TSC Shopping channel Canada CAFA
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Wow, Canadian Designers Just Got a Big New Platform

CAFA’s latest partnership is a game-changer

Well, this is major: The Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards has teamed up with TSC to create an online CAFA Shop to spotlight homegrown fashion talent. The e-com platform, which launched today, features 12 designers—including ai Toronto Seoul, Biko, Kaela Kay and Hilary MacMillan—with more brands being added this fall. Jeanne Beker, Canadian fashion legend (and former Kit cover star) will also share stories of the designers during her weekly “Style Matters” TSC show. 

CAFA president Vicky Milner says that the one-two punch is designed to move the needle on the two biggest challenges facing Canadian designers: awareness and availability. The opportunity is certainly there: TSC attracts 800,000 viewers each week and 3.5 million site visitors each month.

“We want our designers to have the opportunity to become household names,” says Milner, who notes that the pandemic sparked a desire, still burning, for customers to learn more about the people behind the products. “Our designers have amazing pieces, but they also have fascinating stories.”

 

TSCModern workwear from Montreal brand Judith & Charles.

It’s the “creativity and courage” evident in those stories that Beker is excited to surface in her show. “You’ll hear about Toronto’s Catherine Addai, a wildly creative and ambitious designer from Ghana, who was brave enough to reinvent herself and turn her passion into an irresistibly colourful line called Kaela Kay that pays homage to her roots while empowering Canadian women of all beautiful shapes and sizes,” says Beker. “We’ll share the compelling story of Judith Richardson and Charles Le Pierrès [of Judith & Charles]—two stylish people who met and fell in love on a romantic resort island, brought Parisienne style to Montreal, and built a brand and a business that has resonated with Canadian working women for over two decades.”

 

TSCThe Kaela Kay brand offers beautiful, size-inclusive pieces.

 

For years, the availability factor has been a major obstacle for designers. Once you fall in love with Canadian fashion, where do you buy it? (Sarah Power’s Made Inland site is a beautiful standout in this space.) As Beker, who has been championing Canadian fashion for four decades, says, “I’ve never really had the chance to support [Canadian designers] collectively on a major retail platform, and present a whole array of diverse, eclectic talents to consumers.”

Connecting with the TSC consumer is a major win, according to Milner. “Canada is a huge country, and not everyone lives in a big city with boutiques nearby,” she says. “With this partnership, we’re able to reach people that we may never have reached before.” 

 

TSC Shopping channel Canada CAFA
TSCMontreal’s Kim Smiley creates designer lace jewellery.

 

“At the end of the day,” says Milner, “what hasn’t changed is the need for support. We need to create excitement, tell stories and inspire people. We can’t let the ball drop.” Milner also cites the urgency of considering the next generation. “The people who are studying fashion now want to have some kind of career in the industry—we should create an atmosphere where they can. We have to keep pushing, moving forward and being there for one for another—sense of community, supporting with one another, collaborating with one another. It’s the only way forward.”

The full list of designers in the first CAFA Shop is an exciting mix of apparel, accessories and jewellery: ai Toronto Seoul, Biko, Brass & Unity, Cat Janiga, Hilary MacMillan, Judith & Charles, Kaela Kay, Kim Smiley, Lamarque, L’Intervalle, Poppy Finch and Sully & Son. The next drop hits in October. 

 

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