Fashion
Power Lines: Some of Canada’s most successful fashion families gain their power from within
Left, Penny Shuster. Right, La Canadienne Fall 2011.
LA CANADIENNE
For Penny Shuster, 1990 was a major year. She fell in love twice: first with footwear and then with her future husband. The scene: Milan, where she studied at Ars Sutoria, the renowned shoe design school. She anticipated joining her family’s footwear company, La Canadienne, co-founded by her father, Michael Shuster, in 1975. Then Gianni Lamanuzzi, her design teacher’s best friend, swept her off her feet. It was a match made in shoe heaven. “My family was all about [footwear] and Gianni had always worked in shoe factories.”
They moved to Montreal, married and eventually took over the family business. Twenty years later, La Canadienne is a national success story with an international following: 70 per cent of its sales come from American retail behemoths like Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus. Penny heads up the design team, website and the Montreal store, while her husband handles the behind-the-scenes work, such as managing the brand’s production and factory. She credits her father (“an amazing mentor”) for inspiring her strong work ethic. “It’s tricky working with family,” she admits. “But the major benefit is trust.”
Penny also trusts that certain La Canadienne signatures (their waterproof boot, their Montreal-based factory) will remain essential, but she’s determined to add a trendy bounce to the brand’s step. “We always look to the runways to incorporate new looks,” she says. “We want our customers to be able to live in fashion.”
La Canadienne factory
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