Underwear and apparel retailer Knix has opened six new stores since last fall, bringing its total store count to 14 now, as well as launching a wholesale initiative with products being sold in Sporting Life.
More store expansion is in the works and the brand is also looking at more retail partners for its wholesale strategy.
The latest two Knix stores to open were CF Market Mall in Calgary and CF Polo Park in Winnipeg.
“We’re cautiously optimistic. We’re just in the process of working through some leases but we should be opening another couple of locations in Canada this year,” said Joanna Griffiths, Founder and President of the company.
“We go off the ecomm data that we have to sort of look for high penetration markets where there’s a loyal Knix following. That’s probably the first step to help us hone in on what regions and then it’s all a matter of finding the right vacancies with the right co-tenants which is the part that can have things take a little bit longer depending on what’s available.
“We have three different concepts in market right now. So Toronto Premium Outlets is our one premium outlet model. We have some community streetfront locations. So that would be for example West 4th in Kitsilano or Queen Street West in Toronto. Westboro in Ottawa. And also Robson Street (Vancouver). So we’re still looking for the right community streetfront locations. Those spots are kind of few and far between now. And beyond that we’re primarily looking at the malls and then it’s really waiting for the right real estate within the mall that has the co-tenancies and is in a good location.”
Griffiths launched Knix with the goal of transforming an underwear market that had too much frill and not enough function. A trailblazer with the creation of Leakproof Underwear, she continues to focus on listening to what people want and bringing revolutionary solutions to life.
In 2013, Knix introduced Leakproof Underwear to the world. In 2015, Knix released their first wireless bra. In 2016, Knix is the first brand to use real women–of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds–on their site. In 2017, Knix launched the first period underwear brand for teens and tweens, Kt by Knix. In 2019, Knix is the first brand to release a lingerie campaign exclusively featuring women from ages 50 to 81. And in 2022 Knix launched the first of its kind Confidence Tour, empowering people to be their most confident selves on a live runway in their intimates.
“We’re doing a lot of technology infrastructure projects at the moment to be more omnichannel but we still think that’s going to be the big unlock for us. We get over three million visitors a month to our site,” explained Griffiths. “And so if we can make it really easy for them to understand where’s the nearest store, what inventory is available in that store, that’s when I think we’ll really start to see things pick up in an even more significant way.”
Beyond this year, Griffiths said more stores are planned for Knix, continuing to build in Canada and the United States. Currently, it has two stores in the U.S. in Santa Monica and in San Diego.
“We have about half of our sales coming from the U.S. right now so we still feel there’s significant upside for us to continue to build south of the border,” said Griffiths.
“Recently over the past couple of years we’ve entered into some newer categories like swimwear, activewear and so we see both retail and also strategic wholesale partners being important for us as we continue to build out those new categories.”
Kate Camenzuli of CBRE represents Knix for its retail expansion.
Griffiths said the partnership with Sporting Life is a great opportunity for Knix to promote its intimates collection as well as its activewear and swimwear because there’s a great consumer in those locations looking for those specific products.
“It’s our first (wholesale partnership) in a very long time. When I started the brand we were a wholesale first business. We did a Nordstrom pop-up program in 2019 into 2020. This is our first true wholesale partnership since then,” she said.
“We’re really looking for meaningful brand building wholesale partnerships. And so we’re having a number of conversations right now to find the right partners that make sense for the business. I think the Sporting Life partnership has proven to be a really good one for us. There’s a lot of mutual respect between both of us. We have great presence within the stores.”
