C.O.F. Studio - Workwear with Manners.

There’s a kind of quiet rebellion in what C.O.F. Studio does. While much of the denim world leans on mythology - heritage this, selvedge that, a misty black-and-white photo of a miner somewhere - C.O.F. prefers to let the truth do the talking. Founded in Sweden by Per Fredriksson, a man whose résumé could double as a denim anthology, the label’s name, Circle of Friends, isn’t some poetic abstraction. It’s literal. Fredriksson built a small, meticulous network of makers across Europe and Japan: Candiani in Italy (the “greenest denim mill in the blue world”), the family-run ateliers of Portugal, and the legendary mills of Okayama. Together, they form a fellowship of craft, transparency, and enduring friendship.

Fredriksson started the brand in 2011 after decades spent in the trenches of European denim, from Stockholm shop floors in the late 1970s to working with Japan’s Kaihara Mills in the ’80s, where he helped pioneer selvedge denim production. C.O.F. Studio was his way of returning to the basics - not the nostalgic kind of “workwear revival,” but the moral ones: integrity, traceability, and respect for the people who make your clothes. Each garment bears the names of the factories and hands involved in its making, a gesture of radical transparency in an industry that usually prefers its supply chains murky.

C.O.F. Studio’s ethos might sound stoic, but there’s nothing dour about it. Their design language - spare, refined, and quietly assertive - embodies that distinctly Swedish knack for making understatement seductive. Their denim is cut clean and lived-in without theatre; their jackets wear like armour for people who appreciate craftsmanship but have outgrown the performance of heritage. It’s what happens when Scandinavian restraint falls in love with Italian precision - minimalist, but never meek.

Take the Worker Jacket in Double Twisted Twill - Sand, a study in subtle swagger. On paper, it’s a humble workwear piece: straight fit, patch pockets, chest pocket with a button. In person, it’s the sartorial equivalent of a raised eyebrow - quiet confidence rendered in cotton. The double twisted twill gives the jacket a firm yet fluid hand, the kind of fabric that holds its line but moves with you, like an old friend who knows when to listen. The Sand tone sits deliciously between beige and camel, evoking the walls of a Lisbon atelier or the pages of a well-loved Moleskine - subtle, sophisticated, and forgiving under any light.

It’s a garment that straddles worlds: part utility, part urban ease. One moment it’s a companion for a stroll through Stockholm’s Södermalm; the next, it’s at home draped over a linen shirt in Milan. The fit is democratic but intelligent - roomy enough for motion, structured enough for a bit of attitude. You could almost imagine Le Corbusier sketching blueprints in it, or David Hockney painting poolside - both men immune to trend, both irreverently immaculate.

The double twisted twill is itself a quiet manifesto of C.O.F.’s philosophy. Twisting the yarn twice might sound like textile trivia, but it’s the secret to the jacket’s subtle resilience - a weave that resists wear without feeling rigid, dense without being oppressive. There’s no contrived patina, no faux-aging - just the real thing, earned over time. In an age of pre-faded sincerity, that kind of honesty feels almost rebellious.

Fredriksson has been vocal about not wanting to make another “heritage” brand. “I can’t see why the world needs another U.S. workwear replica,” he once said. Instead, he envisioned something purer: jeans and jackets that nod to tradition but speak in a contemporary accent - pieces made for the discerning urbanite who might shop in heritage stores but lives very much in the present. His designs are functional, yes, but they also carry the rare luxury of proportion - garments that flatter without flaunting.

The result is a brand that doesn’t shout about its values - it simply embodies them. Every pair of jeans, every jacket, every stitch is an act of quiet intention. And that transparency, that almost old-fashioned decency, feels subversive in fashion’s age of noise. The Circle of Friends isn’t a metaphor - it’s a working model of how fashion could operate if everyone involved was treated as an equal partner rather than an invisible cog.

The Worker Jacket in Sand captures this philosophy perfectly. It’s workwear without the cosplay - the grit distilled, the function refined. It’s not trying to convince you it’s authentic; it just is. Pair it with raw indigo denim and scuffed leather boots and it channels a kind of European pragmatism. Wear it over charcoal wool trousers and a turtleneck, and suddenly it’s architectural - less “on the job” and more “on the board.”

C.O.F. Studio doesn’t chase nostalgia or novelty. It’s the rare brand that operates in the present tense - timeless, not dated; confident, not performative. It reminds us that real luxury doesn’t announce itself - it lingers, quietly, like a perfectly tailored jacket that fits a little better each time you wear it.

Because when you strip away the noise, the branding, the hype - what’s left is the friendship between maker and wearer. And that, as Per Fredriksson might say, is the real circle worth belonging to.

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Words by AW.

Photo courtesy of C.O.F. Studio.