Club Monaco, Monmouth Street, Covent Garden 02

Club Monaco is a Canadian-founded low-end luxury casual clothing retailer owned by Regent, L.P. With more than 140 locations worldwide, the retailer has locations in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, China, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Turkey, and United Kingdom. Each month, Club Monaco brings in a new collection, alternating between elevated casual styles during the northern spring and summer and more formal offerings during autumn and winter. Originally, the company was best known for its classic "black and white" styles, with which different colors are paired, but this is no longer a focus in each collection.

History

Club Monaco was founded in 1985 by Canadians

Joe Mimran Joseph Mimran (born 2 December 1952) is a Canadian fashion designer and entrepreneur, best known for founding the Club Monaco and Joe Fresh brands. He was also an investor on the ''Dragons' Den'' television series.Alfred Sung powered by the idea of “better basics”—clear, confident pieces that punch above their weight and deliver on the details. Inspired by a great “great new ideas”, the first Club Monaco store opened in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Queen Street West Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...

in 1985. The approach was simple and clean, mirroring the sensibility of the clothing and featuring a cafe that acted as a place of discovery and community. As the brand grew, new locations continued to open throughout Canada, each retaining its own feel— the Beach store in Toronto featured a lifeguard station display and a small juice bar, while the

Eaton Centre Eaton Centre is a name associated with shopping centres in Canada, originating with Eaton's, one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout ...

store featured a restaurant and flower shop. Each store was a unique expression of the brand with all of the accoutrements. In 1999, Club Monaco moved to New York City when it was purchased by Ralph Lauren Corporation and continues to operate independently within the group. Since then, Club Monaco has expanded, opening locations throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. In May 2021, Ralph Lauren Corporation announced it would sell its Club Monaco brand to private equity firm Regent LP.

Caban

Caban was a design-oriented furniture, tabletop, home accessories, bed and bath and apparel retailer launched by Club Monaco as its

lifestyle brand A lifestyle brand is a brand that attempts to embody the values, aspirations, interests, attitudes, or opinions of a group or a culture for marketing purposes.page 16 Lifestyle brands seek to inspire, guide, and motivate people, with the goal of ...

in October 2000 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, with locations opening later in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. Caban was an offspring of Club Monaco and

Joe Mimran Joseph Mimran (born 2 December 1952) is a Canadian fashion designer and entrepreneur, best known for founding the Club Monaco and Joe Fresh brands. He was also an investor on the ''Dragons' Den'' television series.Ralph Lauren Corporation Ralph Lauren Corporation is an American publicly traded fashion company that was founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. The company is headquartered in New York City, producing products ranging from the mid-range to the luxur ...

. It began to lose focus, and Mimran was ousted. In the summer of 2006, Ralph Lauren Corporation closed all of the Caban stores to focus on Club Monaco in the United States. The last store to close was the flagship store on Queen St. West in Toronto. Caban had opened its first lifestyle concept store in Montreal in the historical landmark

Laurentian Bank The Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC; french: Banque Laurentienne du Canada, link=no) is a Schedule I banks, Schedule 1 bank that operates primarily in the province of Quebec, with commercial and business banking offices located in Ontario, Alberta ...

building (located at 777 St. Catherine Street, on the corner of

McGill College McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University ...

) on Saturday, December 9, 2000. It closed the branch in 2006, after which

Banana Republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring ...

opened its flagship Quebec store there.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40, 45, 5.2, N, 74, 00, 23.2, W, display=title Clothing brands of the United States Clothing retailers of the United States Companies based in New York City Shops in New York City