Wilkes & Bowens has opened its first branded retail space at Stackt Market in downtown Toronto, offering shoppers an early look at the identity that will eventually replace Toronto Designers Market at the Holt Renfrew Centre on Bloor Street.
The temporary shop, operating as the Wilkes & Bowens BDC Fashion Residency, brings together clothing, jewellery, accessories and other products from a curated roster of Canadian designers. Presented in collaboration with Black Designers of Canada, the residency is scheduled to remain at Stackt through August 2.
Tyler Ferguson, a designer and member of the family behind Wilkes & Bowens, was managing the location when Retail Insider visited. She confirmed that the Stackt activation is the first physical retail space to operate publicly under the Wilkes & Bowens name.
The pop-up marks a visible step in the evolution of Toronto Designers Market, which operates from a permanent store on the concourse level of the Holt Renfrew Centre at 50 Bloor Street West.
The retailer describes Wilkes & Bowens as the next chapter for Toronto Designers Market, debuting at Stackt before the new identity is brought to the permanent Bloor Street location.
A Temporary Home for Canadian Design
The Wilkes & Bowens residency occupies a compact double-container space at Stackt, with frontage facing one of the development’s gathering areas.
The location gives the merchandise a strong visual presence within the shipping-container development, where visitors move between stores, restaurants, events and public spaces.
Ferguson said the assortment combines designers familiar to customers of the Bloor Street store with additional brands selected for the Stackt residency. The collaboration has a particular focus on Black Canadian designers.
“We’ve brought in designers customers may recognize from our Yorkville boutique, along with other Canadian brands, with a particular focus on Black designers,” she said.
Designers and labels represented in the space include Caffrey Van Horne, Sully & Son, Zoba Martin, Villa Aburi, Life Liveth in Me, 75th & Bespoke, Monoxide, Myrtle & Oswald, Perletta and the Wilkes & Bowens house label.
Several of the participating brands are already sold through the Bloor Street store, while others were added for the temporary residency. The Toronto Designers Market website lists more than 20 participating brands, including Monoxide, Wilkes & Bowens, Villa Aburi, Zoba Martin and Meg, although its online vendor roster does not reflect every designer currently carried in the physical store.
Ferguson said the Stackt assortment was assembled to introduce customers to established designers and less familiar names.
“It’s a strong mix, and I’m proud of the number of Canadian brands we’ve been able to bring into the space and introduce to new customers,” she said.
Building Visibility for Canadian Brands
The residency addresses a persistent challenge for independent Canadian fashion and accessory brands: shoppers cannot support designers they rarely encounter in mainstream retail environments.
Ferguson said consumer interest in Canadian design is present, but visibility remains uneven.
“I don’t think people are deliberately choosing not to support Canadian design,” she said. “It often comes down to which brands have their attention and what is directly in front of them.”
She said presenting Canadian brands in accessible physical locations can translate that interest into purchases and help designers build enduring businesses.
“If we can get more Canadian brands in front of people, it will lead to more sales and stronger support for Canadian design,” Ferguson said. “We want as many people as possible to discover these brands and help them grow into lasting homegrown businesses.”
That mission has long been central to Toronto Designers Market, which describes itself as a curated boutique where Canadian designers, artists and artisans can showcase and test their collections in a working retail environment. The store carries products across categories including clothing, jewellery, accessories, furniture and décor.
From Toronto Designers Market to Wilkes & Bowens
The Stackt pop-up also advances a rebranding process first discussed publicly in 2025.
Toronto Designers Market owner Karen Ferguson told Retail Insider last year that the company planned to adopt the Wilkes & Bowens name as it expanded its focus beyond Toronto. She said the existing name had become a practical limitation for a business seeking to represent designers from across Canada and potentially enter other markets.
“With ‘Toronto Designers Market,’ the name itself is limiting if we want to expand beyond this city,” she said at the time. “Wilkes & Bowens allows us to create something that isn’t confined to one city, opening the door to future locations across Canada and even internationally.”
Tyler Ferguson said the family believed the retailer had outgrown the Toronto Designers Market identity.
“The name came with certain constraints,” she said. “Wilkes & Bowens is a return to our family legacy and a way of honouring where we started and where we came from.”
The family has a long history in business, and the name recognizes Karen Ferguson’s parents. Tyler said the new identity is intended to provide a foundation for the company’s next phase of growth.
“This is the name we’ll be building the next decade of the business around, and we’re very excited about it,” she said.
Karen Ferguson previously explained that Wilkes was her mother’s maiden name and Bowens was her own maiden name, with both representing the family foundation upon which she wanted to build the company.
Wilkes & Bowens already exists as a house label within the store. Under the rebranding strategy, the name will also become the public identity of the multibrand retail platform currently known as Toronto Designers Market.
A Full Rebrand Planned for Bloor Street
The permanent store at the Holt Renfrew Centre has not yet completed its conversion.
Tyler Ferguson said the company is working through a full rebrand involving the name, brand colours and other elements of its public presentation.
“We’re in the middle of the rebranding process now,” she said. “It has been a substantial undertaking, but we expect to launch the new identity soon.”
An official launch date for the Bloor Street conversion has not been announced.
“My mom has been saying, ‘New name, same great team,’” Ferguson added.
Toronto Designers Market relocated from Parkdale to its current 1,450-square-foot Bloor-Yorkville store in 2023. The move introduced a more consistently curated model, with participating brands presented within a unified retail environment.
The business was founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Joshua James. Karen Ferguson, who had been one of its original participating designers, acquired Toronto Designers Market in 2019 and later led its relocation to the Holt Renfrew Centre.
The retailer has also developed an incubator function alongside its sales operations. Karen Ferguson previously told Retail Insider that the company assists designers with practical aspects of growth, including wholesale pricing, UPC codes, inventory requirements and fulfilling larger purchase orders.
The Wilkes & Bowens identity is intended to carry that model forward while retaining the retailer’s focus on Canadian-owned and Canadian-designed brands.
Tyler Ferguson and Monoxide
Tyler Ferguson’s role in the Stackt residency reflects the family’s direct involvement in Canadian fashion and design.
She is the founder and designer behind Monoxide, a jewellery and accessory brand launched when she was 18. The company is now celebrating 14 years in business.
“I’m the designer and maker behind Monoxide,” she said.
Ferguson said Monoxide has called Toronto Designers Market and Wilkes & Bowens home for more than a decade. For the Stackt residency, she brought back several archival designs.
“I’m revisiting some archival pieces and bringing back designs that didn’t receive enough time in the spotlight when they were first released,” she said. “It has been exciting to give them another opportunity.”
Monoxide has also collaborated with Canadian fashion retailer Meg on a collection that Ferguson said is available through Meg’s stores and website. Meg is among the brands currently listed by Toronto Designers Market.
Future Pop-Ups Under Consideration
The Stackt residency may also serve as a test for additional temporary Wilkes & Bowens locations.
Ferguson said the company wants to hear where customers would like to see Canadian design presented and confirmed that further activations are being explored.
She mentioned the Distillery District, The Well, Toronto Eaton Centre and Yorkdale as examples of places where a future pop-up could potentially operate. None has been confirmed.
“We want to know where people would go to shop Canadian design,” she said. “We’re prepared to go where the customers are.”
For now, the Stackt residency gives the company a temporary presence outside Bloor-Yorkville and introduces the Wilkes & Bowens name to a new audience.
It also provides an early look at the retailer’s planned next chapter: a broader platform for Canadian design built from the foundation of Toronto Designers Market, under a family name intended to travel beyond the city where the business began.
