How will you look to differentiate yourselves between physically between the two different locations? Is this an important issue or would you prefer to keep things more streamline and integrated as one cohesive unit with shared aesthetics etc.

Daniel: As Arthur mentioned we will be bringing in some new brands that will be exclusive to our Vancouver location. The new location will be a more focused selection of brands from our existing brand-list plus the new brands we will be adding. Also in terms of the build-out, the two shops will have somewhat of a different feel although we will be retaining certain physical elements of HAVEN Edmonton that will remain in HAVEN Vancouver. But overall, it will be a new and exciting experience for our customers.

One thing we’ve touched upon in person is how well-curated HAVEN comes across as for a brand that finds its focal point in high-end streetwear. Will this forever be the theme of the store? Or can you see yourselves diversifying the brand list outside of the prototypical streetwear mold. I think many can and will argue that this “mold” or definition of streetwear if you want to call it is quite hard to classify in itself but for the sake of keeping the question tidy, I think we can use your stereotypical definers. From a personal perspective, Hypebeast’s coverage of only streetwear was tough to sustain on the basis that changes both from an age and “experience to fashion” perspective can really alter your perception.

Daniel: For the foreseeable future HAVEN will have its focal point in high-end streetwear. This was actually more or less what we were aiming for at the beginning. It just took some time to form the right relationships and build up our brand-list. That being said, Arthur and I have discussed on numerous occasions about branching out from the prototypical streetwear mold. Although if we were to do this it would perhaps not be under the HAVEN name. We’ve looked at retail concepts such as I.T in Hong Kong which has multiple different genres and caters to both men and women all under one umbrella. The same can be said about Dover Street Market in which you have high fashion and streetwear and a multitude of genres and tastes coming together and they make it work quite well. As for the term “streetwear,” well it really is hard to define. People’s perception of what that word means varies wildly. I know personally my tastes have changed and evolved even over the last 3 years since HAVEN was started. In fact when I meet random people and they ask me what I do and what kind of clothes we sell, I don’t say “streetwear. “ I say we sell “casual men’s clothing”.

So the HAVEN empire has a lot of potential in growth and branching out both horizontally and vertically. I’ve often wondered if starting with a blank slate is often the best way to go about a different direction and change. Yet I do also feel if the change is subtle and the hand of the audience (whether it be consumer or reader) is held and guided, you can sort of push the agenda without worrying about isolating your consumer. You can effectively mold a consumer. I personally would like to see HAVEN presented on a more diverse scale hitting a few different genres. I too will agree, depending on who you talk to, using the word streetwear might strike up the wrong connotations of certain brands out there haha. Now that you’ve gotten to a certain level, you’ve had the good fortune of picking and choosing brands to carry. What is often on the list of criteria when a new brand enters? How do you balance your tastes versus what you feel will be a good look for the store but not necessarily something you’ll wear?

Arthur: We are hardly an empire haha. We are a small team but everyone works really hard and well together. I do think that our business has quite a large amount of growth potential. Especially being in Canada we find that there isn’t too much going on and we are able to introduce lots of new brands to the market. I think that our customers have come to trust our buying now. No real criteria for how we buy goods for the shop, but for the most part most of the stuff that we buy is stuff that we personally like or find interesting.

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