Aritzia? The Super Puff, anyone? Melina pants?
Okay, I’m done trying to sell the most popular Aritzia items. In this edition of Her Campus Carleton’s History of Fashion segment, we are going to take a close look at the history of what is currently one of the most famous Canadian clothing brands in North America: Aritzia.
Artizia was founded as a women’s fashion brand in 1984 by Canadian entrepreneur, Brian Hill. Hill founded the upscale clothing store brand in Vancouver B.C. where it opened its first store at the Oakridge Centre shopping mall.
The idea behind the Artizia brand was to provide Canadians with “beautiful clothes in aspirational spaces with exceptional service.” The Hill family wished to provide a variety of clothing brands within their store and that is what they have done. Within their stores, Aritzia sells in-house brands like Wilfred, Wilfred Free, TNA, Babaton, Sunday Best, Main Character, and the famous Super Puff Line, as well as brands like Citizens of Humanity, New Balance, Rag & Bone, Levi’s, and AGOLDE.
There are currently 101 stores in North America, with 68 of those being in Canada (two of which are in Ottawa) and 33 of them being in the United States, with the brand’s 13,000 square-foot flagship store being located in Manhattan. Other than the in-person stores, Aritizia has also developed a successful online shopping website that has been extremely successful during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A brand that started as a small store in the Oakridge Centre in 1984 has quickly become one of North America’s most popular and successful clothing brands. I think we can all say we are thankful Brian Hill took the risk to start his Canadian-born store to give us Aritzia.
Source: https://www.aritzia.com/en/aritzia/about-aritzia/about-us.html