Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
He describes the luxury apparel market as a three-legged stool: Handbags, footwear and - the up-and-comer - outerwear.
It's that last leg that has industry veteran Victor Luis investing in Canadian upscale parka and sportswear brand Moose Knuckles.
“Outerwear is a $10 billion or more global opportunity that is highly fragmented,” says Luis, the former CEO of Tapestry, Inc., parent company of luxury apparel juggernauts Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, in a video interview from New York.
“There's a lot of little brands but only one or two big brands. The opportunity for us to take market share and grow with the tremendous amount of energy that is behind the category and truly become a leader in the space is very substantial.”
Luis was named executive chairman of Moose Knuckles earlier this month after making a “significant investment” in the private company, joining institutional investor Cathay Capital as an operating partner.
For co-CEOs Noah Stern and Ayal Twik, the financial backing from a titan of fashion serves as a vote of confidence in the brand.
“To be able to attract someone of Victor's pedigree and obvious talent and most importantly passion is an affirmation to us and the brand of what we've been able to accomplish thus far,” Twik says.
Moose Knuckles has grown by 50 per cent for the last five years, with a nearly triple-digit increase in direct-to-consumer sales in the past year alone.
The Montreal-based parka maker is available in more than 30 countries at premium department store chains like Selfridges, Holt Renfrew, Saks Fifth Avenue, Isetan and Lane Crawford.
It's also steadily building out its own standalone retail locations. Moose Knuckles opened its flagship store at Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre in 2017 - right across from competitor Canada Goose - and now has 11 brick-and-mortar locations.
While the brand operates in the same space as companies like Canada Goose and Nobis, Moose Knuckles markets to a more “youthful audience,” Twik says.
“We're an edgy brand,” says Twik, who got his start sweeping floors and stocking shelves at his family's wholesale apparel business in Montreal's garment district.
“We saw luxury outwear getting quite strong and we saw a position where we could take it in a more youthful and irreverent way.”
The idea is to make outerwear that serves as “the new handbag” for the next generation of luxury shoppers, he says.
Part of the equation is perfecting its parkas, jackets and bombers.
The challenge for the company's design and engineering team was to make the warmest coat on the market that doesn't look like a sleeping bag, Stern says.
“They found a way to deliver what is rated as the warmest parka among our competition in the world,” says Stern, who started in the apparel industry at the age of eight working in the shipping room of his family's Winnipeg outerwear factory.
“But it still has a very sexy, modern, tailored fit.”
The parkas range in price from $995 all the way up to $1,424 for the women's Mont Joli parka, which comes with a 24K gold-plated Moose Knuckles logo.
The company's sportswear starts at about $120 for a T-shirt or hat up to about $390 for a zip-up hoodie sweater.
But beyond the design and construction of the apparel is the brand's youthful appeal and cheeky image, qualities it cultivates through influencers, social media and carefully crafted marketing campaigns.
For example, Moose Knuckles has tapped musical artists such as American rapper Young Thug and singer Kehlani to take part in recent campaigns.
“We're constantly trying to drive relevance culturally with those people that are our fans,” Luis says.
While Moose Knuckles' advertising is savvy, growth has also happened organically by word-of-mouth, especially in Asia.
The company's sales in China, where it currently has three stores, grew by a meteoric 1,200 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
“There's tremendous opportunity to grow in what is the single largest market for luxury goods in the world, which is in Asia, and within Asia, of course, the opportunity being China,” Luis says.
The brand will continue to partner with department stores around the world, but is increasingly focused on building its own stores, with another 10 slated to open by the end of 2022, Stern says.
“We're able to tell a story in our own stores, a unique and all-encompassing immersive story that we can't tell when we are carried by a great retail partner,” Stern says.
Twik adds: “We're able to take that more irreverent spirit and export that to the world.”
Still, despite the company's plans to continue its rapid growth as the economy reopens from COVID-19 shutdowns, it faces many of the supply chain issues confronting the retail industry around the world.
But Moose Knuckles has a stockpile of materials in Canada that will insulate it from container shortages and other issues, Stern says.
“We'll definitely be using more air freight this year than we've ever had to use because there is that massively different and longer lead time to get goods from the factories into our warehouses.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2021.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.