Canadian Retailer - Fall 2015 - 10

under the banner

Fashion
FoRwaRd

brian hill's creativity and business
prowess leads one of canada's
most revered retail brands
BY SEAN C. TARRY

Brian Hill, founder and CEO of Aritzia, one of Canada's leading fashion retailers.
brian Hill is the founder and CEO of Aritzia, an innovative

design house and women's fashion retailer. Brian opened
the first Aritzia in Vancouver in 1984 with his father, Jim,
and brother, Ross. Targeting stylish and affluent young
women who care about excellent design and exceptional
quality, they created a unique and elevated shopping environment-one centred on beautifully made clothes and
accessories, and world-class customer service.
Since then, Brian and his team have conceived and developed a portfolio of exclusive brands with an unparalleled
depth of design and quality at their competitive price point.
These lines-Wilfred, Wilfred Free, Le Fou, TNA, Babaton,
and Talula-have become well-recognized brands in their
own right, each with its own customer and point-of-view.
An accomplished retailer, merchant, and corporate strategist, Brian's vision and expertise have driven notable growth.
With more than 70 locations in North America, including
Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, San Francisco, and
New York, as well as a thriving e-commerce site, Aritzia.com,
Aritzia continues to expand across the fashion landscape.
Brian has been awarded the Henry Singer Award for
Retail Excellence presented by the University of Alberta,
and Distinguished Retailer of the Year presented by Retail
Council of Canada, and was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® for the Pacific Region.
He resides in Vancouver with his wife and two children.
They are actively involved in their community and generously support education, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the BC
Children's Hospital, and Cause We Care-an organization
founded by his wife, Andrea Thomas Hill, that invests in supporting single mothers and children living in poverty.
For more of Brian Hill's insights, read full coverage of
RCC's 2015 Retail West Conference in the Holiday issue of
Canadian Retailer.

10 |

canadian retailer | FALL 2015

getting to know brian hill
candid questions from Canadian Retailer elicit
candid responses from Aritzia founder and
ceO, and the keynote speaker at rcc's 2015
retail west conference.
characteristics of a great leader?
A great leader has the ability to work at both
thirty thousand feet, developing the strategy,
and at thirty feet, joining their team to do the
heavy lifting required to succeed.
Favourite getaway locale?
Whistler.
education or experience?
it depends on the person. but education is never
a waste of anyone's time.
Favourite mobile device?
My iphone.
do you shop in-store or online?
both.
Fiction or non-fiction?
non-fiction.
hands-on or hands-off management?
hands-on...and i get criticized for this on a
regular basis.
next big retail game-changer?
in the fashion business, things change season
over season and year over year. to survive and
thrive takes an understanding of the organic
nature of the consumer's evolving aesthetic and
functional needs. What drives retail today is the
same as it has always been; giving the customer
great product and great service at a great price.
the most successful retailers succeed at delivering this value proposition time and time again.

http://www.Aritzia.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Fall 2015