Vancouver's fast-growing Duer plans to open five new stores by the end of the year, which would bring the company's store-count to 10 across North America.
The retailer is known for its chino pants that look nice enough to wear to the office, yet are made from a proprietary fabric blend that includes cotton, lyocell and polyester. The blend makes the material comfortable and able to stretch.
Duer plans in early April to open a new store in Mississauga. Executives are scouting for locations to build stores in Ottawa, Edmonton, Montreal and the Lower Mainland, CEO Gary Lenett told BIV this afternoon.
"We're looking at opportunistic opportunities in the U.S. too, but most of our efforts are in Canada right now," he said.
The company's five current stores are in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Denver and Los Angeles.
The second store in Metro Vancouver may be in Vancouver but it may also be in the suburbs, Lenett said.
He told BIV that his goal is to have 40 Duer stores around the world within the next five years, in locations such as Tokyo, Berlin and London.
The company's revenue has been growing by more than 65 per cent per year to more than $50 million annually, he said.
He estimated that about 48 per cent of Duer's sales are done via e-commerce, 40 per cent of sales are by wholesale partners and 12 per cent of sales are in its bricks-and-mortar stores.
"We're selling in 52 countries either wholesale or e-commerce," he said.
E-commerce deliveries are prepared at the company's warehouse in Pitt Meadows, and Lenett said he thinks that warehouse should be sufficient to handle the company's expansion in the near future.
The company was known as Dish and Duer when it opened a pop-up store, and then in 2017 a first permanent store in 1,800 square feet at 118 West Hastings St.
It enticed customers with innovative marketing, such as getting customers to complete five activities on a scorecard that resembled a tic-tac-toe sheet. People who did the necessary activities, such as doing the Grouse Grind or playing pitch-and-putt, and who posted photos of themselves on Instagram with a tag to the Duer brand were given a free pair of pants.
The point of that promotion was to highlight that Duer pants were ideal for people who have active lifestyles.
Lenett relocated his Vancouver store to a 2,100-sq.-ft. location at 1755 West 4th Ave., just east of Burrard Street, in 2021. That neighbourhood is filled with many outdoor-wear stores, such as Adidas' Terrex and competitor Arc'Teryx, and is a better fit for the brand, he said.
"It's a bit nutty, what sales we're doing out of that small store," he said.
Duer's products are mostly made in a factory in Pakistan run by Lenett's partner, Abid Hafeez, but the company also sources product from Peru and China, Lenett said.
BIV asked Lenett if the company was likely to go public.
"We don't have any immediate plans, but you never know in the future," he said.
