FASHION. The ever changing, evolving beast and the natural enemy of teenage and pre-teen boys is getting a new clothing line designed here on the North Shore and aimed directly at younger males.
On the West Coast it seems the only available options for boys are skater-wear, a plain T-shirt or Ed Hardy style markings, according to one West Van mother. If a boy identifies with those options, great, but Michele Fildes doesn't think today's retail offerings for boys make the cut.
This is why she started her own clothing line called Path and Laftr Clothing Inc., designed for boys ages seven to 16. "There are no options for boys," says Fildes, creator, owner and operator of the label, which launched at the end of February. "This started because I couldn't shop for him."
Referring to her teenaged son, Fildes said he was the inspiration for her clothing line after years of failed shopping trips. "We would go out every year for his birthday and at the same time back-to-school, and we would go out every year determined to buy him things and then come back with nothing," she said. "My son doesn't identify with this surfer/skater lifestyle, and then there was just nothing else."
Frustrated and tired of waiting, Fildes literally took the matter into her own hands and began to design shirts, hooded sweatshirts and pants she felt were age appropriate and fun for her son.
Leaning on her roughly 16 years of experience as a children's fashion designer at Marks & Spencer's and Adam's and later as an apparel buyer for Mark's Work Warehouse, Fildes felt she was well suited for the task at hand.
With an emphasis on quality, Fildes is using high-grade cotton for her designs. Once she's satisfied with her ideas she sends her designs to a partnered-factory in India to be produced and shipped across Canada, including cities in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.
"In this day and age, with the environment and all the things we need to consider, I really don't think we should be buying disposable fashion," she said. "So I wanted good quality that can last."
Fildes describes her clothing as a mixture of fun and practicality, with inspiration from fashion found in the United Kingdom, where much of her family still lives.
"I love the humour that comes out of Britain, and I do think for this age group humour is very important," she said. "So, I try and bring that style, the details, bring that quality that I want here."
She plans on taking a trip to the U.K. roughly every six months, to breathe in the city's fashion and get inspired for her next set of designs.
"I shop for inspiration for colours, for fabrics, for trends, for sort of graphic inspiration," she said. "Then I come back and design it all myself. I put my colour palettes together and I work with a fantastic factory in India, and they sample and we develop the product, and then they manufacture."
In the few weeks since it launched, 10 stores across the country now carry Path and Laftr clothing, and Fildes maintains a website for online orders (pathandlaftr.com) and plans on doing local sales for those willing to come to the North Shore. She already held one in her own neighbourhood, at Gleneagles Community Centre in early March, and said it was a big success.
"People loved the quality, it was fantastic. We did really, really well," she said, guessing at about 50 to 60 people in attendance. "I was floored. I exceeded my target for the day, so it was fantastic."
Path and Laftr T-shirts are $20 to $25. Hooded sweatshirts cost between $35 and $55. Shorts are $25, and sweatpants are $30.
As for the future, Fildes is focused on breaking into the Ontario market, as she said it's been a tough sell out East. There's also the possibility for expanding the line to include children younger than seven years old as well. There are no immediate plans to include girls in her clothing line, as she says they have more options available to them.
Fun fact: Path and Laftr is a play on Cockney rhyming slang from London's East End. The idea is to replace everyday words with rhymes, such as telling kids to get up the "apple and pears (stairs)," meaning to get to bed.
Fildes said that using a brand name that hints to her English roots speaks to the style, design and humour she's trying to create.
