July 01 2022, Dilawri BC
It’s hard not to be inspired living in Vancouver. To many, it is everything a city is supposed to be—trendy and beautiful, constantly evolving, and surrounded by nature. It’s no wonder people flock from all over the globe to live here.
In recent years, Vancouver’s clothing, home, and tech industries have boomed, creating an undercurrent of influence on popular culture that’s sometimes hard to see when you’re stuck in morning traffic.
If you’ve been wondering why our city has a certain je ne sais quois about it, here are a few cutting-edge, home-grown businesses that continue to give Vancity an air of confidence in 2022.
Aritzia is a household name in women’s fashion, with over a hundred stores in North America. However, it began in a century-old department store in Vancouver’s west side, and the first standalone location followed at Oakridge Centre in 1984. Nearly 40 years later, Aritzia has established several house brands, and their “Super Puff” jacket has been worn by celebrities such as Ariana Grande and Kendall Jenner.
Life in Vancouver is synonymous with athleisure, and few such brands better represent athleisure worldwide than lululemon. Founded in 1998 by Chip Wilson, the company’s first store opened at 2101 W 4th Ave in 2000 and remains there today. Now, the famed leggings company has 491 locations worldwide, and a market cap of nearly $38 billion makes them one of the world’s 500 most valuable companies.
Plants and essential oils are commonplace in the modern home now more than ever, and Saje Natural Wellness is a big reason why. In 1992, aromatherapy had yet to catch on, and it took several landlord interviews before Saje found a home in Lonsdale Quay. Today, the company has 52 locations across Canada, and is rapidly expanding into the United States with 19 locations and counting.
Slack
Business collaboration technologies like Slack have helped make the work-from-home revolution possible. What began as an internal tool for Yaletown game developer Tiny Speck became a standalone product in 2013 and was an overnight success. Today, Slack is used by 65 of the Fortune 100 and has active users in over 150 countries.
Hootsuite
In an increasingly digital world, the need for easy-to-use management tools is more important than ever. First developed in 2008 as a Twitter-only dashboard called BrightKit, Hootsuite has recently consolidated their Vancouver “nest” into a redesigned 27,000 sq ft communal space on E 5th Ave. Hootsuite is trusted by 18 million users worldwide—including 80% of the Fortune 1000.
