Premium swimwear brands rejoice: Left on Friday will have a permanent bricks and mortar storefront in Vancouver.
Just days after launching a pop-up summer store in the 2100-block of West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano, pretty much smack in between Aritzia and Lululemon, the B.C. founded brand told BCBusiness that instead of its intended four-month run, they’ve inked a long-term lease on the Low Tide storefront (formerly a Flight Centre) and will be there permanently.
Speaking to the magazine from the new store location, co-founders (and former Lululemon execs) Laura Low Ah Kee and Shannon Savage liken the opening to a “homecoming” for the B.C. founded brand.
Until now, brand enthusiasts – and there are many – could only try on the select pieces in real life in Vancouver at a handful of retailers, including nearby Turf, the Kitsilano boutique / workout studio / café, run by close friends – who have wholesaled the line from the beginning.
Impressively, the duo and their team transformed the old travel agency space into the retail showroom in only 10 days after getting the keys on June 1.
A growing community for Left on Friday
Making their first Vancouver bricks and mortar in the iconic West 4th Avenue shopping district was an inevitability, says Shannon, who lived in Kits for more than half of her life. “I always wanted to have a store here,” she says.
“This is our OG community,” Laura adds. “We need to give them some love back.”
Left on Friday has humble roots, including appointment-only fittings (and boxes of stock floor to ceiling) in the founders’ homes, and a small showroom in Victoria.
But it grew cache quickly. It has scaled through storefronts and pop-ups in California, and eventually a 300-square-foot summer shop that just opened in New York. There’s also a summer outpost in Ontario’s Muskoka region, that opens for four months each year.
No longer just a local success story, LoF does 80 percent of its sales in the U.S., recently started shipping globally and designed garments for athletes at the recent Paris Olympics, with the promotional images running in Vogue.
What’s in the Left on Friday store?
The new Kits retail location carries the full swimwear range, built around the brand’s obsession with premium fabric and functional design.
The best-selling bottoms remain the brand’s high-rise and high-cut styles — the “High Tide” — alongside the one-piece that became an unlikely celebrity moment when Gwyneth Paltrow was spotted wearing it last summer (with the tag still on). “She didn’t cut the tag off,” Laura said, laughing. “So we knew that was ours.”
The store also features the brand’s growing activewear line, the Super Moves collection. It features tights, bike shorts, tanks, and the new A Shore volleyball short, developed after extensive wear-testing with athletes and a 2,000-person community survey.
The collection launched alongside Left on Friday’s swim line and has become the brand’s second-highest growth category. There’s also new linen dresses, shorts and button-downs, as well as UV-sun protection shirts, both long and short sleeved.
For a limited time, the store is carrying its now-viral collaboration with accessories label Clare V: a co-designed bag, accessories and swim collection that sold out rapidly after launching. It was, Laura noted, literally on the founders’ dream collaboration list before they even had a brand name.
Left on Friday
Address: 2127 West 4th Avenue, Kitsilano
