The Trend Setter of the New Trend (TNT)- Arie Assaraf

“Fashion is my passion and a way of life.” With little experience and virtually no education in fashion, Arie Assaraf, owner and founder of TNT – The New Trend, was able to create one of Toronto’s most elite boutiques that the city has to offer.

The unconventional story behind one of Toronto’s most exciting brands truly depicts how passion can break barriers and create incredible opportunities. Arie was raised and schooled in Israel during a period where cowboy boots and cowboy hats were the only “in-style” fashion trends. “Growing up working on a farm, fashion was never really relevant. Although I do remember always having to have the coolest cowboy boots and hats.” Arie later joined the Israeli army where he studied aviation communication and worked in the tower control at an army base. The only form of self-expression through fashion in the army was how clean your boots were and how pressed your uniform was. “I was known around the base for always being put together properly. I would get made fun of for spending so much time making sure my uniform was ironed and shoes were shined but at the end of the day, I didn’t think that would manifest into a passion for fashion.” It wasn’t until the age of 24, a few years after Arie’s service in the army was complete, that he decided to make a dramatic change in his life.  He had the opportunity to pack up and move to Toronto where he would meet his older brother Patrick Assaraf and start a new life. With little direction or set plan, Arie opened his mind to whatever this new opportunity and experience had to offer. “Moving to a new country with very little in belongings and not much of an idea what I would do when I got there can be quite overwhelming. I knew, however, that when leaving Israel, a place of comfort and routine, it was going to be for an experience that will change my life forever in the best way possible. I had to be open minded to anything and everything if I was going to be able to survive in this new environment.” A month into moving to Toronto, Arie was fortunate enough to receive a job offer from a connection he made through his brother within the fashion retail industry. “I started off helping with shipping and receiving as well as managing stock. A few months later I became a sales associate in womenswear, working closely with customers and building a clientele base. What I realized is that fashion is more than just a necessity – it is a way of life.” For Arie, it was never simply just a sales position with the ultimate goal of making a sale. Immediately he saw his passion and vision for the industry evolve, which would eventually leave a mark in the city’s fashion world and more importantly within himself. He loved the elements of making people feel good about themselves through what they were wearing, showing people how to think outside of the box and creating a closet for them. “Our story is about catering to the closet; we are a closet. We clothe people head to toe, It’s about all the necessities in the closet and then growing the image from there. That’s why staffing is so important.  We don’t have salespeople. We have stylists.”

“You have to have a vision in order to reach your goal and tell proper story.” Looking at the evolution of TNT as a brand and its representation in the market all stems back to the passion and vision that Arie has for his company. For more than 24 years, Arie Assaraf has had his finger on the pulse of what the next trend will be. In order to ensure that the stories he has to tell gets broadcasted on a platform big enough to show how unique and revolutionary they may be, Arie had to expand his retail presence beyond his initial location in the central area of Toronto. TNT has expanded significantly within the city itself, but as well as outside of Toronto. Today, there are three main destinations in Toronto and one in Montreal where each location is represented by a group of individual spaces offering a different point of view in ones’ wardrobe. The newest addition to the TNT world is through a satellite store in Melbourne, Australia. When entering a completely new market it was Arie’s goal to ensure that his vision and integrity as a brand remains intact while catering to the needs of his new clientele. “We have created a unique shopping experience that allows our customers to feel welcomed and excited every time they enter the store. It’s extremely important that in any future expansions we stick to our roots and what has made us so successful.” In an industry that is saturated with competition, it is paramount to differentiate yourself from everyone. With where the market is today, experience will trump everything. Of course having the right product is necessary, but it is how the product is displayed and the experience a customer receives when shopping that will allow TNT to continue to have a competitive edge against their competitors. “We have become a destination for our customers – a place where people want to come to hang out and explore everything we have to offer. We have been, and will continue to be innovative in any way we can be to ensure we always have that cool-factor that creates the ultimate shopping experience for our customers.”

            Arie Assaraf is a passionate visionary who motivates me to follow my dreams. “Take 

it one step at a time, have a six-month goal, because it’s reachable, and tell a story.” Arie 

has a vision and knows what he likes, wants and always achieves his goals no matter what. 

Arie taught me that you have to have a vision, you have to know who you are and who your 

customer is and you must have the means to make it. Overall, Arie Assaraf is my mentor 

and inspires me to always work to the best of my abilities.

What I’ve learned from GBC – A Story of Success: Shaelyn Meier

As graduation gets closer to many of us, the idea of getting the Dream Job seems further away. However, with hard work and will power all the good seeds that were planted during college years will be ready to harvest next Spring.

That is exactly what happened with Shaelyn Meier, 22, a Fashion Management student who graduated at George Brown College in the Spring of 2017. After almost one year of Internship at Markio Designs’ Head-Office, one of the biggest Shoe Retailer in Canada, owner of Davids, Duet & Capezio stores, Shaelyn was offered a job as Associate Buyer. THE DREAM JOB for many management students.

To me, Shaelyn gave some precious tips on how to get what you want in the Fashion Industry and the required skills to work as Buyer.

Shaelyn passion for Fashion started when she was only a little girl. By that time, she used to dance competitively and encountered a lot of beautiful costumes. “I was always fascinated by how much detail and work went in to the creation of one single costume”, she said.

When she was accepted at George Brown College, she went to college with the mindset to become a Buyer, even having no idea of what the position entailed. As the year went by, she started learning about Buying in class, including the less glamourized details about the position but this was not enough to keep her mind off track. “This was something I could see myself doing long term", she said.

