Reformation eyes Canada as a 'core' expansion market with first flagship opening

Eager to showcase aspects of its employment practices and local manufacturing initiatives — five per cent of the company’s products are made in its L.A. factory — company executives toured a small group of Canadian media and influencers through the expansive space offering an immersive look at operations, spanning fabric cutting and pattern-making to garment-creation and design.

“One of the things that has been so, so helpful is we look at this as a lab at this point,” Kathleen Talbot, chief sustainability officer and vice-president of operations, says of the domestic production facility in Vernon, Calif. “When we make limited collections, that can be as little as 10 units. No factory is going to take an order of 10 units, but our own factory will.

“The fact that we can do it ourselves, we don’t have a factory saying, ‘No, you need to make 1,000 of something’ … There are some really awesome things that our factory lets us do, for our customer and also for our sustainability commitments.”

Started in L.A. in 2009 as a vintage clothing reseller, the brand soon shifted to offering its own designs made with “a focus on sustainability.” That emphasis on eco-conscious fashion continues today, according to Talbot, with initiatives spanning recycled cashmere and traceable denim to its continuing emphasis on using “deadstock” materials for a selection of its design.

“We benefit from brands over-ordering and not managing their fabric well,” Talbot says with a laugh, motioning to the wall of fabric rolls organized on tall shelving units behind her. “We do buy that back from other brands and mill partners. That’s what we call ‘deadstock.’ So, what’s fun about that is that, when it’s done, it’s done. So, it also gives it an exclusivity that you sometimes see in Ref, when a product is sold out like that. We can’t actually make any more because there’s no fabric to make it with.”

The sustainability executive says a “healthy” portion of the company’s fabric used for its current designs are made using deadstock material.

“It has been cool to see how deadstock has really fit into both the design and the sourcing strategy,” Talbot says, adding that the brand works with textile mills in L.A. for many of its knit fabrics, while woven fabrics are sourced from “around the world.”

The company, which operates on a “collection model” versus a seasonal model, sees 20 to 40 new patterns produced by its pattern-making team each week.

“We make limited collections in that weekly model. We’re not just churning out disposable fast-fashion,” Talbot says. “And then, only making more based on what we do sell out of, or based on the returns’ feedback and the customer feedback.

“So, unlike a lot of brands, where 30 to 40 per cent of what they make actually never gets to a customer — which is wild — we have basically 100 per cent sell-through. Which is good for business, of course, but also, we’re designing out that waste on the front end.”

According to the Reformation team, it’s this emphasis on sustainable style that endears the brand, in particular, to Canadian shoppers looking for fashionable pieces that have an eco-consciousness to their creation.

“In Canada, we’re seeing there’s a customer who really cares about style and fashion, and feeling good and confident in clothing,” Hali Borenstein, CEO of the company, says. “Secondly, there’s a real commitment to sustainability and the way things are made. And there’s a consciousness around them that, I think, coming up after COVID, that conversation is even more accelerated.”

Next month, the company opens its first flagship location in Toronto, situated at 87 Yorkville Ave. It’s the ninth new Reformation store to open globally this year. The new Toronto flagship is said to be its second largest location after Covent Garden in London, England.

“Canada is actually one of our core expansion markets,” Borenstein says, adding there are plans to open in other Canadian cities in future. “Besides the fact that it’s close to the U.S., there’s just a lot of value alignment between the brand and what we’re seeing from the consumer there. And I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been so passionate about expansion.

“Toronto has been one of our top markets for quite some time. Vancouver is really on the up-and-up, and then Montreal is close behind.”

In addition to the new flagship location, the clothing company operates a store at Yorkdale shopping centre in Toronto, along with a dedicated Canadian ecommerce site. The new flagship features the brand’s tech-driven retail concept.

“It’s a pretty unique experience for us,” Borenstein says of the physical-meets-virtual shopping experience, which involves touchscreen shopping and on-demand changing room updates through a two-way wardrobe system. “And we kind of like it that way. We love that we can do things differently.

“One of our pillars is ‘Be brave,’ which is all about like, don’t just do what everyone else is doing. Speak up and think outside the box. And, hopefully, customers feel that when they walk into our stores.”

Aharris@postmedia.com