STL NOW / FASHION
Technically Charming
Kit and Ace brings its mission of technical luxury fashion—and washable cashmere—to St. Louis. by SARAH STALLMANN TUCKED INTO A SMALL STOREFRONT in the heart of the Central West End, Kit and Ace aims to change the way you shop. The Vancouver-based brand, which celebrated its official US launch this year, designs and sells apparel that targets the casual luxury shopper by crafting a functional and sophisticated selection of clothing for men and women. But Kit and Ace isn’t your average retail chain: They are just as passionate about the creation of their product as they are about supplementing your closet.
Shannon and JJ Wilson—wife and son of Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon—created Kit and Ace from the ground up with the goal of developing a future-focused brand that would rank as a top innovator in the industry. That innovation has been achieved by way of Kit and Ace’s bespoke fabric of choice: Technical Cashmere. It has all the softness, comfort and luxury of traditional cashmere but without the hassle: the soft-as-air fabric is 100 percent machine-washable. The commitment to the creation is even outlined step-by-step on the store’s website, which maps a garment’s progress from the fields of Mongolia all the way into the hands of the customer.
Photo courtesy of Kit and Ace.
To match the breezy, minimalist feel of the goods, the shop itself is a clean slate and tailored to its local environment. In St. Louis, the quaint, gallery-inspired space has a soft industrial vibe, equipped with pull-outs and simple shelving along the walls and an open, studio-style workspace taking over the room. The shop opened earlier this summer at 304 N. Euclid Ave. and is one of more than a dozen locations planned for North America, with a larger, heavier-stocked shop to join St. Louis later this year.
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ALIVEMAG.COM
SEPTEMBER 2015