High couture meets rough, brash workwear materials
Attention to small details is what makes Moose Knuckles unique
In the battle for consumers willing to pay more than $800 for a warm winter coat, Moose Knuckles believes durability, a touch of high style and a whole lot of cheeky attitude will prevail.
A testament to that cheek: the eight-year-old company opened its first retail location in early November and it’s at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, right across the hall from Canada Goose’s flagship.
But while the company’s main — and very established — competitor relies on a sleek and cosy style, Moose Knuckles is proudly a little rougher with its workwear fabrics and sometimes brash (red fur is big this year), yet fitted look. “Our coats are tailored for urban living,” says co-president Noah Stern. (Ayal Twik is the other president.)
At a distance, bestsellers such as the Stirling Parka ($850), Ballistic Bomber ($795), for guys, and Debbie Bomber ($795), for gals, don’t look all that different from those of other brands. Up close, you can better note the tough fabric and additional detailing, including the Moose Knuckles symbol (it resembles two teardrops) and the pom-poms on the women’s coats.
For its first retail foray, the company tried to infuse the design of the space with the contrasting rustic but sleek look of its clothing. “We wanted the store to represent the brand,” Stern says.
The pricey endeavour (they won’t disclose how much they sunk into the space, but Stern heard Yorkdale staff say it was the most expensive per square foot in the entire mall) includes raw steel walls, real wood tiles on the floor and a deerskin couch (covered by clear vinyl, meant to be both practical and a throwback to a granny approach to living rooms). It’s very industrial, yet also rural Canada wild.
The idea for the company dates back to 2006, when Ryerson design grads Mark Peros and Will Poho began talking about a truly Canadian fashion line — rugged and fun.
The pair debuted coats and clothes in fall 2009. The coats sold well, and they soon added more.
By 2010, the small but promising brand attracted the attention of fashion industry veterans Stern, Twik and Donald Levy, who purchased a sizable chunk of the company. (Poho stayed on with the brand and served as creative director until 2013, then left.)
They took operations to Montreal and manufacturing to Winnipeg (Stern’s family owns Freed and Freed, which has been making coats and uniforms in Manitoba since1921, so he had connections) and started to grow the brand.
As the high-end parka market exploded in Canada and around the world, the company grew, capturing a market share.
Over the years, the company has run into drama on a range of issues.
“We’ve been in trouble a few times and we’ll continue to get in trouble,” Stern says.
In 2014, one of its promotional videos, which featured a Quebec-based fictional group of half-naked terrorists, generated fuss.
In late 2016, the company settled with the Competition Bureau of Canada over the nuances of its “Made in Canada” claims. You’ll notice this brand, and others, now specify that their Made in Canada apparel items are “made with local and imported materials.”
Overall, the company manufactures about 75 per cent of its items in Canada — those offshore items were never labelled “Made in Canada,” Stern says.
Dramas aside, the brand has been growing and now sells in stores all over the world. It runs a showroom in New York and just opened one in Milan.
The company’s been in expansion mode, gaining new retail partners around the world this year, including Neiman Marcus, Harvey Nichols and 10 Corso Como.
But without a storefront, the company had a gap in its marketing strategy.
Plus, in its own store, it could display merchandise how it wanted, test out short runs of new looks and showcase items such as hats, boots and sweaters.
They picked Yorkdale because the mall’s client base matched its demographic.
Here, customers can get into the brand’s vibe with a $95 T-shirt, $350 sweatshirt, $550 puffer or go whole hog for the paycheque-killing parkas. All part of the brash, playful and quite Canadian retail scene.