A friend of mind just landed a job at mega Swedish company H&M, training for the eventual opening of the new flagship store on corner St-Catherine and Peel. She also informed that there will be a second H&M store opening on St-Catherine East near (or replacing?) the Futureshop store. This store will hold the “young and funky” collections while as the flagship store will hold the more “mature” collections, assuming of course this is where the Rei Kawakubo collection will land in November 2008. With all the rage of H&M, I can only pray for her to keep her sanity during these first new months.

Some good news for men, there will be a new store for casual men’s sportswear at the Rockland Centre opening August 2008. The brand, Report Collection, has been established since 1999 and has been successful in establishing their brand in North America as well as Europe and parts of Asia. From the looks of it, Report Collection leans more towards the sophiscated sportswear line, not exactly your next Champions, or Foot Locker type of athletic sportswear.

Another new store that opened at the Rockland Centre is This & That Axesoir which introduces a new concept in accessorizing thy self. Slick with charcoal slate countertops, you’ll find neutral and natural colored jewelry as well as a selection of clothes to choose from. A 100% Canadian brand.

Frankly, I can’t think of a better mall to shop in, I love the Rockland Centre, new stores are always popping up, the food is great, the mall is clean and slick, there’s free parking and it’s not too crowded. Though I haven’t been able to set foot in many new stores as of late due to a busy schedule, the development of new stores in Montreal is encouraging.

I have no idea if I’ll ever find the occasion to wear such a dress, but I will. These dresses are beyond gorgeous. Images and designs belong to Andy The Anh from his upcoming Fall 2008 campaign.

Although I’m not a big fan of beauty products, and I’m sure you’ve already read it from the newspapers, but Sephora just opened two stores in Fairview Pointe-Claire Mall and Promenade St-Bruno. Why the mega french beauty store hasn’t opened one in downtown Montreal always boils down to the same problem: lack of space. Downtown isn’t very big, competition is fierce, and rent for space is high. I personally think that if the city wants to attract more commercial vendors, they will need to rethink their urban planning a little (like maybe work on making more commercial skyscrapers instead of just limiting the merchandise with tiny buildings).

Over at the Rockland Centre, La Senza is being relaunched with a “new store concept” a couple of weeks ago. The newly refurbished store is now 5000 sq. ft of bras and panties. If you’re not already aware, La Senza also sells Victoria’s Secret beauty line – my spidey senses tell me that lingerie mogul Victoria’s Secret made a pact with La Senza instead of outright overtaking it.

If you head on out to the Eaton Center, you might have noticed a spankin’ brand new store called “Little Burgundy” carrying over 80 brands of shoes and bags with a dash of cupcakes. According to Creativity Montreal, there’ll be a second store opening on Ste-Catherine this summer, is it open yet I haven’t checked, but you can scoot your bunbuns over to the Eaton Center to get a taste.

Lastly, I attended what was called a Crave Party thrown by several indie brands in Montreal at the Just for Laughs Museum. A laid back party of cupcakes, foods, drinks, raffles and goodie bags, I invited my friend along since some of the Aqua Di Lara swimsuits were on sale. Sadly, I didn’t purchase a swimsuit, they’re just really way too fancy despite having subtle colors, but is there such a thing as too sexy while being covered up? How does that work? And I’m not talking about ultimate boobie and butt exposure here, I’m talking about one piece suits tastefully covering all the necessities plentifully, yet a peep of a stomach skin here make a huge difference.

I’m not a fan of small dogs, but damn does that look cute.

I came across one booth full of dog apparels from a store called Poochey Couture. And it has the latest fashion trends for dogs, from “sushi poochie” squeaky toys to Juicy Couture for dogs (I kid you not). You may think it tacky to dress your dog, but from the album pictures of some model dogs, honestly some of those argyle sweaters look really cute! As a pet lover, you might want to check this place out, it’s amazing what people will buy for their pets. Eventhough I don’t own a pet…my boyfriend does, and it was really tempting to buy a cute raincoat for a yorkshire terrier…really tempting.

Made In Labels

I made a round at the Rockland Centre today, being a completely picky shopper. I checked “Made in” labels, rubbed the fabric between my fingers, and turned skirts, dresses, jackets and pants inside out to check what they were made of. Though now I know that some “Made ins” are completely false (produced in China, assembled in Europe, carrying the European label), it’s gotten a lot tougher to decipher what’s of quality what isn’t. Not to say that everything China is poorly made, there are different grades of quality in Chinese goods (and some of them are of very good quality), so it’s really a question of knowing your fabric, looking at the seams, the stitches, the craftsmanship. Not that I would be an expert in fabrics, but we all learn as we go right?

Here’s a roundup of what I found in some of the stores I visited:

BCBG - Lots of stuff made in China, shoes made in Brazil. Quality is to be questionable, especially at such a high price. I’ve already bought 2 dresses from them at $300-$400 a pop. One of them has sequins sewed near the neckline but it’s been dropping sequins all over the place after only wearing it twice for 2 weddings. Disappointing to say the least. Aside from the dresses, their jackets, shirts and pants, looked flimsy, I’ll have to ask my BCBG-nut friend of their clothe quality.

Banana Republic - Made in China, and The Philippines. Quality is better and appropriately priced for some of their clothes. I checked out one orange dress with a polyester lining but it looked flimsy as far as being attached to the dress itself. I have a skirt and a shirt that I’ve had for over a couple of years, so far the skirt looks worn and the black faded (lining still there amazingly), the white shirt needs constant ironing, otherwise the buttons are still on, a good sign.

