Aritzia

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Aritzia Inc. is a Canadian women's fashion brand founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Brian Hill in 1984. Aritzia operates various upscale retail stores across Canada and the United States. The company went public on October 3, 2016.[1] Aritzia primarily sells in-house brands, such as Wilfred, Wilfred Free, Le Fou by Wilfred, TNA, Babaton, The Group by Babaton, 1 -01 Babaton, Sunday Best, and Community. In 2014, Aritzia introduced two handbag lines: SIXELEVEN and Auxiliary.[2]

As of October 2020, Aritzia operates 96 stores in North America; 67 boutiques are located in Canada including 8 TNA stores, 3 Wilfred stores and 3 Babaton stores. There are 29 Aritzia stores in the USA, including a 13,000 square-foot flagship location in Manhattan, New York City.[3]

Controversy

In June 2020, a former employee of Aritzia called out the brand as a respond to Aritzia’s Black Lives Matter post on Instagram.[4] Karissa Lewis, 27, worked at Aritzia’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre location in Toronto from last August to January as an associate manager. During her short time there, she said she experienced anti-Black racism from staff. Employees would use “code words to describe certain types of customers”. For example, A would stand for Asian “as they were seen as being rich” and TW would stand for “time waster” which could include Black people, as someone who would use up an associate’s time and not buy anything.

Lewis believes she was treated differently from other managers at that store because she is a Black woman. She said she was made to work cash register shifts even though she was an associate manager, while a new employee, who was white and in a position below her, was given management shifts.

Lewis also recounted a particular incident in which she claims that a Black employee was fired for speaking up about racism in the store, a decision Lewis says she—as the store’s associate manager—was not made aware of until after the employee was fired.

Responding to Lewis' statements, Jennifer Wong, Aritzia's President and COO said in an email that they have spoken to Lewis, launched a full investigation, and will take proper actions, if needed.[5]

Reference