By Mario Toneguzzi

Montreal-based retailer L’Intervalle has succesfully captured shoe lovers’ hearts - and feet - by redefining fast fashion through creating footwear for people of all ages who defy trends.

The vision of the company for the past few years has been to position itself in the fashion industry by offering outstanding quality while remaining in an affordable price range.

“There’s definitely a place for expansion in terms of rolling out nationally, more out West, and also within the Toronto area. There’s still room for that expansion,” said Vicky Scalia, who along with her husband Sam Assaf co-founded and co-owns the company.

“Nothing has been defined just yet but definitely we’re always in discussions and open to that.”

*cf sherway gardens. photo: l’intervalle*

The retailer has 14 stores today primarily in the Montreal area but also in Rideau Centre in Ottawa, the CF Toronto Eaton Centre, CF Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke, Square One in Mississauga, Maple View in Burlington, and the CF Fairview Mall in Toronto - its most recent location which opened in November.

Stores are typically about 1,800 square feet. Dianne Lemm, Executive Vice President at real estate company JLL is representing the brand as it continues to expand in Canada by opening stores.

“We’re a Canadian brand that is locally designed in Montreal. We produce all of our shoes and stain in Italy and Brazil and we go to direct sourcing. So we basically cut out the man in between,” said Scalia. “We only work with quality components. So real leather, real suede. We really focus on the craftmanship as well and we work with very ethical factories and very sustainable processes. Those are very important values for the company.

*fairview pointe-claire. photo: l’intervalle*

*cf toronto eaton centre photo: l’intervalle*

“And we really offer a value proposition. That’s where we have differentiated ourselves in the market. When customers walk into L’Intervalle once they see the product, once they see the quality and they look at the price and see the value proposition, try on the shoes, they find the comfort, they find the fashion they’re looking for, and that’s really what we’re offering to our customers.

“We’re definitely the fashion footwear destination. We have ladies. We have hand bags and we have men’s shoes as well. We’re definitely geared towards a Millennial customer but what’s been interesting, through our journey and developing the brand we definitely resonate with 18 to over 65 years old. Our styles are not determined by a customer’s age but more by her sense of fashion. And so fashion today really doesn’t have an age anymore. We are really able to resonate across those borders.”

The company was founded in 2015 when it incubated the concept and the idea.

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“Sam comes from experience as his background is in footwear. He’s worked for some international brands and then in 2015 wanted to bring the brand home which is Montreal where we founded the company,” said Scalia.

“The reason we call the company L’Intervalle is because we felt there was a need in the market or an empty space for fashion footwear. We created L’Intervalle because it’s sort of the in between the high end and the low end.”

Scalia said L'Intervalle focuses on quality, well crafted, fearless and fashion-forward designs that allow the brand to stand out and distinguish itself as a footwear force to be reckoned with. It offers exclusive and ethically sustainable products from Spain, Italy, and Brazil.

The first store was in Montreal’s Plateau area on Mont-Royal E. for a specific reason.

“We figured we would sort of test the market in that area because our market is very geared towards Millennials. It’s a very hipster neighbourhood, Millennial geared. We felt if we could resonate to this type of customer and sort of create a following within our brand then we knew we were on to something and be able to push it forward,” said Scalia.

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com

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