I was very excited to be invited to the PR event held by Rudsak to launch their new store in Carrefour Laval in North Montreal on September 9, 2015. Rudsak is a Canadian brand of luxury leather goods, launched by creative visionary Evik Asatoorian in 1994.
I dragged my sister for the 2 hour car ride from Ottawa and spent a lovely 24 hrs in Montreal (more on that later!).
Rudsak partnered with Emily Haines of Metric. Emily customized four leather jackets that were raffled off at all new Rudsak store openings across Canada: Carrefour Laval (Montreal), St-Catherine store (Montreal), Eaton Centre (Toronto) and Market mall (Calgary). You can follow the campaign under #RockRudsak on Twitter and Instagram.
À propos de RUDSAK
RUDSAK a été créée en 1994 à Montréal, au Canada, par Evik Asatoorian, chef visionnaire et créatif. RUDSAK est une marque niche de cuir de luxe qui offre son riche héritage local, son savoir-faire et son esthétique audacieuse au client qui recherche une connexion et désire s’approprier le mode de vie du rebelle cool et authentique. Les collections exclusives de RUDSAK comprennent des sacs à main, des chaussures et des vêtements ainsi que des vêtements d’extérieur, qui sont vendus exclusivement à travers un réseau national de boutiques, RUDSAK.com et un groupe exclusif de détaillants en Amérique du Nord.
I was invited to attend the media preview of the new Simons in Gatineau last night, that is set to open its doors at 11 a.m. this morning inside Les Promenades Gatineau shopping mall. The good news is that Simons is also scheduled to open an Ottawa location on Aug. 11, 2016 at the Rideau Centre.
One of Canada’s oldest family owned company’s, Simons is now being led by Peter Simons, CEO and 5th generation Simons family member. We had the pleasure of getting a personally guided tour of the store with Peter and had an opportunity to get cozy with Simons true Mission and Vision.
Here are 10 things that I learned last night:
Simons is one of the oldest Canadian family owned business, founded in 1812 by Peter Simons in Quebec City.
The Simons family business model is all about supporting local and doing world class business in Canada. Although this may cost them more, they are passionate about being a fully Canadian business.
Simons loves to experiment with different brands that offer a creative and fashion forward feel at a great value. These sub-brands will evolve as fashion trends do, but the Simon brands focus on remaining classic and timeless.
Simons is a large supporter of Canadian Arts and Culture and believes that they need to be integrated in their community. They also strive to support as many smaller initiatives as best as they can.
Every store has a creative Canadian collaboration, including Douglas Coupland and Julie Tremblay. For the Simons Gatineau store, Julie Tremblay has created “Metamorphique” a large scale art installation in the centre of the store, suspended between positive and negative spaces in the ceiling. This large piece was created in her Brooklyn studio and disassembled into 18 pieces to be relocated to the store. It took 1 year to create. The inspiration behind this concept comes from the patterns we see in the movement of nature, whether organic or inorganic matter. The textures and shapes in this piece also resemble the movement of textiles and fabric.
Every store is carefully designed with architecture in mind, to maximize the shoppers experience.
All clothing is available to purchase online, but their major focus is serving their clients in-store with a true Canadian customer service approach.
Although Simons doesn’t carry a specific Plus-Size line, their “Contemporaine” brand, targeted to a more mature crowd, goes up to XXL.
Simons is working on a few initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint and provide more eco-friendly options. They are looking for discovery brands that are advancing environmental and social initiatives.
Simons approach to fashion is allowing women and men to mix their brands, which is why they carry a wide range of price point and style selection.
Thank you to Emily Lynne Smith from The Best of this Life for capturing some shots of me swooning over the purse section at Simons!
Here is me pulling this look off with a custom size Rachel Sin Dolce Rose Skirt. I discovered Rachel Sin at the 2015 Velo Vogue fashion show hosted by XO Velo and had to have this skirt! I paired it with a stripe H&M top and black suede BCBG pumps to complete my look.
Getting lots of compliments at work today. What do you think of pairing two bold patterns? I say… “DO IT!”
I have been doing my fair share of “research” if you will, to connect with fellow Canadian plus-size fashion bloggers. Not just because I want to know their fashion secrets, but because I feel like fashion advice is more realistic when you live in the same climate! I want winter inspiration, just like the rest of us! It’s also nice to know that the world is really a smaller place than we image.