Toronto fashion retailer Absolutely Fabrics is preparing to open a second location in Summerhill this September, marking a significant expansion for the independent multi-brand business just three years after launching its original Queen Street West store.
The approximately 7,000-square-foot flagship at 1091 Yonge Street, in space formerly occupied by Sleep Country Canada, is targeting a September 19 opening. The larger location will introduce menswear to Absolutely Fabrics for the first time while giving founder Kaelen Haworth substantially more room to develop the curated, service-oriented approach that has helped build the retailer’s following.
For Haworth, the move north was shaped in part by what the business learned about its customers after opening on Queen Street in 2023. Many of Absolutely Fabrics’ established clients already live in Summerhill, Rosedale and nearby neighbourhoods, and the retailer had increasingly been taking merchandise directly to some of them.
“We were doing a lot of travelling with our clothing, doing events in people’s homes or bringing pieces from the new collection to some of our best clients,” Haworth told Retail Insider. “Knowing that we would have a location closer to where a lot of our clients live and work will be a massive help for us.”
Absolutely Fabrics had been seriously searching Summerhill for about a year before securing the Yonge Street space. Haworth described it as a location she had long hoped to secure and said the timing ultimately worked in the retailer’s favour.
Summerhill Retail Node Continues to Evolve
The new flagship is opening as the Yonge Street corridor through Summerhill and Rosedale undergoes a broader retail transformation.
Directly across Yonge Street, the historic Five Thieves retail cluster is being expanded through The James at Scrivener Square, a 23-storey luxury rental development by Tricon Residential. The project includes a European-inspired pedestrian retail mews and public square, along with a direct connection to Summerhill subway station. Tenants announced for the project include Mamakas, Gee Beauty, 6 By Gee Beauty, Nutbar, Dear Grain Bakery, Chocolat de Kat and Bluboho.
Toronto fashion boutique Clementine’s is also expected to relocate to The James around October, placing another independent multi-brand fashion retailer within the expanding cluster. The development includes approximately 10,500 square feet of ground-floor boutique retail.
Previous Retail Insider reporting found average household income within one kilometre of Scrivener Square exceeds $300,000. Seventeen residential developments under construction within 1.5 kilometres were expected to add approximately 3,800 units, with dozens more projects in pre-construction.
Haworth acknowledged that ongoing construction in the area could create some challenges over the next few years, but said she remains enthusiastic about the location and the development occurring around it.
Absolutely Fabrics also enters Summerhill with an established customer base. Haworth said many shoppers who deliberately seek out the Queen Street store already come from Rosedale and Summerhill, while destination and appointment customers travel from across Toronto.
“We are a destination store,” she said. “We can’t rely only on walk-in traffic. We have to rely on people hearing about us, knowing about us and wanting to make an appointment and come in.”
Rendering of the new Absolutely Fabrics at the corner of Yonge and Price Street in Toronto. Rendering: Absolutely Fabrics
A Larger Expression of Absolutely Fabrics
The additional space in Summerhill will allow Haworth to build a more complete expression of the Absolutely Fabrics concept.
The Queen Street West location combines designer womenswear and vintage merchandise with studio and event space, and Haworth said it continues to generate significant business. The existing store did not have enough room to accommodate menswear in a way she felt would give the category sufficient presence.
“Our store on Queen is phenomenal, and we love it,” she said. “But we couldn’t open menswear in that location. There’s not enough space, and it wouldn’t feel like we were doing it in a really purposeful way. To have this flagship, full expression of our brand, we needed a bigger space and a blank slate.”
The new flagship is being designed by Haworth in collaboration with Clarissa Lanessa of Clarissa Lanessa Studios, who is also an Absolutely Fabrics customer. Haworth said the design has focused on creating an environment that feels warm, residential and highly considered.
The store is expected to incorporate glass-block windows, burled wood accents, carpeting and coffered ceilings, along with a footwear and accessories feature wall and a dedicated menswear area.
“I really wanted it to feel like a warm and inviting space, but also a really inspiring, highly intentional and thoughtful space,” Haworth said. “I want it to feel like you’ve really stepped into a different place, somewhere that transports you.”
The objective is to encourage customers to spend time in the store, including those who may not arrive with a particular purchase in mind.
“We want people to stay and linger,” she said. “It’s about being there. It’s not just about shopping.”
That philosophy extends to Haworth’s view of higher-end physical retail. She believes customers making significant purchases often want time to try things on, understand the designers and receive guidance from staff.
