BCBusiness

Lululemon founder Chip Wilson and co-founder of Kit and Ace, which has opened 60 shops worldwide since launching in 2014. Wilson feels B.C. has attracted these companies because it is an ideal testing ground for activities from skiing, swim- ming, kayaking and paddleboarding to biking to work in the rain. That said, she argues her new venture, Kit and Ace, is not so much about activewear as techni- cal streetwear: "We don't ever say we're building activewear. We're building a product for movement." WHILE KIT AND ACE may be more streetwear, there's no doubt that the province is an active one—and that's evi- dent in the expertise B.C. has developed in mountain bikes and equipment for skiing and snowboarding. Both Rocky Mountain Bicycles, which has won Mountain Bike magazine's Mountain Bike of the Year award three times, and Cove Bikes, which released the world's †rst North Shore freeride bike in 1992, sell internationally—as do Endeavor Snow- board Design and Prior snowboards, and G3 Genuine Guide Gear ski equip- ment and clothing. That expertise extends into the world of outdoor space too. Gravity Logic, based in Whistler, designs and builds bike trails and parks in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Owners Dave Kelly, Rob Cocquyt and Tom Prochazka were employees at Whistler-Blackcomb when they built the bike park there in the 1990s. Although it wasn't the †rst bike park in the world, "I think Whistler kind of perfected the model," says Prochazka. By 2005, they were getting so many enquiries about how they operated that they started a consulting arm: Gravity Logic. Three years later, Whistler-Blackcomb decided the bike park didn't †t its business model and sold Gravity Logic to Kelly, Cocquyt and Prochazka, who have been operating on their own ever since. Beyond biking, outdoor design leaders include Arena Snowparks, which builds terrain parks, half pipes and snowcrosses around the world (including for the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games), and WhiteWater West, which designs and manufactures innovative waterparks (it has installed more than 5,000 of them worldwide since 1980). ■ MIA MELON mia melon's windproof, waterproof, fashion- forward women's coats are inspired by the West coast lifestyle and weather. designed in Vancouver and portland, they are sold in more than 200 boutiques across north america, plus one in Japan. a new men's line, one man outerwear, is sold online. NATIVE SHOES stylish, sustainably manu- factured footwear made of ethylene-vinyl acetate are particularly popular with celebrity kids, including the offspring of hugh Jackman, heidi klum, barack obama and halle berry. the shoes are carried by retailers worldwide, including nord- strom, saks Fifth avenue and urban outfitters. PEOPLE FOOTWEAR Vancouver-based people Footwear makes classic casual "high-performance leisure" footwear designed for comfort, with light- weight, shock-absorbent ethylene-vinyl acetate soles and fabric uppers. stocked by retailers worldwide including nordstrom and harvey nichols. PYRRHA Worn by sarah mclachlan, taylor swift and katie holmes, pyrrha jewellery is handcrafted in Vancouver by Wade and danielle papin using sterling silver, bronze, gold and conflict-free stones. pyrrha has a flag- ship store in l.a. and is sold through global retailers that include liberty of london, le bon marché paris and united arrows of Japan. ERIN TEMPLETON erin templeton handmakes leather bohos, backpacks, clutches and cuffs using recycled leather, imported cowhides and locally tanned elk and bison skins. in an effort to defy trends, she uses minimal hardware and simple, strong construc- tion techniques. templeton sells through retailers across north america, the u.k. and taiwan. WINGS + HORNS contemporary menswear inspired by the canadian landscape and combining innovative fabrics with a Japanese approach to detail, Vancouver-based Wings + horns sells inter- nationally through retailers that include bloomingdale's. BEYOND LIVING: FASHION (cont.) 32 BCBusiness June 2016 ethylene-vinyl acetate soles hlan, rha jewellery is

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