Given its free spirit vibey aesthetic, it’s no wonder that Ulla Johnson’s customer is also fond of wanderlust. According to its namesake founder, it’s a strong brand tenet. Now in sync with that urge to explore, the brand travels across the pond to open its first international retail outposts: a shop-in-shop in Harrods and a pop-up at Quinta da Comporta in Portugal’s Alentejo region.
FashionNetwork.com caught up with brand founder Ulla Johnson about the brand’s expansion abroad.
Sitting in her office filled with trinkets and keepsakes— think ceramics, glass, baskets, antique textiles, and shells—Ulla Johnson quips she must have been a fisherman in a previous life. It’s an apt statement as the designer and founder is currently spreading her brand net to international waters whose locations feel organic.
“[Harrods] is the obvious choice. It’s an incredible, iconic store, best in class for everything with so much history. It feels like the natural first step, and I am excited to have this footprint in London, our number one city after New York. We have quite a well-established UK woman and a lot of opportunities there,” Johnson said, noting that the brand has a healthy London wholesale business. Australia, France, and Germany come close behind.
“We are known for our frocks, but our growing categories are denim, suiting, swim, and handbags. It’s an international clientele, and while there is regional specificity with other parts of the world, I think the London woman is the New York woman: a professional, a mother, a traveler, any or all of those things. Our woman is sort of a global nomad like me,” she continued.
The shop-in-shop is located on the fourth floor and features hand-wrapped rattan, brass rails, burlwood tables, and plinths, and a shelving unit adorned with handmade brass floret finials and accented by a custom, handmade rug from Morocco. The first ready-to-wear and accessories offerings will be from the pre-Fall 2025 collection.
A fleet of Ulla Johnson branded taxis will be deployed throughout London in June alongside activations in-store. The brand has not ruled out an international flagship for future retail. Paris is also on the table. Closer to home, the brand said it will open a store on Madison Avenue in the fall.
Of course, the Ulla Johnson woman doesn’t spend all her time in the city, whichever metropolis. Coinciding with the Harrods opening is a pop-up at Quinta da Comporta.
“Travel sits at the heart of the brand. I am very fond of the sea, summer, and the ocean. Doing something in the right way and a summer location made sense. Comporta has grown, but it’s somewhat more off the beaten path. I have a home in Montauk, and there’s a lot of adjacencies between the two,” Johnson noted, adding, “It’s a surfy sort of community too. There’s a very laid-back, non-flashy aesthetic, yet this kind of insider feeling also. So, you’ll find a lot of interesting characters, people with a great deal of design acumen, but also who want something a little more.”
The two-week event will feature limited-edition hand-loomed towels for all guests to use at the pool and spa and offer limited-edition pieces, a selection of Spring/Summer 2025 and more in sync with the region’s natural landscape, and joins both brand’s values of nature and travel. The event will also feature a Ulla Johnson X Quinta da Comporta cocktail and a limited-edition health tonic.
The craft the country is known for also spoke to Johnson and aligns with her art-centric approach to her brand identity.
“Portugal has this incredible craft: ceramics, raffia, and more. To do this capsule, which had the robe is hand-loomed, just felt very natural,” she said of the location, adding, “We also shot the campaign there. There are certain parts that look completely verdant green. You feel like you’re in Cornwall and Scotland and then the other way it feels like cliffs and Santa Fe,” she observed.
Her husband’s work in galleries, auctions, and contemporary art sparked her affinity for art.
“As a brand, we are speaking about it more. In 2020, we used Alma Allen’s sculptures in the New York Public Library for our show. We collaborated with estates like the Pollock-Krasner estate to feature Lee Krasner’s work and living artists like Brooklyn painter Shara Hughes. We do try to shine a line on New York cultural institutions,” she added.
The brand has also stood for working with artisans the world over, whether on aspects of the collection or pieces for the brand’s physical spaces.
“We worked with French artist Julie Hamisky, the granddaughter of Claude Melin, and artisanal communities in Peru. I have a project I can’t divulge for next spring that shines a light on American female painters,” said the designer, who also recently won an American Image Award.
“I’ve spent my life celebrating women and their voices collectively and making them feel beautiful. This is an incredibly intimate dialogue that I have with women. As the business has grown, I feel honored to be trusted by women this way. I also wear and wear the clothes, so what I do feels natural and personal. I don’t love to talk about myself. I much prefer to be sort of sending out things that speak to my heart,” Johnson admitted.
Working with artisans elsewhere is topical in today’s tariff climate.
“We have to look at this as an opportunity to continue to do things with new regions, but we do make things here. There’s a limited capacity for things like embroideries and hand looms. These things, unfortunately, have not been honored and upheld in the United States,” she said, noting that the situation will affect some of her long-term partners and small businesses the most.
“It’s hurting people that are the last people that should be hurt. My platform enables me to reach a wider audience through what we make and care about. A lot is going on in the US, and it is very complicated right now. I’m more committed to using my voice to shine a light on things that I think are important to speak, defend, and celebrate.”
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