Stone Island Opens First Canadian Flagship in Yorkville

Retail Insider’s Craig Patterson reports:

Upscale Italian brand Stone Island has opened its Canadian flagship on Toronto’s Yorkville Avenue.
The new store carries Stone Island’s full range of fashions and accessories for men, as well as Stone Island’s ‘Shadow Project’ collection. The brand is known for its quality and innovation, having developed more than 60,000 different recipes of dyes throughout the years. Technical sportswear design and fabrics have helped the brand gain a cult following.

Located at 104 Yorkville Avenue, the dramatic 2,500 square foot Stone Island store features large corner windows that offer a view from the street. The interior design was created by industrial designer Marc Buhre from Heidelberg (Germany), who also founded architectural firm Zeichenweg TM. The “highly functional design” includes bush-hammered stone flooring which is also used on walls, which is interspersed with through-coloured MDF and metallic mesh on a steel substructure. Furnishings in the retail space are made of black-stained natural oak. Hangers are composed of carbon bars and anodized aluminium, while shelves are in shades of anthracite.

Hilary Kellar-Parsons, who recently joined Aurora Realty Consultants, represented Stone Island in the lease deal with landlord First Capital Realty. 

The two-level Stone Island flagship is located in the 102-108 Yorkville Avenue complex that was developed by First Capital Realty to attract luxury retailers to the area. Other tenants in the complex include North America’s largest Brunello Cucinelli flagship, a new-concept Versace store, and upstairs is a spa concept recently profiled in Retail Insider called Majesty’s Pleasure. A high-end Japanese restaurant called ‘Hana’ will open next month on the lower level of the complex.

It’s the third standalone storefront for Stone Island in North America. The company also operates corporately-owned stores in New York City and Los Angeles. Globally, Stone Island operates 26 freestanding stores as well as 18 concessions. Of the 26 standalone stores, nine are in Italy including two units in Milan as well as in Rome, Florence, Venice, Turin, Verona, Forte dei Marmi, and in Riccione. Other European stores are found in Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Sylt, Paris, Cannes, London, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Stockholm. In Asia, Stone Island stores are located in Tokyo, Seoul, Daegu, and Hong Kong. 
Stone Island was founded in 1982 by designer Massimo Osti. It was created as a parent brand for his first label, C.P. Company, which was founded in 1974. In 1992, Carlo Rivetti and family, already stakeholders since 1983, bought 100% of the brands, and founded Sportswear Company SpA. In August of 2017, Sportswear Company SpA sold a 30% stake in its business to Singaporean Sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings. Carlo Rivetti is currently Sportswear Company’s President and Stone Island’s Creative Director.