LINE co-founder: ‘Government needs to support Canadian fashion if they want it to survive’

Share

One of the biggest challenges facing Canadian fashion labels is getting the recipe right for both success and sustainability. On that front, LINE Knitwear's Jennifer Wells and John Muscat are master chefs. Their brand celebrates it's 15th anniversary this season, and the future looks bright. The two friends met almost 20 years ago, when Toronto-born Muscat was a student in London, Ontario and Wells was proprietor of a shop called Mama's Kitchenware. Stylist Tammy Eckenswiller introduced the pair and Muscat's business savvy kicked in when he realized how creative Wells was with her designs. A few years later, the duo teamed up with Toronto's Patrick Assaraf of PYA Importer, a Canadian fashion house responsible for the distribution of a number of successful brands including Ted Baker. LINE Knitwear took off, filling a niche in the market with luxurious and affordable fashion-forward knitwear at a time when relaxed dressing was coming into vogue; today the brand is carried across North America, Japan and Australia. I visited Muscat and Wells at their Toronto showroom to talk about the lessons they've learned on the enigmatic Canadian fashion stage.

How did you decide that your skills would really complement one another?

John Muscat: The one thing I pride myself in is that I recognize other people's talents. I've always been good at that. I really liked Jenn's work ethic and thought she was really amazing in how hard she was working at the store. There was something there that was really interesting and I wanted to explore it more. We were really young. Why not? So I muscled my way in.

Jennifer Wells: I was scared of him at the beginning, I'm like , "What is this guy?"

Muscat: She didn't like me for two years.

Wells: Why is he wanting to help me for free? What is this? But he actually helped us get into Toronto retail stores way back in the day. And then that's how we started dressing (CityTV personality) Monika Deol. We started doing Electric Circus! I used to dress her for all her special events, all in PVC. She use to do all the award shows.

That was glam back in the day, when we didn't really have glamorous Canadian style icons.

Wells: John actually got all of that. He was already marketing all of that back then. He was always the idea guy, saying "Let's do this!"

Muscat: Yeah, I always look at fashion as, "Is it art or is it commerce? " Meaning it can be art, but if it needs to make money, then there needs to be a sales aspect to it. And then how do you make it survive, and how do you take it to the next level?

But you really had no role models to follow in this country, did you? You were just thinking stuff up on your own.

Muscat: Kind of, yeah. We both started in the industry at a very young age. I went into wholesale, which is probably the reason why we're successful today, because I got a very quick education. I walked into the showroom and there were twenty brands that were selling to two hundred stores. It became very clear to me that there was a business way of doing this. So I did that for the next seven or eight years, and really fine-tuned my skills from a sales perspective. I also had a roster of clients that were loyal to me, with stores all over the city. They basically gave us enough orders to float the collection long enough to actually have a business. And I still have those clients.

And LINE is still here, doing remarkably well for a company of this nature, still managing to cut through and make your voice heard among all these other monstrous labels. How does that work?

Muscat: Well, I think it's about aligning ourselves with the right people and bringing in new people. Not having ego. I think that's really important. Like Jenn saying to me two years ago that she wanted to work with others, to bring in another perspective. That became working as a team and as a company to maximize our resources to find the right people to represent us internationally.

Sadly, Canada is still not a fashion force to be reckoned with on the world stage. The talent is here, but it's still a slog and so many aren't even managing to rise to the occasion. How have you found your identities as Canadian designers, running a Canadian company? Has that worked for you or perhaps against you at this particular time?

Muscat: I don't think it works against you. I think the Canadian element is going to be a controversial point but I feel passionate about it. I do think that the government needs to support Canadian fashion if they want it to survive. I know they don't. And in many other countries, they do. And you see success stories that are amazing.

Wells: We were lucky that PYA wanted to be a part of what we were doing, and gave us that support. There are so many Canadian designers that don't have support, so therefore they don't have the financial support. You have to have the big thoughts, of course, but then you also have to be able to execute. Without the support, it's really hard.

If you had to give advice to a young label starting out, those who really aspire to make it in this country and remain in this country – what would you tell them?

Muscat: I would tell them to get in front of the client, and ask for real feedback so that they can give the client what they need so they can have a business. A lot of designers are scared to ask a client what that they really want.

Wells: I think that's kind of been part of the success with LINE because we control it, and because we have such a close relationship with all of our sales people and all the feedback. And John's on the ground with the customers on a regular basis. We get that feedback daily. What's selling, what the price point is, what the market is demanding, and what really works.

This interview has been condensed and edited.