SCHMOOZING: ELEVENTY OPENS FIRST NORTH AMERICAN STORE

[metaslider id=135888] Italian luxury fashion brand Eleventy celebrated the opening of its first North American store last week in Toronto’s Yorkville Village. The 2,200 square-foot store is the first on the continent to carry both men’s and women’s Eleventy collections, and will be operated in partnership with local fashion retailer TNT, The New Trend.

Eleventy was founded in 2007 by Marco Baldassari and Paolo Zuntini, and is particularly known for its upscale casual fashion design with a soft sartorial style. It has a network of 19 mono-brand boutiques in Europe and Asia, and is sold in over 500 specialty and department stores worldwide. The line is relatively new to North America — Eleventy USA launched in 2016, and it’s carried in upscale retailers such as Holt Renfrew, Nordstrom, Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue. Earlier this spring, an Eleventy men’s shop-in-store opened at Calgary’s Holt Renfrew, and this summer, the brand opened a pop-up in Southampton, New York.

President of Eleventy North America Geoff Schneiderman explained that Eleventy first chose to work with wholesale partners for its North American expansion, and that its partnership with Toronto-based TNT resulted in the opportunity for a 50/50 percent partnership to open a freestanding boutique — a model that could be expanded to other cities. While there are no other Canadian or American Eleventy locations currently planned, that could change if appropriate partnerships are presented.