Fashion designer Rodney Philpott heads for Newfoundland.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
FLASHBACK: Grand featured Rodney Philpott in November 2012, a few months after the fashion designer had moved his custom couture boutique to the Galt section of Cambridge. After 19 years in Toronto, Philpott and his husband, Christopher Krzysztof-John Flis (who is also director of business development), embraced their new home city. But now the pair are getting ready to relocate to Newfoundland Dec. 1.
TODAY: This is an edited version of an email interview by Grand editor Kathy Storring. For the full interview, go to www.grandmagazine.ca:
Q: I understand that you have decided to leave Galt for Newfoundland. Wow — another adventure. Where exactly are you setting up shop and why Newfoundland?
Rod: My life never has a dull moment. I wouldn’t call relocating to St.John’s, N.L., an adventure. To me, its like riding a rollercoaster. When the coaster is climbing the first hill, you start doubting your common sense on why you’re on this crazy ride. You then have a choice. Either wet your pants and cry for your mother or scream for the rest of the ride and enjoy the exhilaration of life.
My parents live in Newfoundland and they are getting older. Life gets away from all of us and I only get out to visit maybe 10 days a year. My parents have been incredible to me even when I was not very incredible back to them. They are my moral advisers and presidents of my fan club.
They never wanted anything back from me. They only told me they didn’t raise a son to waste the opportunities life provides us. I’ve lived in Ontario for 26 years, and it’s time I go home and now look after my parents.
Q: Beyond family ties, which are certainly understandable, what goes into a move such as this? Have you made several scouting trips? Do you have a sense of the fashion scene there?
Christopher: There are several logistical hurdles in executing our move. It has become a six-month action plan split between five months to relocate to St. John’s and one month to execute the transition. I came from the corporate world. This relocation is commonplace to the responsibilities I had as a director of supply chain. Rod appreciates the attention to detail I put into the master schedule, or as he puts it, “My anal retentive tendencies to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.” The schedule is working well.
Rod: We will be in the downtown core of St. John’s. We’re looking at a few properties and should have one selected by Dec. 1.
As for the fashion scene, it’s as vibrant and demanding as New York, Milan or Paris. My new market will not settle for second-best, and they are ready to invest time and money into couture fashion.
Q: Will you have a similar boutique to what you have in Cambridge or will you add regular retail to the mix?
Rod: I am going to change the new boutique. I will have ready-to-wear retail in several sizes and make my couture line more exclusive. I will continue to never penalize anyone for their size when shopping at my new boutique. It’s ridiculous when wedding store distributors ask you, “How much weight were you looking to lose before the wedding?” or when they charge you because you’re not standard size. I find it insulting to women to be charged because their height is not standard or when their body measurements are not standard.
Women are a combination of sizes from bust to hips and they should celebrate their curves rather than suit up in scuba suits (Spanx) to smooth out what fashion
magazines wrongly tell is the perfect body.
Q: What about Cambridge? You took what seemed like a risk in moving here from Toronto; looking back, was that a difficult transition or one with pleasant surprises?
Christopher: Relocating to Cambridge was the perfect thing to do. Ninety-four per cent of our customers live outside of Toronto. We heard it weekly, how stressful the traffic was, how difficult it was to find parking and the outrageous cost for parking.
Our existing niche clientele fell in love with Cambridge. Not only did they arrive on time for their fittings and consultations, they arrived early to shop at the incredible businesses in downtown Galt. We ended up temporarily storing several of their purchases from Cornerstone and Willow House after our clients realized the couch or arm chairs were not fitting into the BMW.
When we look back, we regret not moving out of Toronto earlier. We had several peers from the fashion industry dumbfounded that we were leaving Toronto. Rod still laughs when he hears me tell Torontonians that Toronto is not the centre of the universe.
We met an incredible number of people here in Cambridge. They were sincere, an open book and proud to be demanding for their retail dollar. Our clientele grew and so did our circle of friends.
Rod and I believe in each other. We believe in karma. We believe in paying it forward. The risk of moving was significantly smaller than the risk of not moving and regretting the possibilities that would have occurred.