This unknown swede has got more than 1 million followers on his Instagram account Menwithclass

He’s got more than 1,2 million followers on Instagram – but few recognize his name. Daniel Frank, 21, from Uppsala in Sweden, is one of the fashion world’s least famous rulers.

 ***

On the 2nd of September 2012 the first photo was published on the Instagram account Menwithclass: a man dressed in a dark suit carrying a Louis Vuitton-bag. A little more than a year later the account had more than 100 000 followers. But the success story had only just started. In November last year the account went over the magic figure of 1 million followers. The man who started the account? Daniel Frank, a 21 year old guy from Uppsala.

– It felt incredible to get such a huge response from Instagram users all around the world. I never thought it would get this big but it feels really good that it did! he says.

Today Menwithclass is the biggest personal fashion account on swedish Instagram – and one of the largest accounts in the country over all – with more than 1,2 million followers worldwide. Most of them are Americans, but a lot of them live in Great Britain and Sweden. Daniel Frank also run the Instagram account Menwithstreetstyle that has more than 400 000 followers.  Despite the huge success few people know who he is.

– When I realized that the accounts were growing at a fast pace I wanted to use it to build the brand MenWith. It has never been my ambition to make myself famous. Of the 1 600 photos I have uploaded so far, only one is of me, says Daniel Frank.

He doesn’t take any of the photos himself, instead the feed consists of pictures he finds online. The photos are carefully chosen, Daniel devotes eight hours a day to searching for and posting pictures on his two Instagram-accounts. Three times he’s hired photographers and models for his own photoshoots – but almost all photos he has posted so far has been found on other websites.

– But I don’t make money of other peoples efforts. If a brand wants exposure they send me photos that they own the rights to, Daniel Frank says.

On one occassion a photographer became upset when his work was posted on Menwithclass without his consent. But after the photo was tagged with his name he was pleased. Daniel thinks the fact that his accounts grew so quickly has made things easier for him.

– The photographers and models like it when I post their pictures because now they reach more than a million users who are into fashion.

At the end of last year MenWith.co was launched, a website that helps people find stores online where they can buy the clothes that appear in the Instagram-feeds. Today Daniel Frank makes enough money from his Instagram-accounts to earn a living  wage. But exactly how much it is he doesn’t want to tell.

– I only talk finances with my accountant…

Peder Nääs Sundemyr