Kanuk opens NYC flagship store

Montréal-based outerwear brand, Kanuk, is opening its inaugural U.S. store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood on November 23. The New York location at 75 Greene Street will be the brand’s first standalone boutique outside of its Quebec home.

Sustainable by design, each Kanuk product comes with a lifetime guarantee. The brand only recently decided to expand internationally, and it has already garnered the attention of retailers, including SSENSE and United Arrows. To pay tribute to Kanuk’s storied past and heritage, the New York store is designed to reflect the Montréal spirit by blending the brand’s legacy together with its continued evolution.

“Kanuk has locally handcrafted its coats for over 50 years. Today, we are thrilled to announce that we are one step closer towards bringing meticulous Canadian craftsmanship to a truly international market,” said Richard Laniel, president of Kanuk, in a statement. “Our new SoHo store is an exciting new chapter in our evolution from a small outerwear manufacturer to a global Canadian brand. A reinvented neighborhood centered on arts, fashion and impressive architecture, SoHo closely mirrors Kanuk’s outwear staples with an edge, and we are thrilled to have found a new home on Greene Street.”

The new store was designed by award-winning architecture studio Atelier Barda, the space is inspired by Montreal’s winter climate. Upon arrival, visitors will enter through a narrow passageway anchored by a free-standing altar as they move toward the main shopping section. The white-domed room showcasing Kanuk’s collections is illuminated by punctual and controlled lighting created by New York-based Derek Porter studio and James Clotfelter Lighting Design in collaboration with Atelier Barda. Inspired by the art installations of Doug Wheeler and James Turell, the use of light blurs the boundaries of architecture, creating the illusion of the coats being suspended around the room. The fitting also features full-height monochrome curtains.

“Inspired by Montreal’s retro-cult character, the team of designers drew from the idealistic vision of the ‘60s and ‘70s that transformed the urban face of Montreal at that time and still inhabits the city today,” said Cécile Combelle co-founder of Atelier Barda, in a statement. “The tension between utopia and nostalgia was something we wanted to explore in order to design a space that freely reinterprets Kanuk’s history as much as its current evolution.”

Kanuk’s New York boutique will debut the brand’s fall/winter 2021 Core Collection of outerwear styles. The collection features functional puffers in micro-floral prints to insulated parkas in neon citrus hues. In addition, the store will offer Kanuk’s first transitional collection for milder weather that just launched this fall.

Kanuk has been quietly introducing eco-innovations to their collections with a considered approach. Today more than 50 percent of the collection is made with recycled fabrics, and the brand is committed to increasing that percentage.