Last Tuesday night I attended my first event in ages. Although the invitation arrived in my inbox just the day before, it was hard to pass up and the buzz about the Roots x Douglas Coupland collection has been electric. So, I skipped the visit to the eponymous pop-up store and went directly to Roots’ flagship store on Bloor St. and headed upstairs to see what all the fuss was about.The space looked incredible. I didn’t recognize anyone except for David Suzuki, who paid a quick visit and chatted with a few attendees. Minutes later a few friends from the fashion blogger community showed up Kimberly Lyn and Tricia Campbell, who introduced my to the lovely Tanja Zelko, Roots’ own online voice whom I’d been following on Twitter for ages.
As for the collection, Douglas Coupland’s vision interpreted on Roots’ merchandise is lively, colourful and comes in a full-range of standard Roots’ clothing and gift items. My favourites are the Douglas Coupland Kanga Hoodie and Douglas Coupland Motherboard Square Scarf.
Roots did a very cool thing by offering their Facebook fans access to the Roots x Douglas Coupland collection in mid-June (two weeks before it was available in bricks-and-mortar stores). It’s been selling like hotcakes ever since. And I did visit the pop-up store at 680 Queen W. today – it closes July 25 so get their fast if you want to check it out. Love the pop-up store concept but the Bloor St. location is where it’s at if you want the best selection of the Roots x Douglas Coupland collection.
One suggestion I have for Tanja and the event team at Roots is next time, either offer your guests a special discount during events like these and giving guests a little takeaway to remember the event and share with their friends. Tanja was wearing a Roots x Douglas Coupland black leather wristband. Just like this red one but in black. It retails for a mere $8 (and costs Roots less to produce). While visiting the pop-up store I saw a box of posters – that would have done the trick too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go to these events expecting discounts or swag, but a little takeaway for the small number of people who attended the event would have gone a long was in helping to spread the word offline.
Have you seen the Roots x Douglas Coupland collection? If so where? What do you think of pop-up stores?
I checked out the Roots x Douglas Coupland Collection at their online store. I like the retro flair it all has... maybe it's because I'm in my late twenties, but the Kanga Hoody reminds me of when I was a child using the television converter and landed on a channel that had those SMPTE colour bars for testing. Here's what I mean, you'll know when you see the top haha. Great post by the way! (http://usa.roots.com/DouglasCouplandKangaHoody/WomensDouglasCouplandCollection//05090182,default,pd.html?cgid=womenDouglasCouplandCollection&selectedColor=0100)
ReplyDeleteCristina from FabulousSavings.ca
Thanks for the useful information.
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