A Bowen Island-based fashion designer is bringing his popular designs and artwork to North Vancouver for a limited time only this month.
Raif Adelberg, a hot commodity in high-end American retailers Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman, is featuring his locally made clothes at a pop-up store near Lonsdale Quay.
“I’ve had retail stores in the past in Vancouver and basically I’m used to being a Canadian designer but I don’t really sell to any Canadian stores,” says Adelberg. “So I thought it would be nice to do something back in Vancouver.”
The store is located at 139 Lonsdale Ave. in a building that Adelberg says is to be torn down. Adelberg’s business partner Jillian Henderson and her husband Steve, who owns the building, made the spontaneous decision to turn the spot into a pop-up store.
“We thought ‘we have some inventory, why don’t we do something for the holidays’ and so that’s what we did,” he says. “It was kind of quick.”
Adelberg says the response so far has been very positive.
“There’s been quite a few people coming through,” he says. “The price points are relatively high but everything is 60 per cent off.”
Discounted prices range from $116 to $864.
The selection includes cashmere toques, scarves and cardigans, as well as Adelberg’s artwork, pieces from his Deadboys Clubhouse punk collection and some of his home accessories, including pillows and blankets.
Adelberg says he started in the fashion industry at a very young age.
“I grew up in the industry. My father was in the fashion industry and my mother was an interior designer and art collector and things like that,” he says. “I started, in 1989, my own business and have been doing it ever since.”
One of the primary materials that Adelberg works with is cashmere, including Loro Piana and Cariaggi Italian.
“I like the idea of using the yarn and basically the idea of knits; it’s something that is Canadiana — hand-knit sweaters whether it be curling sweaters or whatever,” says Adelberg. “But cashmere is kind of a commodity the same as gold and silver; it’s sold by the weight so basically it’s X amount of dollars per kilogram of cashmere but at the same time those natural fibres can be broken down and re-spun into yarn again.”
He says he likes the idea of having less waste when using cashmere, rather than other textiles that have left-over fabric.
“This is basically yarn so when you knit a sweater it’s done, it’s just clipped, there’s no real wastage,” says Adelberg. “I like the idea of utilizing those things.”
Besides cashmere, Adelberg says Gore-Tex is another fabric he would like to work with.
“I’m looking at different bonding fabrics too, whether it be cashmere and Gore-Tex bonded or there’s wind systems and things like that where the actual fabric is coated,” he says.
Adelberg is currently working on his Fall 2014 collection and will also be doing a show in Vancouver in February.
The Raif temporary retail installation is open seven days a week until Dec. 24. See the full collection by clicking here.
