Eager to showcase aspects of its employment practices and local manufacturing initiatives — five per cent of the company’s products are made in its L.A. factory — company executives toured a small group of Canadian media and influencers through the expansive space offering an immersive look at operations, spanning fabric cutting and pattern-making to garment-creation and design.
“We benefit from brands over-ordering and not managing their fabric well,” Talbot says with a laugh, motioning to the wall of fabric rolls organized on tall shelving units behind her. “We do buy that back from other brands and mill partners. That’s what we call ‘deadstock.’ So, what’s fun about that is that, when it’s done, it’s done. So, it also gives it an exclusivity that you sometimes see in Ref, when a product is sold out like that.
The company, which operates on a “collection model” versus a seasonal model, sees 20 to 40 new patterns produced by its pattern-making team each week. According to the Reformation team, it’s this emphasis on sustainable style that endears the brand, in particular, to Canadian shoppers looking for fashionable pieces that have an eco-consciousness to their creation.
“Canada is actually one of our core expansion markets,” Borenstein says, adding there are plans to open in other Canadian cities in future. “Besides the fact that it’s close to the U.S., there’s just a lot of value alignment between the brand and what we’re seeing from the consumer there. And I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been so passionate about expansion.