A trend is developing whereby the sons and wives of successful Vancouver fashion entrepreneurs are launching their own retail chains to sell active streetwear with proprietary fabrics.
Much has been written about Lululemon founder Chip Wilson’s wife Shannon Wilson and son J.J. Wilson targeting this niche with what is now their seven-store Kit and Ace.
Now comes word that Marcello Leone, the son of the founders of upscale Vancouver fashion boutique Leone’s, is launching a chain of activewear stores branded RYU, for Respect Your Universe. His mother, Maria Leone, is on the company’s board of directors.
Leone confirmed with Business in Vancouver February 26 that his company (TSX-Venture RYU) has signed a lease for its first store, on West Fourth Avenue, about a block east of Burrard Street. He then plans to open a further five stores in 2016.
That’s not as ambitious as Kit and Ace’s goal of opening 50 new stores in 2016 but it is clear that both the Wilsons and the Leones see a strong future for what they call technical streetwear.
Similarities between the two ventures do not end there.
Both have ties to Lululemon.
When the first RYU store opens on September 1, it will be in the same stretch of West Fourth Avenue where Lululemon opened its first store back in 1998. RYU also has employees who have worked at Lululemon.
“I see a great opportunity in the [technical streetwear] space,” Marcello Leone told BIV. “We’re working very hard to start to build the DNA and culture for the company to clearly identify who we are.”
He describes his fashions as being for “multi-disciplinary athletes,” who work out at the gym but also want to wear the same clothes while walking, running, hiking or simply hanging out.
Leone first invested in RYU since 2011, when it went public in the U.S. on the loosely regulated OTCBB. He took the helm as president, CEO and chair in May 2014, which is when his mother joined the board.
RYU had previously operated stores in Las Vegas and Seattle and endured what Leone called “growing pains” that caused it to close those stores. It has since shuffled management multiple times, moved its headquarters to Vancouver and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.
RYU currently has no stores.
The company has 38 employees but Leone expects that this will increase to more than 100 within the year. Most of the new hires will be at the new store on West Fourth Avenue but many will also be in training for the future stores, he said.
Leone’s parents, Alberto and Maria, launched a string of Alberto’s Boutique locations in Vancouver in the 1970s. They then consolidated their retail operations, rebranded and opened their iconic high-end fashion store Leone on West Hastings Street in 1987.
Though divorced in 2005, the two continued to work together at Leone but have since sold the venture.
Their son worked at the family’s Leone store with his parents until about six years ago, when he left to launch his own businesses. His Naturo Group also owns the "mineralized" water company Trace.
DTZ Vancouver broker John Primrose, who helped Leone find the spot on West Fourth Avenue, said that the stretch of West Fourth Avenue location where the store will be located has long been a destination for those who lead active lifestyles.
“You have your Comor and Pacific Boarder and Billabong,” he said. “I think the area is slowly changing now to open up toward the Lululemon-style stores now that you have RYU,” he said.
RYU will occupy the former Boardroom snowboard shop. Its store will be on the 3,200-square-foot ground floor while an office will occupy 1,800 square feet upstairs, said Leone, who is in his late 40s.
Boardroom, meanwhile, is transitioning to new space at 1755 West Fourth Avenue, replacing the current Billabong store.
