LONDON — Polish fashion brand Magda Butrym, which has earned a following from the likes of Hailey Bieber, Dua Lipa, and Demi Moore, is doubling down on the U.S. this fall, pairing the opening of its three-floor flagship in SoHo with an on-calendar runway debut during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 13.
Jakub Czarnota, chief executive officer at Magda Butrym, said the push is intentional as the U.S. is the brand’s number-one market for its direct-to-consumer sales.
Prior to the flagship commitment, which will come two years after the opening of the brand’s first physical space in Warsaw, Magda Butrym last year ran a three‑month pop‑up on Wooster Street that “worked commercially well” and drew clients from beyond New York.
Magda Butrym
Courtesy
“New York has always had a special energy for me — direct, emotional, full of contrasts,” said Butrym, who launched her brand in 2014.
“The boutique is a way of bringing my Slavic world into New York, not in a folkloric way, but through emotion, craft, texture and atmosphere. I wanted it to feel intimate and layered, like a private place where every detail carries a little memory,” she added.
The designer also expressed her admiration for New York women, who don’t wait for permission from fashion. “They take a piece and make it theirs immediately, sometimes more boldly than I imagined, and that is exactly when the brand feels most alive to me,” she said.
Magda Butrym spring 2026 finale during Paris Fashion Week.
WireImage
The New York space is over 4,300 square feet and was designed by Stockholm-based studio Stamuli, and is meant to be a physical translation of the brand’s take on modern femininity, Slavic heritage, and money-for-value design. The store at 170 Mercer Street comes with 28-foot high ceilings after the brand removed the separation between the ground and first floors.
Czarnota described the move as a deliberate play of contrasts between dreamy Slavic romanticism and SoHo’s industrial character, blending commissioned artworks, hand-crocheted lace, furniture and glassware sourced from Eastern Europe with exposed brick and cast-iron details that nod to the neighborhood’s 19th‑century industrial roots.
The executive was adamant that the company is not trying to compete with nearby megabrands on fit-outs. Instead, the brand is betting on using the emotion to create “a different kind of feeling amongst the visitors, which will really get them intrigued, fall in love, appreciate the hand craftsmanship that we offer.”
The first week of opening, slated for early September, will focus on exclusive access for existing VIPs, top stylists, and key local clients, with the show expected to drive a second wave of traffic, Czarnota added.
In recent years, the brand first became a top performer on platforms such as Mytheresa for occasionwear, but increasingly it is pivoting to a 360-degree wardrobing model driven by what Czarnota called “daily statement wear.”
“She doesn’t want the plain basics for every day,” Czarnota said of her customer, adding that with the basics segment crowded from Massimo Dutti to Cos, the brand is instead offering everyday pieces with a subtle design twist — sometimes visible, sometimes hidden in things like linings or construction details — that still feel special to the wearer.
Leather and outerwear are the two categories that stand out. “We offer a very strong value perception in these categories. The quality of the fabrics, the quality of the leathers, the quality of the make — it’s exceptionally well produced,” which he argued puts the product on par with the big brands, but with “a lot more favorable” price-value perception.
The accessories business is also on the rise, riding on the logoless, quiet luxury trend. The brand is pushing bag styles such as the Barbara, a mini top-handle style born from a friend’s insistence on something smaller, and the entry-price offering Julia, as well as expanding in footwear.
Magda Butrym, fall 2026
Courtesy of Magda Butrym
Looking beyond the New York opening, Czarnota said he is already mapping a U.S. retail network that could stretch from Mercer Street to Miami, Los Angeles, and key Texas cities.
These locations, he argued, offer dense bases of returning local customers, in contrast to some European capitals where store performance relies heavily on tourism and rents are disproportionately high.
At the same time, the brand is revisiting its wholesale strategy in the region. Globally, the brand works with around 180 wholesale partners and has around 100 employees. The design operation is split between Warsaw and Milan.
Czarnota said the company has long favored top-tier multibrand partners such as Forty Five Ten and The Webster, avoiding U.S. department stores whose aggressive markdown calendars can undercut global full-price sell-through.
That policy is evolving with a tightly controlled entry into Bergdorf Goodman, part of Exemplar Luxury Group, formerly known as Saks Global, which Czarnota described as key to capturing the Upper East Side audience in Manhattan and forming an uptown-downtown synergy with the SoHo flagship.
“We will start working with Bergdorf, but on the condition that we’re not going to be available in any other doors within the group,” Czarnota added.
Hoarding of Magda Butrym’s flagship in New York.
Courtesy
Further out, Czarnota said Magda Butrym is eyeing the Middle East, particularly Dubai, with a strong local partner, as well as Asian markets, where joint ventures may be the preferred model.
In Europe, London and Paris, where the brand has been showing in recent seasons, remain targets for future boutiques, but only at rent levels that make sense for an independent company.