“People still really enjoy shopping in real life,” she said. “When you’re asking people to spend a lot, you can expect them to want to take their time, try things on and get to know the brands and the pieces.”
Menswear Brings New Brands to the Business
Menswear will be exclusive to the Summerhill flagship and represents a new category for Absolutely Fabrics.
The assortment will include Aubero, Studio Nicholson, Willy Chavarria and Rier, with additional labels including ssstein and Soshiotsuki arriving later in the fall. Haworth also identified Martine Rose among the menswear names being incorporated into the business.
The buying strategy follows the approach Absolutely Fabrics has taken with womenswear: seeking designers with limited Canadian availability while developing a distinctive assortment when working with brands already represented in the market.
Haworth said she pays close attention to whether her buys overlap with those of other Toronto retailers. She also sees the store as a potential entry point into Canada for emerging labels with limited domestic distribution.
Soshiotsuki will be exclusive to Absolutely Fabrics in Canada, while Haworth said she expects Aubero to also be a Canadian exclusive. She believes growing international awareness of the designers can create demand among customers who follow fashion closely but have had few opportunities to experience those collections physically in Canada.
“If people know and love brands like Soshiotsuki or Aubero, they’ll have to come to us to buy them,” Haworth said. “We want to be the place where you go for these brands because on some level they might feel niche, but they’re not. If you’re interested in fashion and this world, you know about them and you want to see them in real life.”
Betting on Discovery in a Changed Fashion Market
Haworth returned to Toronto after spending 15 years in New York, where she studied at Parsons and operated two fashion labels, Kaelen and Second Sight. She said her years as a designer eventually helped her recognize that her strengths lay particularly in curation, editing, styling and presentation.
She had long wanted to open a store, although doing so in New York never felt right. Toronto presented a more compelling opportunity.
“I think people think of Toronto as a very conservative place, and I haven’t found that to be true in terms of how people relate to fashion,” Haworth said.
The response to Absolutely Fabrics reinforced that view. Haworth said business has steadily increased since the Queen Street store opened and that the retailer found a receptive audience for the concept.
“There really seemed like there was a need for our kind of store in the city,” she said. “People loved it. The response was great. We’re doing really well, and business has been steadily picking up since we opened our doors.”
The expansion comes during a period of significant change in Toronto’s higher-end multi-brand fashion market, following the Canadian departure of Nordstrom and the subsequent disappearance of Saks Fifth Avenue from the market. The Webster also closed its Yorkville store.
Haworth sees room for independent operators with a tightly defined point of view, particularly when the assortment gives customers access to merchandise they cannot readily find elsewhere.
One area where she believes conventional wholesale buying can lose some of a collection’s appeal is in the transition from runway to retail. Consumers may respond to expressive pieces shown during fashion week, while store assortments often concentrate more heavily on safer commercial merchandise.
“There’s a disconnect,” Haworth said. “Brands will show something on the runway and people will get very excited about it and want to engage with that. Then the pieces that make it to the stores are the really safe, basic, merchandised versions of that.”
Absolutely Fabrics intentionally buys some of the more editorial pieces.
“I want to be able to support those really exciting runway or editorial pieces,” she said. “People want that. They want both, but they definitely want the editorial and the excitement as well.”
That approach places discovery at the centre of the business, whether customers encounter an unfamiliar designer or see a different side of a label they already know.
Absolutely Fabrics was also recently included in The Business of Fashion’s The Best Fashion Stores in the World, a guide to independent retailers with distinctive assortments and experiences. The recognition comes as the young retailer prepares for its largest expansion to date.
“We’re taking a lot of risks, and so far they are paying off, which is excellent,” Haworth said. “But retail ebbs and flows, so we’ll see how we do. I’m not taking that for granted.”
Looking Beyond Summerhill
Haworth has considered what Absolutely Fabrics could eventually become beyond its two Toronto stores, although she wants to see how the Summerhill flagship performs before pursuing another expansion.
Asked about future growth elsewhere in Canada or internationally, she acknowledged that New York has entered her thinking.
“I have thoughts about expansion, but I’m going to keep them at bay until we open this one and see how we do,” she said. “I have thoughts that include potentially New York, but that’s quite a ways down the road for us.”
For now, the focus is on Summerhill. Construction inside the flagship was progressing quickly when Haworth spoke with Retail Insider in early August, and she said the company was increasingly confident about its targeted September 19 public opening.
The larger store will give Absolutely Fabrics room to extend the approach that has been developing on Queen West since 2023: bringing harder-to-find designers into Toronto, taking more adventurous positions on merchandise and building a physical retail experience around curation, personal service and discovery.
