Even if you’ve walked up their broken escalators, grumbled about their limited hours or complained about their lack of A/C like me, the situation with Hudson’s Bay is very sad.
When Hudson’s Bay filed for creditor protection, I sat down with retail expert Roslyn Griner. As a marketing executive, Roslyn has worked with major brands like Coty, Hanesbrands and Reitmans. She’s also a fashion and beauty content creator (@howrosdoesit) with over 100K followers.
Toronto might be going through a heat wave, but inside Sears Canada’s media preview, it seemed like the holiday season is fast approaching. In other words, it’s not too early to start preparing a wish list or thinking about how you want to decorate your home.
In an effort to position themselves as fashion-forward, Sears is going to start selling a few very recognizable footwear brands, namely Circus by Sam Edelman, Unlisted by Kenneth Cole and Fergilicous by Fergie. These new shoe collections will be available in September and as long as you have enough storage space, I say go for it! I love my Sam Edelman ankle boots, but I never expected Sears to carry their products. I commend them for making a strong effort to keep up with the latest trends while offering affordable options.
It’s a lot easier to think positively about winter when you’re surrounded by all things red, black and white—my favourite colour scheme! What excites you about shopping for the holiday season?
Photo Source: ELLE Decor
Style icon Iris Apfel initially entered my radar as a blogger when I interviewed a former Sears employee for my Behind the Brand series. The new documentary Iris portrays her lifestyle as a collector of couture and costume jewellery.
With support from her husband Carl, Iris fills her apartments (and a storage locker) with pieces from around the world that reflect her eclectic yet stylish taste. Their residences look clean, but purposefully cluttered. In addition to garments and accessories, they also have a large collection of books. Iris prides herself on knowing what’s happening in economics and politics. She recognizes how fashion trends reflect historical events and has lived long enough to confirm that eventually everything becomes trendy once again.
It’s one thing to “Like” a retailer on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
It’s quite another to learn about who promotes which clothes belong in your closet.
Position: Styling Sample Coordinator
Employer: Sears
Education: Fashion Communications, Ryerson University
Favourite blogs: Worn Fashion Journal, The Man Repeller, Jak and Jil, Garance Dore, Style Rookie, ModCloth, Refinery29
Favourite mobile app: The Collection – New York Times Fashion
Style icon: Iris Apfel, Jackie O, and my Grandmother
Professional role model: Grace Coddington (Creative Director of Vogue), Alexa White (of W) and ModCloth.com founder Susan Gregg Koger
In 140 characters or less, why can we be optimistic about the future of Sears?
Sears is focusing on gaining back the trust of its customers. It’s a matter of getting back to basics, and putting value and quality first.
What do you enjoy about working for a retailer, rather than a fashion designer or magazine?
Working for a retailer was a big to do on my fashion professional checklist for a number of reasons. I think that the experience I have had in working from both other perspectives was not really fully developed until coming into this environment. Seeing how initiatives get put into place in this kind of world is so different. I like this environment because it pertains to the realistic expectations of shoppers. Fashion magazines are about taking clothes and making them into a story to portray a theme for the season. And working for a boutique fashion designer was geared towards pleasing a very particular kind of customer and style. In this world of mass retail we also develop and market brands and a story or theme for the season, but the customer base is so much larger that I felt that it was extremely important to me in my career to understand that relationship as well.
Sears in particular was enticing for me to work for because it presented a lot of opportunity for growth within company. As a company Sears is very nurturing of its own talent – there are programs in place like the Future Leaders Program for Buyers that trains and develops the skills of employees.
