Toronto designer Philip Sparks has found a more permanent home for his "traveling trunk show" store concept, providing a more visible storefront space in which to peddle his made-in-Toronto menswear.
Though he originally envisioned his store concept as a “a traveling trunk show” through a number of the city’s neighbourhoods, designer Philip Sparks has already found himself planting roots at what was only supposed to be his second stop along the way. (The first was at Smash in The Junction.)
Sparks’ attachment to the tiny space at 63 Ossington (just north of Queen) is hardly shocking, mind you, as he already calls the neighbourhood home. “I live around the corner,” he says, adding that the proximity of his studio and where all of his goods are manufactured certainly doesn’t hurt either, “I work around the corner [at the Burroughes Building] and all [the merchandise is] made on Spadina at Dundas.”
In fact, Sparks first began selling to the public directly in his Burroughes Building workspace, and it was the success of this venture that convinced him to establish a more accessible brick-and-mortar presence. “We’ve been open on Saturdays at our studio on Queen Street up on the fifth floor for about three years now. We started to have a larger and larger group of people who were willing to buzz in, come up to the fifth floor and come shopping on a Saturday,” he explains. “It was only six hours a week that we were doing that, and that was going well for us, so we wanted to have a street presence without going into something that was 2,000 square feet.”
As for just how long Sparks’ retail experiment will carry on, who’s to say? “We got asked if we would like to stay here [on Ossington]…it was for a week initially, and things have gone really well, so we’re here until at least the end of December—it’s indefinite” says Sparks.
Beyond being a more visible facility from which to hock his wares, the Ossington store provides Sparks with the opportunity to present his designs on his own terms. “It’s great to be able to present the whole collection the way we want to present it and have everything available that we want to” he says. In the past, much of his public presence was first filtered through buyers’ selections at the wholesale level, which could at times reveal only a narrow segment of the overall picture. “Everyone was just buying shirts and jeans, and the basic, safe stuff,” he explains. But now “what we’ve been selling the most of is suits—it’s been nice to know that I can design those things and it’s something people want and have a place to sell it.”
And this is a good thing, as one of Sparks’ strong points is certainly his suiting. In many ways, a number of his suits this season—with their heavy fabrics, three buttons in a high stance and patch pockets—convey hints of Dickens and Deadwood (“it’s more a turn of the century reference for me,” he says) but without ever devolving into costume.
In fact, historical references have often come into play for Sparks, with research comprising a major component of his design process. “In our first season, I sold a lot of these pea coats with a triple vent in the back and they were based on old pattern drafts that I found that were early 1900s military,” he recalls. “The way that they were made then isn’t practical at all for now, but we’ve been taking those details and understanding how they did things and reworking it so that it works for today. We’ve been calling it ‘modern nostalgia.’”
But this approach shouldn’t be confused with rigidity or an overly serious philosophy. “I hate to say ‘whimsical,’” says Sparks, “but I want it to be fun, I want to have fun doing it—I don’t want it to be too serious. Fashion isn’t a life or death situation, you should enjoy it, you should enjoy what you’re doing and you should enjoy putting yourself together in the morning. That being said, I still try to take each piece seriously and try to make sure that everything is wearable and understandable and well-made.”
And part of this emphasis on creating quality garments has meant manufacturing in Toronto. “It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to manufacture here, but I really don’t want to see that lost,” he says. For Sparks, manufacturing here is not solely a question of quality, but an integral part of his design process. “Part of the creative process for me is the development of the product…having it put together a certain way and being in the factory. I’m very hands-on throughout that process. If you lose that here then all you’re doing is making up a spec and shipping it off to wherever and you better hope that whatever comes back is acceptable for you.”
Being hands-on with the people who are making his garments also allows Sparks a certain amount of give-and-take, enabling him to ask “What are the rules? What can I do?” instead of settling for what he already knows is possible. “If you’re just sending something overseas,” he reasons, “maybe you’re just copying things that have already been done because you’re not in the position to try something new.”
Access to local production isn’t just important for those, like Sparks, who are already a part of the industry. “There’s 200 fashion graduates just from schools in Toronto alone every year,” he says, and for them local production is a vital part of the equation, as manufacturing overseas is just not an economic option. “The kind of volumes you’re looking at are unattainable by most independents,” says Sparks. “If you take away the opportunity for someone to start small by making it here with lower volumes and build…” Well, what opportunities will they have?
End note: Should you find something in Sparks’ Ossington store but they don’t have your size or the fit is a little bit off, don’t fret, as there’s a certain amount of just-in-time manufacturing at play here. According to Sparks, “as long as it’s based on a style that we’re currently offering, if we don’t have a size or there’s something specific that a customer needs fit-wise, then we will do that…as long as we have the materials available.”
