Nude Project opens first US pop-up to 'surprising' reception

Madrid – Nude Project, the fashion brand founded in 2019 by young Spanish entrepreneurs Bruno Casanovas and Alex Benlloch, has reached a new milestone with the opening of its first physical retail space in America. The store, now open to the public in Miami, clearly signals the brand's ambition to expand across the region, beginning with the coveted and competitive US market.

Designed as a pop-up, this first Nude Project store in the United States is located at 151 Northeast 41st Street in Miami, right in the heart of the vibrant Miami Design District. In this exclusive area of the city, the Spanish fashion brand now sits alongside international labels such as Balenciaga; Chanel; Prada; Gucci; Bottega Veneta; Off-White and Maison Margiela. The temporary store will remain open from Saturday, October 11, until Sunday, October 26, 2025. These dates have been intentionally chosen to coincide with the Billboard Latin Music Week celebrations, which will take place from October 20 to 24 at the iconic art deco Fillmore Miami Beach theatre in Miami Beach.

Inside the store, the Spanish brand offers a curated selection of products from its latest fashion and accessories collections. Visitors to the pop-up can explore these items in an environment that is completely faithful to the image and atmosphere of Nude Project's nine permanent stores across Spain, Portugal, Italy and Amsterdam.

The temporary Miami store features a large indoor tree and a library area leading to a photo booth. This is just one of the immersive activations the brand will offer at its first US pop-up. The store's launch follows Nude Project's strategy of testing potential markets with temporary retail spaces before committing to a permanent location. The Miami pop-up will also host live music performances during its 16-day run.

“The goal was to come to the United States, which is one of the most challenging markets in the world,” Bruno Casanovas, co-founder of Nude Project, told the local Miami team of the Efe Agency. He explained that “very few European brands come here and succeed, because the cultures are so different, they are so far away.” Casanovas believes potential growth is hindered by factors like “different languages,” which make it difficult for brands to truly establish themselves in the US.

Given this landscape, he added, “we wanted to do a test run before opening any stores and committing to a very expensive lease.” Ahead of the ambitions Nude Project has for the US, “we wanted to do a pop-up, be here for a few days, see if people knew the brand or not, and we really came here not knowing that anyone knew the brand so well,” he maintained.

A genuine brand?

Elaborating on his statements to the local Efe team, Casanovas highlighted the brand's surprise at the long queues that formed outside the store during its opening. The young entrepreneur saw this turnout as further proof of the positive public response to a brand that, he argues, presents itself genuinely and without artifice to its audience.

Nude Project “is special because it is very true to who we are,” the co-founder stated. “I don't think we are the coolest, the most fun, or the funniest.” He continued, “you see our Instagram and our social media, and it is anything but polished and perfect, but I think it is so authentic to who we are, Alex, myself, and the team of creative people we have.”

Casanovas added that the team has been “working their socks off to make this pop-up incredible,” and “that is what makes Nude Project special.” “When people talk about this concept of ‘community,’ it is very difficult to explain how a community is built, how it is created, because it is real people connecting with real people.”

However, this defence of Nude Project's “genuineness” raises two points for discussion. The first and most obvious is Casanovas' claim that the brand does not have a curated narrative or a polished image on its social media. This is clearly inaccurate, although it is fair to acknowledge that they successfully project this image in a way that is fluid and aligned with their brand values.

The second point, which undermines the credibility of the brand's narrative for its US launch, is the fact that the region is actually Nude Project's second-largest market. Casanovas himself has acknowledged this. Even considering the size of the country, this fact casts doubt on the supposed “surprise” at the large turnout for the Miami pop-up's opening hours and the claim that the brand was unaware of its popularity in the US.

“The US has become Nude's second most important market, and that prompted us to take the leap and cross the Atlantic,” Casanovas told local publication Miami New Times. “We are very excited to connect face-to-face with the community that has supported us from here.” He added, “We chose Miami because we feel there is a unique energy that resonates with the essence of Nude.” He described the city's soul as “multicultural, creative, and with a constant fusion of the urban and the artistic.” Since Miami is also “a city in the midst of a cultural boom,” it “seemed like the perfect place to introduce Nude in the United States.”

Beers with Maluma in New York

Connecting with all of the above, the seemingly “fortuitous” meeting between Nude Project co-founder Bruno Casanovas and the singer Maluma in New York also seems unlikely. After the Miami pop-up launch, the Nude Project team headed to the city to shoot the brand's next collection.

According to the brand's official narrative, the Nude team was in New York when they heard Maluma was also in the city. This led to a meeting with the Colombian singer in a SoHo brewery. The Spanish brand described it as a “random day,” during which Casanovas met “my older, more handsome, talented, and funnier brother.” We venture to predict that this meeting was far from coincidental and will likely be linked to an upcoming brand activation with the singer. If confirmed, this would undoubtedly help Nude Project achieve its goal of becoming a global cult brand.

The next step towards this goal is to establish and grow in the US and the Americas. Beyond the pop-up, the New York photoshoot, and the day of beers with Maluma, the brand has announced it will record an upcoming episode of the Nude Project podcast from the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the Bahamas, with “one of the most famous people in the world.”