Portuguese label Ementa makes its Paris debut

Just a stone’s throw from the bustle of Paris’ Les Halles, Ementa’s new boutique at 11, rue Montmartre gleams in green. The brand, ‘driven by friendship,’ has been revealing itself there, beyond its stained-glass doorway, since its official opening on December 6. It marks a new milestone for founders Emídio Silva, Nikita Gorev, and Raphael Castilho, whose adventure began amid Portugal’s markets.

Born directly from the skateboarding world, Ementa launched in 2007. The three friends, then students at Academia da Amadora near Lisbon, shared the dream of creating their own label, inspired by the sponsor pieces from their sporting circle. They knew little about running a business, but that didn’t stop them. They took out a loan and financed production of their first thousand T-shirts.

A retail turning point beginning in 2021

By 2021, time had passed, but Ementa remained active. That year, an opportunity arose to open its first boutique at LX Factory in the Portuguese capital. The shop was fitted out almost entirely in the DIY spirit cherished by its founders. Around six months later, Ementa opened a second brick-and-mortar shop on Rua da Boavista, near Cais do Sodré, again in Lisbon.

The third shop opened in 2023: Ementa’s flagship in Chiado, a lively district in southern Lisbon. ‘This project represented a far greater challenge than the previous ones,” the brand notes. “In 2024, we opened a boutique dedicated to collaborations with artists and exclusive collections, located right next to our first boutique at LX Factory,” it continues. The time then seemed ripe for Ementa to venture beyond the capital. On August 10, 2024, it inaugurated its fifth boutique, on Rua Sá da Bandeira in Porto- a ‘major challenge’ for the brand.

A mid-range positioning

This retail journey culminates today with the Paris opening. The brand also works with 27 stockists in total, including seven in France, one in Italy, two in Germany, and two in the Netherlands, with the remainder in Portugal. Its products are therefore available in several European countries. “Our aim is to be represented by avant-garde stockists with a sophisticated image and clear objectives,” says the brand.

Drawing on its skateboarding heritage, the Portuguese brand’s offer spans a wide range of ready-to-wear pieces, including jackets, jumpers, screen-printed sweatshirts and T-shirts, cropped polo shirts, corduroy trousers, jeans, and accessories. As a lifestyle brand, Ementa also offers plenty of scarves, socks, sunglasses, caps, a few pieces of jewellery, and bags. Its prices sit below those of brands such as Palace Skateboards and Drôle de Monsieur, even though the majority of its production takes place in northern Portugal.

Ementa now aims to maintain a rhythm of a drop every fortnight, to bridge the gap between its autumn-winter and spring-summer collections. The brand hopes to continue its retail adventure with new openings, strengthening its existing boutiques, and international expansion.