Hollywood isn’t a setting usually associated with humble beginnings, but for Mike Amiri, that’s exactly how things started.
Amiri has long been pegged as an outsider in the exclusive world of luxury fashion. Before launching his brand from a basement studio beneath a Thai restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in 2014, the designer studied law at Loyola and dabbled in K-pop Hip-Hop as a songwriter.
He got co-signs from famous athletes and Hollywood movie stars before fashion ever accepted him.
You were more likely to see Amiri on celebrities walking red carpets or tunnels in the brand’s distressed, skinny rock n’ roll-inspired denim than in the pages of high fashion magazines.
The brand has shed that outsider label over the years. Amiri has shown at Paris Fashion Week since 2018 and, while the brand is independent, it has the backing of Renzo Rosso’s OTB Group, which took a minority stake in the business in 2019. Amiri surpassed $300 million in annual sales last year, with 31 stores on four continents and plans to open 10 more this year.
But it’s a 6,500-square-foot space on London’s New Bond Street slated to open in April where Amiri plans to take its place alongside Europe’s luxury giants — literally. The brand opened a store on Milan’s via della Spiga last November, but now it is setting its sights on the most expensive stretch of retail real estate in the world, according to a November analysis of average rents by Cushman & Wakefield. Amiri’s next-door neighbour will be LVMH-owned Rimowa; Emporio Armani is across the street. Celine, Fendi, Brunello Cucinelli and a slate of other big, mostly European luxury labels operate flagships a block or two south.
Few other independent brands can afford this neighbourhood (Jacquemus, another fast-growing independent label, is an exception). The weight of that isn’t lost on Amiri. He called the moment “surreal.”
“It validates our vision for the brand, and my vision for myself. My legacy as, not just an American designer, but as an international luxury designer,” Amiri said.
Its presence on Bond Street is the next step in a long-running globalisation strategy that has been underway for years. It’s the next step for the brand in positioning itself among the titans of the fashion industry.
“It seemed far-fetched for a lot of people,” Amiri said, reflecting on his brand’s rise. “We were the first Americans since Ralph Lauren and Tom Ford to open on Rodeo Drive. Now, we’re doing that same thing internationally. It’s working.”
Exporting Amiri’s America
Amiri is setting its sights on global expansion at a moment when American fashion is on the upswing. While the US itself has seen its popularity plunge across much of the world since President Donald Trump returned to office, the country’s contemporary and luxury brands are thriving while some European rivals’ growth has stalled amid a global industry downturn.
American brands are typically built around nostalgia, focusing on lifestyle and distinct cultural aesthetics. That has been a formula for success for classic American brands over the past few years like Ralph Lauren and Coach. Amiri hasn’t been around as long as many of those brands, but fits in with that crowd, albeit at a higher price point.
“This trend has been prominent and long-lasting in menswear for some time now,” said Judd Crane, executive director of buying and brand at Selfridges. “Amiri owns it well.”
Amiri has found success by keeping its LA foundation in its design ethos and aesthetic across the board. Its Milan store was designed with Hollywood in mind, and the Bond Street store will adopt a similar look. Its Autumn/Winter 2026 Paris Fashion Week show was inspired by Laurel Canyon, the Hollywood Hills neighbourhood that gave rise to the classic rock aesthetic.
You can still buy the foundational pieces that were key to Amiri’s early success and its rocker aesthetic. Denim remains a big seller, though the designer says that it’s become harder to keep it front and centre as a hero product for the brand because of how quickly the trends around it shift. “It’s quite the elusive foundational category,” Amiri said.
The biggest thing separating Amiri from other booming American labels like Ralph Lauren is price, which is closer to European luxury brands’ price points. This is typical for a brand like Amiri, which makes a majority of its ready-to-wear and leather goods in Italy. Its denim is still made in the US and its footwear is mainly produced in Vietnam.
Its core denim styles range from $750 to $1,190. Classic tops include tees, starting at $450 and oversized hoodies for as much as $850. The brand’s classic Amiri-branded leather jacket is available for $2,490.
“There’s something very relatable to American shapes, American clothing,” Amiri said. “I think our strength is looking more American and embracing that fact, but still executing at a European luxury level.”
It’s almost the inverse of what Hedi Slimane — one of Amiri’s inspirations — brought to Saint Laurent in the 2010s when the designer was based in Los Angeles. Slimane brought a punk rocker aesthetic to a European luxury house through cropped leather jackets and denim. Amiri’s foundation is similar, but he’s transforming it and exporting it to international audiences.
“You can see it in the refinement of the silhouettes, the fabric choices, and the overall styling,” said Brittany Hampton, a Los Angeles-based creative director and stylist. Hampton has worked with several athletes throughout her career and has tapped Amiri for some of their looks. “There’s a stronger emphasis on tailoring and versatility that speaks to a European luxury audience. It feels more international now.”
The International Endgame
As a billboard for the brand, Bond Street is hard to beat. Successfully operating a store there is another story. Luxury retail in London has suffered following the UK’s ending of value-added tax refunds for tourists in 2021. Sales on Bond have slowed steadily as a result. The absence of tax-free shopping cost London’s West End £310 million ($417 million) in unrealised sales for the first half of 2025 alone, according to New West End Company.
Despite the luxury strip’s struggles with sales declines affecting brands up and down the street, Amiri believes this is exactly where his brand needs to be.
“It is a cultural intersection. It’s very important for Europe,” he said. “Not only just Europeans, but they have Middle East clients, American clients. It’s another flag to plant.”
Amiri said the company typically targets a two-year return on investment when it opens a new location like this one. Amiri declined to comment on the plan for the new Bond Street location, specifically, but said the brand typically underwrites its locations in European luxury markets with “strong revenue expectations that support long-term, sustainable growth.”
Amiri’s ultimate goal is exporting its American vision and aesthetic to a global audience — not just in Europe, but in the Middle East, Latin America and beyond. While the US has continued to be the foundational market for the business, Amiri said that he’s hoping to increase the brand’s international presence to around 40 percent of the business’s total sales over the next few years.
As the brand has shifted its focus to international markets, it’s bringing new products with it. In May 2025, following the advice of Tom Ford, Amiri worked with artisans in Fukui, Japan, where some of the world’s most high-quality eyewear is made, to craft the fashion house’s new luxury eyewear line. It partnered with Selfridges in London to open a beach-style pop-up to launch the line neighbourhoodexclusively before the product reached other high-end retailers. While he declined to provide exact figures, Amiri said the brand is tripling its eyewear investment in 2026.
Amiri has also continued to expand its offerings in womenswear, handbags, footwear and other accessories. Hampton says that’s the right play for the brand as it looks to reach more consumers.
“The next step is continuing to deepen the lifestyle space. More intentional accessories, footwear, and experiential retail moments,” she said. “I’d love to see even more personalisation and storytelling.”
Between its new locations, its new products and the overall shifts in the brand’s design language, Amiri says the brand has hit a real “sweet spot” lately.
“We’re very much in the zeitgeist, where we went from being a brand that was very popular very fast to a brand that is kind of growing very responsibly with a strong foundation,” he said. “That’s always what you want when you’re building.”
