Fashionable Businesses of Scale

For our Business Class this week, we were asked to pick three fashion companies that fit the following categories: A so-called ‘cottage business’; a mid-sized business; as well as a large-scale business. The differences between the three are of scale and range from small, with perhaps one designer and retail representation in mostly local stores to a large conglomerate with several lines produced per year, penetration in several markets across the fashion spectrum and one ‘head’ designer with a big name, huge cache and many fashionably dressed minions.

For my small-scale business, my ‘cottage’ business, I chose Yaletown-based designer Jason Matlo who has been on the Canadian fashion scene for several years.

Jason Matlo made his first splash in the fashion industry when, fresh out of school, he won the 1998 Smirnoff Designer of the Year Award. Since then, clients have worn his dresses on red carpets at the Gemini Awards, JUNO Awards and Leo Awards. He also appeared in an episode of the Life Network / Oxygen reality TV series, Making it Big, winning the opportunity to display his designs in the chic windows of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City.

The Jason Matlo brand currently includes his main ready-to-wear collection, a bridal collection and a new line, Babe, which retails at about half the price of his ready-to-wear pieces. His pieces are stocked in 10 or so stores across the country with a heavy representation in Vancouver, as well as 5 stores in the Eastern United States.

For my medium-sized business, I chose Canadian designer Kimberley Newport-Mimran who is the co-founder, president and head designer of Pink Tartan.

As the designer behind Pink Tartan, Kimberly brings years of fashion industry experience and her own personal style which, she says, permeates all her designs. Described as practical clothes that can take women from day into evening, Pink Tartan has become the label of choice for many top models and A-list celebrities including Kim Catrall, Jenny McCarthy, Vanessa Williams, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kate Hudson, making it one of North America’s most coveted lines. Kimberley has also designed uniforms for the boutique luxury airline, Porter Airlines, and for hip hotels including the rooftop bar at 60 Thompson and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Tropicana bar.

Pink Tartan designs can be found at most higher-end women's fashion boutiques across Canada, internationally in Dubai and throughout the United States, including online through Saks, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales and Lord and Taylor.

For my large-scale business, I have, of course, chosen Chanel, currently headed by my own personal fave, Karl Largerfeld.

Unkle Karl fulfills his titled role of Creative Director chez Chanel with seeming ease, producing 2 Ready-to-Wear collections, 2 Haute Couture collections, a Resort collection, shoe collections, handbag collections, perfume, menswear, and the list goes on. He even shoots most of the marketing material for the historic Fashion House.

Chanel itself, of course, was born thanks to the vision and perseverance of one very hard-working Coco Chanel. The House was built on her iconic style: heavy on the tweed suit and impeccable in its construction. Karl Lagerfeld, when he took over at Chanel, brought the ideas and winning aesthetic of Coco back to the forefront with much recent success.