Is Totême a luxury brand? The honest answer, with numbers

Yes, with a caveat that matters. Totême is a luxury brand by every test that counts, the materials, the make, the price, the stores and the company it keeps, and it is not a heritage luxury house. It was founded in 2014, it has no couture, no perfumes and no logo to speak of, and it costs about a third of The Row. The honest label is premium-to-luxury, the top of the contemporary tier where quiet luxury actually lives, and this page makes the case with numbers rather than adjectives: prices, fibres, factories and the peers Coveti sells it beside.

Key facts

• Coveti median $980 across 1,518 pieces, against $2,605 for The Row, $2,795 for Khaite, $1,320 for Lemaire and $450 for ME+EM
• 261 current pieces state Italy as the country of manufacture: the bags, shoes and fashion jewellery; the fine jewellery states Arezzo
• Four flagships (Stockholm, New York, London, Los Angeles), a Paris runway show since 2024, revenue past 100 million euros by 2022, Altor as a minority investor since 2021
• Fibres: RWS wool, cashmere, double-faced wool, silk, organic cotton denim, calf and lamb leather, recycled 18kt gold; no logos, one detail per piece
• What it is not: a heritage maison, a couture house, a brand with an entry-level licensed line

The price test

On Coveti a Totême coat runs $1,159 to $7,440, a knit $252 to $2,610, a dress $520 to $4,536 and a bag $840 to $3,530. That is luxury money for the coats, the leather and the shearling, and premium money for the tanks, the denim and the jersey. The Telegraph’s own summary was 300 pounds for a knit to 2,500 pounds for the sheepskin coats. Against the peers, Totême sits just above Lemaire and well above ME+EM, and at roughly a third of The Row and Khaite. The price guide has every category.

The material test

The wool is certified under the Responsible Wool Standard on much of the range and the coats are double-faced, sewn without lining, which costs more to make. The cashmere and merino hold their shape. The bags and shoes are calf, cow and lamb leather with leather linings and soles, made in Italy, and the fine jewellery is recycled 18kt gold made in Arezzo. None of that is contemporary-brand material. What the house does not do is chase rarity for its own sake: no vicuna, no exotic skins, no hand-rolled hems, which is one reason it costs less than The Row.

The make and the stores

The construction is clean and the fit is consistent, which is the quiet test of a factory relationship. The flagships are the other test: a luxury brand controls how it is sold, and Totême opened Stockholm in 2019, New York in 2022, London in 2023 and Los Angeles in 2024, all designed under co-founder Karl Lindman, and took its collections to the Paris runway in 2024. A contemporary brand sells through other people’s stores; a luxury brand has its own.

The company it keeps

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wears it, the Telegraph called it the label that made minimalism desirable again, and its front row in Paris was Camille Cottin, Caroline de Maigret and Natalia Vodianova. Its cross-shoppers on Coveti are The Row, Khaite, Lemaire and Jacquemus, which is the luxury shelf, not the contemporary one. The brands like Totême page walks that shelf.

Where the caveat bites

Founded in 2014, no archive to speak of, no couture, no craft story of the kind the Italian and French houses tell. The seasonal jersey and swim are priced as premium and wear as premium. And the brand’s own positioning is deliberately unshowy, which is exactly why some shoppers hesitate to call it luxury: there is no logo to signal what you paid. That is the point of the house, and it is the reason the term quiet luxury attached itself to Totême before almost anyone else.

The pieces that settle it

1. Asymmetric cashmere knit in Black, $1,250

Made from 75% RWS wool, 25% cashmere, shown in black.

2. Slim ribbed shirt in Grey melange, $1,360

Made from 70% cashmere, 30% silk, shown in grey melange.

3. Structured crew knit in Black, $1,360

Made from 37% silk, 32% alpaca, 31% cashmere, shown in black.

4. Open collar wool jacket in Black, $1,440

Made from 100% RWS wool, shown in black.

5. Embroidered scarf jacket dark grey mélange in Dark grey melange, $1,550

Made from 68% RWS wool, 20% recycled wool, 12% recycled polyester, shown in dark grey melange.

