Oak + Fort, Vancouver-based Firm, Makes Inroads in the U.S.
Oak + Fort, the Vancouver-based contemporary lifestyle brand, has kept a low profile in the U.S. but now wants to make a bigger splash.
The company experienced a 132 percent growth rate in the U.S. market last year, and will open nine stores in North America in 2022, including units in Tyson’s Corner, Va., Topanga, Calif., and Boston, as well as a pop-up at Westfield Santa Anita mall in Arcadia, Calif.
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Since starting the company in 2010, Min Kang, the founder and chief executive officer, has put together a female-led executive team that plans an aggressive expansion across North America. Today, Oak + Fort has more than 27 stores, with 20 locations in Canada and seven in the U.S.
New to the brand is an environmentally conscious designed sub-brand called “Oak Refined,” created in partnership with Hallotex, to manufacture their apparel line under the highest sustainable standards, using organic farmed and recycled materials. On March 25, Oak + Fort will open a dedicated Oak Refined pop-up concept store in Boston. The store will be the brand’s first Oak Refined location and will be produced using locally sourced and recycled materials in the Boston region.
The South Korean-born Kang said what distinguishes Oak + Fort from other brands in the market is that it’s “minimal, trendy and affordable.” She said the brand is very well known in Canada, and she’s eager to have that same recognition factor in the U.S.
Melorin Pouladian, vice president of operations, said Oak + Fort has stores in California, New York, Illinois and Washington, and they’re scouting Chicago, Michigan, Texas, Florida and Tennessee. They opened their first U.S. store in 2016 on Mercer Street in SoHo. That location is no longer there, but they’re looking to open a new store on Broadway in SoHo later this year. They already have a store in Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y.
Generally, Oak + Fort’s stores are 3,500 square feet and some are trending toward 5,000. “As our categories expand, such as our homeware and accessories, we want to make sure all those capsules land really well in those stores,” Pouladian said.
Michelle Wong, senior manager, marketing and communications, said the brand is aimed at females between 18 and 35 who are looking to buy workwear as well as after-workwear. They also have a sub-section of male customers and a growing home collection. Men’s accounts for 7 to 10 percent of the overall business. Oak + Fort produces overseas in South Korea, China, Vietnam and India.
Asked which brands they consider in their competitive set, Kang said there are no brands aesthetically like them, but if you’re talking about price points, it would be Everlane and Madewell. “And Reformation as well,” added Wong.
To create their timeless and minimalist designs, Oak + Fort looks to the trends and does extensive research. “We have a great merchant team with lots of data, and we know who are customers are,” Kang said.
Among the bestsellers right now are a trenchcoat, blazers with details like cutouts, and a blazer dress with a cut out at the waist that shows off the body, Kang said.
The privately held company doesn’t wholesale its lines. It recently entered the Asia market on a Tmall channel and they’re considering stores in Australia, Hong Kong, China and London, Pouladian said.
In 2021, the company launched Oak Refined as a way to unearth the essence of their products. They wanted to create a specific line dedicated to sustainability featuring fabrics such as organic cotton, recycled polyester and Ecovero viscose. Kang explained that they’re also trying to make Oak + Fort more sustainable. “We’re actually changing our own production to be toward more sustainable as well,” she said.
Boston’s Prudential Center will house the first pop-up concept for Oak Refined, as well as a permanent Oak + Fort store. The Oak Refined pop-up will stay open from March 25 through the Christmas holiday and is being designed to be sustainable. For example, tables will be built out of reused plexiglass and will be set on recycled cardboard tubes. Products are developed in Spain, with 100 percent of the in-house production infrastructure in Tangier, Morocco, using organically farmed materials, recycled content inputs and closed loop processes. The store will have an indoor greenhouse as an educational center.
Kang said Oak Refined products will be about $5 to $10 more due to the materials, and the Oak + Fort stores will carry the capsule.
While Kang declined to reveal the company’s overall volume, she said she projects a 30 percent increase for 2022.
The company has just over 100 people working at the Vancouver head office, and overall there are 450 employees, including store and warehouse employees. The company’s boasts a 79 percent female workforce.
Kang said Oak + Fort substantially grew their e-commerce business during the pandemic. “We pivoted to e-commerce, and things have been great. We’ve been seeing a lot of success over the pandemic. Now that all the stores are open, our sales are amazing, that’s why we’re opening more locations,” she said.
But what makes Kang most proud are the “confident women” she’s assembled for her executive team. For International Women’s Day, they took a photograph of her executive team as a way to really empower women. Kang said she was brought up in Asia and there was so much inequality, and she was always the one fighting against it at home and at school. She moved to Canada to get her MBA, which she didn’t complete, and ended up starting the company. She said she hopes to empower other women and serve as a role model for other entrepreneurs.
courtesy shot.
Kang said her parents were very fashionable and owned fashion boutiques in South Korea. When she started her business in Canada, she began with e-commerce and quickly realized that shipping fees were too expensive. She felt a physical store was needed, and six months later they opened a flagship store in Vancouver and eventually focused on e-commerce again. The first store was 800 square feet and people started lining out of the door “and I realized we were on to something,” Kang said.
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