Rein Love

A lifestyle brand born of music and community

Rein Love

Born out of Tromsø’s music scene back in 2014, the lifestyle and clothing brand Rein Love keeps community close to its heart. With a physical space in the heart of town—and a recent feature in a major movie—it’s receiving a lot of international attention.

When we connect to Eirik Simonsen over video call, he is sitting in the Rein Love store on Storgata, Tromsø, sipping Norwegian-roasted, home-brewed coffee.

“If you were really a guest here with me today, I’d offer you some coffee and show you round,” the founder and creative director of Rein Love says.

“This place is not just a shop, but the home of the Rein Love brand—and our customers are not customers as such, but guests.”

While we may not be there in person, Eirik gives us a tour of the space nonetheless—from the “backyard” area where coffee brews to the communal space of the main store, where events with local and international artists take place.

“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been used as much as we would have liked,” Eirik admits.

“We opened this space in autumn of 2019—and we all know what happened next. While we managed to stay open during the pandemic, we imagine this as a place for live music, community events, and just hanging out too. In the future, that will happen.”

To this end, Rein Love has been far from your conventional clothing brand since it was established in 2014. While the product design focuses on a mix of high-end fashion and street adventure wear, the team has always said that the values and vision of the brand are much more important.

“Read this behind me,” Eirik says, pointing to their brand logo. “'Don’t follow the herd. Stay wild.’—This is what Rein Love is all about”.

Eirik explains that the brand itself was born from an encounter with the idea of the white reindeer, a highly symbolic figure in the culture of the Sámi people of northern Norway.

“White reindeer are really rare,” Eirik explains. “But when they are born, they tend to be a little different—not

“White reindeer are really rare, but when they are born, they tend to be a little different—not necessarily following along with the rest of the herd. We thought that was a nice attitude, a nice mentality, and it was the inspiration behind thea brand.”

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necessarily following along with the rest of the herd. We thought that was a nice attitude, a nice mentality, and it was the inspiration behind the brand.”

Yet the symbol of the white reindeer had many different facets, the team discovered.

“Rein in Norwegian actually means pure and clean. But we also learned this incredible story from the traditional beliefs of the Sámi. The white reindeer was originally a creature who came from the sun to the earth with a message of love to all humans. Together rein and love seemed like the perfect name.”

Equipped with this brand, Eirik and his friends began to develop the designs for their first products—sustainable and organic quality clothing adorned with the deer.

“From the first t-shirts, we soon added the beanies, socks, everything. We do all the designs as a team here in the store. We don’t have different people sat behind closed doors ‘designing’. We’re all together—we really value this vibe between us, our guests, and the city.”

The brand’s designs have clearly been incredibly popular. So much so, in fact, that a film producer was soon in touch asking if their logo could be used in a blockbuster remake of the Czech/East German movie, Tre Nøtter Til Askepott (“Three Wishes for Cinderella”), a Christmas favourite in Norway since the seventies.

“The film crew had been searching for a royal symbol to be used in this movie—and our signet ring was the perfect match. We thought it was a pretty cool request. Later, when we went to see the movie, we realised the character of Cinderella was exactly in keeping with our vibe.”

So far, Eirik says, “happy and cool coincidences” have driven the brand’s growth—and he doesn’t want that to change.

“We’ve always been a brand that has grown organically. Really, just this physical home is the heart of our brand. So, I don’t really want to say, you know, in ten years we’ll be here or there. Maybe we’ll have another home abroad? Maybe we’ll be bigger? But we want to stick to our values and this city and see how things go.

“Right now, Rein Love is like a baby that has grown up and has just started school. There’s a lot of life ahead—and who knows where life will take us next?”