time couriers,” Schiller reflected during his low time.

But an opportunity came in March, when the group of investors came to him and asked if he would be open to relaunching the brand.

Schiller said he told them that he would run Eytys completely differently from before, and he would relaunch it on a very small scale at his own pace with “good people” around.

To begin with, the new chapter of Eytys will focus primarily on the footwear category with an emphasis on craftsmanship, quality and comfort.

“When I launched the brand, I was 27. Now I’m 40, and I think this new chapter is going to be a reflection of that. They should be easier to put on. So you can go drop off the kids at school, go to work, and then you can go out to your favorite wine bar at night, rather than going to a rave party in them,” Schiller said.

With a team of five, he said the brand will focus on sneakers in the spring and boots in the fall, two categories that have been traditionally key drivers of the business.

“Each style is going to have a distinct DNA. It doesn’t necessarily need to be in the chunkiness,” said Schiller, adding that distribution going forward will be online, retail, and wholesale, with a focus on exciting boutiques, and product prices slightly higher than before.

The brand’s brick-and-mortar space in the trendy Stockholm neighborhood of Norrlandsgatan is set to bring lifestyle and cultural elements true to Schiller’s everyday life under one roof.

Designed by the Stockholm architect firm Hultman-Vogt, the new Eytys store, spanning 750 square feet, comes with an espresso bar run by Schiller’s go-to spot, Lilla Espresso Bar in Södermalm, a bookstore curated by art critic and writer Nora Arrhenius Hagdahl, and a selection of interior items from Schiller’s personal collection, such as a 1930s ponyskin-upholstered bed and a refitted 16th-century oak cabinet, all available to purchase alongside Eytys’ footwear collection.

“I feel that the pace of the industry is a bit fast. We are expected to pump up new products all the time to be able to keep the interest level up. So I want to challenge that by giving people other reasons to come in,” Schiller said.

Looking ahead, Schiller puts sustainable and authentic growth above global expansion. He said it’s unlikely that there will be another Eytys store popping up elsewhere anytime soon.

“This store that I’m opening now demands my daily supervision in the curation, replacing all the things, and making sure that it’s a space that’s alive. To replicate that in a city where I don’t live at this stage would be very hard. I want to make this work first, and then let’s see what the future brings,” he added.

Schiller cofounded Eytys with Jonathan Hirschfeld in 2013. It later expanded into jeans and ready-to-wear. In 2022, it unveiled a new brand identity that aimed to reflect its growing ambition at the time to become a fully fledged fashion label offering a wider range of products, including ready-to-wear, accessories and eyewear.