Amsterdam-based Extreme Cashmere touched down in New York City just in time for the holiday shopping season. Founded by Saskia Dijkstra in 2016, the luxe brand, which has garnered a cult-like following, on Thursday opened the doors to its first NYC pop-up store in the Upper East Side at 694 Madison Avenue.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to be here for two months before the holidays. It’s nice because we want to dress everybody, and there’s a lot of different kinds of people walking into the store,” Dijkstra said of the neighborhood’s shoppers, who had already been coming into the pop-up before its grand opening to shop. “It’s nice because people say, ‘Welcome to the neighborhood,’ so we feel like a local.”
Inside Extreme Cashmere’s New York City pop-up store.
Courtesy of Extreme Cashmere
Dijkstra added that while visiting the Big Apple, she and her team have enjoyed going out to dinner — noting their experience at the new Casa Tua was very nice, as well as spending afternoons grocery shopping in between preparing for the store’s grand opening.
True to its DNA, the temporary shop was designed with sustainability in mind and features an in-store cashmere care station for customers to bring existing styles in to be refreshed. The shop’s intimate, cozy feel (designed and built out by Dutch design Studio Uku) comes through in its cream fabric-tented walls and ceiling, and wooden Eames chairs, while the brand’s playful sensibility and keen eye for color is reflected in the vibrant red via painted floors and industrial beams that garments hang from.
Inside Extreme Cashmere’s New York City pop-up store.
Courtesy of Extreme Cashmere
The store, which will be open until late December, offers its genderless and unisize cozy cashmere fashions. New styles from the brand’s Edition 30 collection include sequin-adorned pullovers; hand-knitted cardigans, a variety of great striped knits, and a full-zip sweater, which Dijkstra noted has already been a favorite among male customers who have requested the item after eyeing it in the store’s front window. In addition, Extreme Cashmere’s bestselling core styles, such as the Crew Hop, the Bourgeois and the Kid, are available alongside a curation of New York exclusives.
To celebrate the opening of the store, the brand held an intimate evening cocktail with special crudites by chef Pierre Barral, who has a close relationship with the brand and was flown out for the event.
“The next step would be our own full-time store,” Dijkstra said of testing the waters for a future permanent brick and mortar Extreme Cashmere store in NYC through the holiday pop-up. “Of course, we love New York.”