6. Embroidered scarf jacket in Black, $1,550

Made from 88% wool RWS, 12% polyester, shown in black.

7. V-neck slip dress in Bloom, $1,550

Made from 100% viscose, shown in bloom.

8. Slim stretch wool blazer in Black, $1,630

Made from 96% RWS wool, 4% elastane, shown in black.

“Early on we wanted to explore ways to build Totême without investment. In order to achieve this kind of organic growth, we had to be really smart about it from the beginning. That resulted in great profit margins, similar to what big brands achieve,” Karl Lindman told WWD in 2021.

Frequently asked questions

Is Totême a luxury brand?

Yes by materials, make, price and stores, with the caveat that it is a young house without couture, heritage and logos. Premium-to-luxury is the honest label, and it sits at about a third of The Row.

Is Totême high end?

Yes. A Coveti median of $980, coats past $4,000, Italian-made leather goods and 18kt fine jewellery put it at the high end of ready-to-wear.

Is Totême a designer brand?

Yes. It is designed in Stockholm and London by its founder Elin Kling with a runway show in Paris, and sold through its own flagships and luxury retailers.

Why is Totême so expensive?

Double-faced and certified wool, cashmere, Italian leather, 18kt gold, small production runs and four flagships. The price is fabric and make rather than marketing; the house has no logo to sell.

Is Totême better than The Row?

Different. The Row is more austere and three times the price, with rarer fibres. Totême is closer to fashion and better value on the everyday pieces.

What tier is Totême?

Above contemporary brands such as ME+EM and The Frankie Shop, level with Lemaire, below The Row, Khaite and the heritage houses on price.

Read next

Totême vs The Row Price guide Our review Who is Totême?

More Totême guides

Every Totême page by Coveti’s fashion editor Gemma Deeks: How to style, Brands like Totême, The edit, Who is Totême?, History timeline, Size guide, Shoe size guide, Price guide, Where to buy, Sale, Review, Real vs fake, Materials and care, Glossary, Who wears it, vs The Row, vs Khaite, Capsule wardrobe, The Signatures, Fall winter 2026, Spring summer 2026, Coats, Scarf jackets and coats, Jackets and blazers, Shearling, Knitwear, Dresses, Trousers, Jeans and denim, Skirts, Tops and shirts, Swim and beachwear, Leather, Bag guide, T-Lock bags, Belted tote, Shoe guide, Boots, Flip flops, Sneakers, Jewellery guide, Sunglasses, Scarves, Black, Camel, beige and brown, White and ivory.

Sources and method

Checked on 18 September 2026 by Gemma Deeks, fashion editor at Coveti. Product facts, the compositions, care lines, dimensions, heel heights and country of manufacture, are the brand’s own product-page text; counts, prices and price ranges are Coveti’s live catalogue on that date and move with stock; the founders’ biography and the house history come from the brand’s own pages and the press articles listed below, each read on the date above; the size scales are the brand’s own. Where a claim could not be checked against one of these it was left out, and where the fitting room is giving its own advice the page says so.

• toteme.com, About: the house’s own description of itself, its founders and the atelier in Stockholm
• toteme.com, Sustainability: the Signatures, the design principles, the Milkywire partnership and the 2024/25 report
• toteme.com, FAQ: shipping countries, duties, payment and returns on the brand’s own store
• toteme.com, Stores: the flagship list by country
• Totême product pages: the description, composition, care, size-guide and country-of-manufacture lines of every style (1,297 pages saved between June and September 2026)
• Elin Kling on Wikipedia
• Karl Lindman on Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4959117
• WWD, With New Investment, Totême Shoots for the Stars (2021): the Altor minority investment, growth and margin figures and the founders’ quotes
• The Telegraph, Lisa Armstrong, 24 February 2025 (via Yahoo Life): revenue, headcount, the Paris show and Elin Kling’s quotes
• Vogue Scandinavia: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden’s favourite Nordic brands
• The Business of Fashion, BoF 500: Elin Kling and Karl Lindman
• Coveti live catalogue, 18 September 2026: prices, sizes and stock