Tristan – Made in China and Canada. Style wise, it’s my favorite store. They have this gorgeous royal blue crepe shirt made of 100% silk from China. Very unique texture, love the styling, the stitching looked good, but one look at the buttons and my hopes were dashed. The thin, flat iridescent buttons were badly sewn on, the first button looked like it was about to fall off. I’ve had my share of badly sewn buttons, if the buttons don’t look solid, I don’t buy them. The Made in Canada items looked better and felt nice, but I don’t know if their buttons are just as poorly sewn. I’ve also had a white shirt with organza ruffles at the cuffs, ripped off in not even a day, haven’t worn it since. Quality is to be questionable.

Mango – Made in China and Vietnam. I admit upfront: I hate this store. It’s everything a fast fashion store could ever possess. Cheaply made garments of today’s trend du jour at a pretty expensive price range. One thin double breasted cream jacket made in Vietnam cost $90 when I’m pretty sure it was made for like $5. I’ll never shop at this store.

Le Chateau – Made in China and Canada. The Canadian equivalent as a fast fashion store, and a highly successful one at that, somehow the quality appears to be better, or maybe that’s just the general pleasing aesthetic of the store, but I wouldn’t count on it too much. I bought my favorite coat from this place, a military styled turquoise knee length jacket. The only problem are, once again, the buttons. Like many other places, they use cheap threads to keep the buttons on, and have had to resew 6 of the 20 something buttons several times. Quality is dubious here.

Josef – Made in Canada. Finally! A fashionable store with Made in Canada labels, and it shows (too bad I couldn’t find a website to go with it). I touched one dress with a mock white collared shirt and dress bottom, the fabric felt thick like it would last me a good while, the lining was properly sewed on, and it looked like one of those wrinkle free dresses. It was $175. There was another gray, sleeveless office dress with a belt, also had good lining, $200. Though the pieces of this store were basic, I found the quality to look very good (at least I hope it is). Will definitely return to this store.

Stores with surprising quality

Forever XXI - Ok, we don’t have this store here. Yes, it’s the American equivalent of a fast fashion store. However, I’ve bought a couple of things from them, and all are Made in USA. A polka dot strapless dress, laced hemline, nice lining, and seemingly wrinkle free, could not ask for a better summer dress than this. Orange double breasted petticoat, buttons fall off, not surprised. Cropped gray pants, after a year it’s starting to show some light lint fuzz. For a fast fashion store, there are a few gems to be found here.

MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-Op) – I’ve written an article on Gloss about this store. And I wanted to say in detail how much I love the hoodie I got from them. During winter I wear it 5 days a week, no joke. If any store would know anything about quality fabric, it’s MEC. Some brands like Pantagonia have their stuff made in China, but all MEC branded items are Made in Canada. The hoodie, made with Polartec technology, will never ever make lint fuzz or balls. I don’t know much about how to describe its texture, but it’s smooth on the outside and lined with fleece on the inside. Best $110 I’ve ever spent. I’ve considered getting it in another color, but haven’t gotten around to buying it yet.

A Brand With Surprisingly Bad Quality

Lacoste shoes – I’m sure it’s more their licensee’s fault since Lacoste’s specialty are their famed polo shirts. And the licensee for Lacoste makes many of their shoes in places like Vietnam and Thailand. My flat ballerinas cost a whopping $145, made of leather exterior, and after a year of wearing it and traveling around, the leather wore off at the tips, and for some reason the stitching of the trims busted. I loved these shoes, but I won’t buy from Lacoste again for footwear.

Again, it’s not to say that everything made in third world countries are poorly made. I’ve seen knock offs made of the highest grade in quality, popular brand names (like Puma) made in legitimate factories in China, still make comfortable shoes. However, work conditions, and most of all, salary, are drastically different in these countries than they would be in Europe or North America. Why pay an italian worker $18/hr to make garments when you can pay $0.10/hr in China?

This was my personal assessment of the mid-ranged clothing stores today. I’d love to inspect further for higher end garments just to see if their quality is better, made in China or not. Of course I’d probably have to spend a small fortune, but there’s nothing quite like shopping for research.

All 720 items to be exact.

A quick look on eBay, and you can already see a huge list of 191 items for sale from the same collection. Prices are inflated to already twice the price. One seller put up the gold sequin dress at a staggering $590.00CAD. Easily surpassing what I spilled over a BCBG dress. There are already 7 bids on the gold snake bracelet staying “low” at $65.00, but we’ll certainly see those numbers multiply when the auction ends.

The items come from all over the globe the UK, the US, Canada, Switzerland, China, Germany, France and so on. Sellers are having their own exclusive H&M sale, with slogans yelling “SOLD OUT!” and “Only 1 on eBay!”

Scalpers never had it so good.

Get Ready To Rumble

A word to the wise, if you even think about lining up only an hour before the doors open on Thursday, think again. In the past and around the world, shoppers experienced a shocker when they found a huge lineup outside H&M’s doors as early as 5 in the morning.

In 2005, it was Stella McCartney. Liz Jones from the Evening Standard in London covered her experience at H&M. She arrived 8am, the doors didn’t open until 9am and already there was a monstrous lineup. One nanny had arrived at 6:30am to buy a pair of trousers and a black dress. Most already knew what they were buying, some grabbed whatever they could and by 9:10am, the store was empty.

In 2006, Viktor & Rolf released their collection in New York, Kendall Herbst from New York Magazine described shoppers literally at war with one another. Women grabbing armloads of clothes and they didn’t care what they were getting. Shoppers sprinting, spinning, swapping, hell, it was chaos.

So if you have an eye on that leopard print silk dress, you better know your size and you better arrive early. Take no prisoners!

H&M stores around Montreal

All stores open between 10am and 9pm.

Rockland Centre
Galerie D’Anjou
Fairview Pointe-Claire
Mail Champlain
Carrefour Laval

**Please note that Cavalli’s collection will only be available at the Rockland Centre, sorry about that!