Parallel to school, Shaelyn used to work in store level at Capezio Shoes, and when it was time to begin the Internship, she saw an opportunity at their Head-Office on Bloor Street. “I began interning at Head-Office once a week. Once I completed all hours needed for my internship, I was offered the Assistant Buyer position at Head Office. After a few months of hard work, the Associate Buyer position became available as the current buyer was leaving, and after a few discussions with the owners, I was then offered to move up to this position”, Meier remembered.

What might seem a fast jump for some, was actually a result of a lot of hard work on college and on the Internship, which Shaelyn believes was decisive on getting the job position.

When I asked her about responsibilities on the job, she was emphatic: “Excel.” She explained that a lot of her responsibilities include creating budgets, reports, and keeping track of projection files which she does in the Office Tool. The fun part, according to her, is, alongside the owners, to be able to go to buying appointments, and trips to decide what shoes are going to be bought for all stores and locations, and dealing with Vendor Representatives directly.

All the skills required for her job, Shaelyn was taught during her college years. “I do think that what I learned at GBC was important. I believe that you really have to keep an open mind with every course, even if you think you are not interested in a certain field, it is important to keep an open mind because you never know when things could change", Shaelyn explained.

Shaelyn is conscious that she has a lot to learn in this position and in time responsibilities are going to grow. That fact does not scare her, and she is actually looking forward to new possibilities in Buying at Markio Designs. “Just a few weeks ago our Davids store announced they have officially partnered with Harry Rosen in a joint venture. This could mean that some of us at our Head-Office will be relocated to now be working for just Davids, and some of us will stay for Capezio and Duet. Wherever I end up, I hope to continue learning as much as I possibly can so I can one day end up in New York”, she said.

At the end of our conversation I asked her to give some piece of advice for those who are about to graduate and are new to the Industry. Shaelyn told me the most valuable thing in this field is experience. “Do everything and anything you can to get yourself out there and known in the industry. Get as many experience as possible and do not be afraid of taking chances.”

The music behind the catwalk, Interview with Mauro Facchetti

Music in the catwalk makes a big contribution in the aesthetics of a fashion label. While it is extremely important to have a good designer, big and amazing lights, ambiance and many guests, it is also the sounds that a musician composes for a designer to present a collection to the crowd what completes the whole package of what the spectator is watching.

In the experience of Mauro Facchetti, an Italian musician from Milan graduated in Musicology from Cremona University and specialized in sound Engineering (or Tècnico del Suono, in Italian), has worked in several fashion shows back in his home city, Milan. In his opinion “almost nothing is going to work as a perfect execution on a catwalk, with the most transgressive garments and the most heavenly montage, if the music does not generate a favorable environment, which helps to communicate the message of the collection. It cannot be indifferent, or inept, or put ahead of what is happening in the show: it has to connect perfectly”.


 
In most catwalks since the early 80´s, prominence of music composers has been present. Today the DJ is present in its podium. In other more classic shows, the work remains behind the curtain, it all depends on the designer and the interpretation he wants spectators to perceive. But as this connection between fashion and music is back and forth, there are many cases in which a musician or a band, has inspired a designer to create a collection. But, then, does a musician (dj, band or composer) make a difference in the success of a fashion show? Or is it only the designer´s name, style and ideas that make a fashion show successful?

Back in the 80´s, designers like Thierry Mugler celebrated 10 years of the existence of his house by organizing a "Super Paying Show" in which he sold 6,000 tickets. At this times, catwalks were a party in a literal sense. According to Time Magazine in an article of 1984 by John Duka, '' Mr. Mugler said afterward. ''Either you do it very small and private or you do this. I think the public wants it this way.''

The dj´s boomed and celebrities like Karl Lagerfeld raised. This was a complete different era and the story is quite interesting. According to P. Facchetti, back in the 70´s, Legerfeld met Michel Gaubert, a young vinyl collector who worked importing music (vynils) for the Champ Disques store and made his first steps into the field of the remixes. Lagerfeld, which was a renowned music lover, asked for advice and repeatedly went to the meet Gaubert to follow his recommendations. Within time, they became friends and today, (and for two decades) Gaubert plays the music to many of the Channel fashion shows. At that time, Gaubert´s eclecticism when it came to mixing industrial sounds, voices, classical music or rock music from the seventies made him a regular contributor to Balenciaga, Viktor & Rolf, Oscar de la Renta, Louis Vuitton and almost all the companies that can be named. Lagerfeld is famous, among many other things, for changing his gang of collaborators and muses in very short periods of time. This DJ, or as the designer calls him, “stylist of sound”, is the exception. A variety of videos can be found in m2m.tv.

“The sound experience of the catwalk is definitive when it comes to creating an impression, or when wanting to emphasize the motivations that led the creator of the collection to trace those lines on paper, to then translate them into molds that would become pieces of cloth, sew to become the finished garment that we have before our eyes. Music is and should be part of the identity of a fashion creator. I do believe music helps the models as well to walk with a particular rhythm that is required by creators, and helps the viewer to be immersed in that bubble that contains all those elements the designer wants to show to the spectators”, says Facchetti in the interview conducted in October 2017.

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It has been always a fact that men and women behind the microphone and in front of the crowd are normally celebrated as the most stylish entertainers. With that said, just because the DJ or band is behind-the-scenes in a fashion show, doesn’t mean that they can’t be as stylish (or more) as their vocal counterparts. One thing is for sure, without the music, collections would not have been remembered the same!