Vancouver-based leisurewear retailer Kit and Ace continues to chip away at its plan to open at least 30 new stores in North America in 2015 and on May 12 announced that it will open a store in Victoria this summer.
“Victoria has a deep-rooted creative hub, framed by the West Coast elements we know and are inspired by,” said Kit and Ace principal and brand director JJ Wilson.
Wilson told Business in Vancouver earlier this year that his store, which designs and develops technical luxury apparel made from proprietary fabrics like machine-washable cashmere, could open as many as 50 stores North America this year .
The venture launched in Gastown in July 2014. Within a few months, Wilson and his step-mother and co-principal Shannon Wilson had determined how their stores would look and took to ramping up expansion with stores in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Toronto opening simultaneously in early November.
Another opened later that month in New York; a San Francisco Kit and Ace opened in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Family patriarch and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson is helping bankroll the venture.
On March 19, the company confirmed 10 more locations across North America, including a second Vancouver location.
Wilson also anticipates that his retail chain will have a presence worldwide this year.
“There will also be stores in Tokyo, London, Sydney and Melbourne,” he told BIV earlier this year.
