Nomad latest menswear store to get on the e-tail bandwagon

Nomad latest menswear store to get on the e-tail bandwagon

Last Friday, Queen West menswear shop Nomad became the latest Toronto-based menswear store to launch an on-line shopping portal. Of course, “store gets Web site” is hardly news, but what caught our attention is the trendy way Nomad went about it. Its slick combination of e-tail, photography and original editorial content reflects the character of the store and makes its brand more relatable. (The blog on nomadshop.net discusses new products, like the coffee table book by contemporary artist Kaws, and new lines to be offered in the store, like Alden Shoe Co.) It’s a trend we’ve been noticing everywhere, from Jonathan and Olivia to Sydney’s.

New York–based stores OakNYC and Opening Ceremony popularized this style of e-commerce site. The Opening Ceremony site features content as varied as a staff book club, Q&As with celebrities who visit the store, and illustrated step-by-step instructions from OC pros on such topics as how to pack for a trip and how to wrap presents.

Other Toronto stores, including Jonathan and Olivia and, more recently, Sydney’s, have followed suit. Jonathan and Olivia, which started in Vancouver and expanded to its current digs on the Ossington strip, was an early adopter of the e-tail blog. Operators keep things simple by posting only new products and their descriptions. High-end Toronto men’s store Sydney’s takes it a step further with a tab labelled Culture and Interests, which chooses a song of the day, an album of the week and a book of the month.

Original editorial content is a welcome distraction from the mind-numbing effects of on-line shopping, but a store that will sell you jeans and give you a paint-by-number guide to being cool may be taking the term “lifestyle brand” too literally.