Seattle-based Nordstrom has launched ‘The Lab’ at two of its Canadian flagship stores. The new incubator project is being launched in only five Nordstrom stores globally, and one of the designers featured has a Canadian connection.

Conceived and curated by Nordstrom’s Vice President of Creative Projects, Olivia Kim, ‘The Lab’ showcases and supports five designers selected for the inaugural season: Eckhaus Latta, Vejas, Eric Schlösberg, A.W.A.K.E. and Dilara Findikoglu. Ms. Kim and her buying team selected a handful of looks from the five designers, including exclusive and custom-made items reflective of each designer's aesthetic.

Self-taught Canadian designer Vejas Kruszewski won the prestigious LVMH Prize for young fashion designers last year, valued at approximately $218,000 Canadian.

‘The Lab’ is being launched within Nordstrom’s ‘SPACE’ departments, which Ms. Kim launched in the Fall of 2015. Nordstrom’s flagships at CF Pacific Centre in Vancouver, and at CF Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, launched ‘The Lab’ collections in stores this week. Other Nordstrom stores to feature ‘The Lab’ include the downtown Seattle flagship, The Grove in Los Angeles, and at the Chicago Michigan Avenue flagship — as well as online at Nordstrom.com/SPACELab.

SPACE AT NORDSTROM, VANCOUVER. PHOTO: AURORA CHAN OF STYLE BY FIRE.

SPACE features a cross-category collection of apparel, accessories, home goods and fragrance from emerging and advanced designers. Ms. Kim wanted to develop a place dedicated to recognizing fledgling talent, saying, “a brand has to be relatively established in order to support a substantial wholesale business. We wanted to find a way to show the truly new brands just starting out, and to recognize the great, raw talent out there, to say we see you, and we want to support you."

She went on to say, “there are incredible demands on a young designer trying to grow their business, and we wanted to say ‘you may not be able to produce enough of a collection for eight stores right now and that’s okay.’ The Lab is for the designers who have just launched their collections, did their first show, maybe used their friends as models and showed in a basketball court in the Lower East Side. It’s true, authentic and they’re creating beautiful collections that we want to share with our customers.”

The Lab will be an ongoing program in SPACE at Nordstrom, refreshed with new brands each season in order to give each designer a spotlight to help grow their businesses.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: February 23, 2017