![]() ![]() Five people who worked at retail stores in Ontario between 20 said their managers asked them to rate their own or each other's appearance from one to 10 in daily huddles. "Everyone has some pieces of Aritzia in their closet," said Isabel Slone, a journalist and culture critic in Toronto, describing it as the "inoffensive version of what's stylish."Ĭelebrities like Meghan Markle, pictured at the 2018 Invictus Games in an Aritzia trench coat, have been photographed wearing the brand.īut behind Aritzia's glamor and success was a culture that could be high-pressure and exploitative, some former employees said. Aritzia's clothes became a kind of social currency, so much so that customers braved communal fitting-room mirrors and aggressive sales associates to get their hands on items like the $250 Super Puff jacket or the $148 Melina vegan-leather pants. His stores oozed luxury Vancouver's 13,000-square-foot flagship location features an 11-globe chandelier by Lindsey Adelman (the nine-globe version costs $32,400). Aritzia hired picture-perfect salespeople (preferably petite, stylish, conventionally beautiful white or Asian women, as young recruiters learned). Hill, now 62, was in the business of creating an idealized world for his customers. Kendall Jenner, Meghan Markle, and Jennifer Lopez have all been photographed wearing the brand. Under Hill, Aritzia positioned itself as Zara's chic older cousin, producing minimalist garments in lush, monochrome fabrics with elevated pricing to match (a dress runs $50 to $228, depending on the in-house label). For 38 years he ruled over Aritzia as CEO, growing the Vancouver-based company into a fashion behemoth that generated $2.2 billion Canadian dollars, or about $1.7 billion, in revenue last year and ranks as Canada's fifth-largest retailer of footwear and apparel, according to Euromonitor International. Hill could get away with these kinds of comments. (A spokesperson for Aritzia told Insider that Hill "has never made any comments or directives regarding hiring employees based on their race or body type.") "Why aren't we hiring people who look like that?" he asked, according to a former employee who was present. On this visit, Hill assembled a group of employees near the front of the Toronto store and gestured to a nearby Victoria's Secret plastered with photos of lingerie-clad models. It often indicates a user profile.īrian Hill, the founder of the multibillion-dollar clothing company Aritzia, was visiting one of his boutiques, and, as usual, everyone was in a panic.Ĭorporate visits are common in retail, but Hill's standards were high, not only for things like whether a store's lighting perfectly accentuated the clothes, but also for the people who worked for him, the vast majority of whom were women. ![]() Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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