I have to admit that my closet is a mix of both bigger name brands and independents/up-and-coming lines.  I’d prefer if I’d had more of the latter, but access is often an issue.  Even the up-and-coming lines that make it to FAT or Toronto Fashion Week are already at least somewhat known, especially to those who read Canadian style publications (online and print), meaning that everyone else is lost.  And to top it off, because one doesn’t know names, one can’t search for them online.  Without proper promotion, this is sadly, the case for many designers.  On top of that, there are those who fall into societal pressure of buying items from the “knowns.”  Why? Because they’ve been “proven” and have the power and money.

It’s always a good thing to support lesser-known designers like Rachel Sin (dresses from her Spring/Summer collection above), but they’re often hard to find if you don’t know where to look.

Label snobs are, unfortunately, everywhere.  I recall a few years ago, a woman at Holt Renfrew proclaimed rather loudly that she wouldn’t buy a certain pair of shoes because she’d never heard of that brand (if you must know, the particular pair of shoes she picked up were Tory Burch Revas. It was circa 2008, so it wasn’t as if Tory hadn’t been in media.  This woman’s exact words (in translation – she spoke Cantonese) were “not well known enough, not worth the buy.”  Honestly, even if I felt that way, I would not have said anything.  In Toronto, there are plenty of people, including myself, who understand the language.  Needless to say, a good portion of customers in the shoe department gave her a WTF look.  I don’t think she noticed.  In any case, I don’t think many label snobs truly understand fashion. They just go for the names. Walk around certain parts of Toronto and you basically see women carrying handbags from one of three or four brands (usually in the forms of Coach, Michael Kors, LV and Longchamp).  I have my fair share of bags from said brands (especially Coach), but I also have others, including ones that people might not consider or even know of.

Big names like Tory Burch are easier to find and some people think “known” is “better”

I don’t really understand why some people shun independents and unknowns.  Don’t they realize that each and every designer who has “made it,” ones who show at the Big Four Fashion Weeks (New York, London, Milan and Paris), for example, were all unknowns at one point?  We need to give people breaks.  The more one buys from up-and-coming lines, the more likely said line will become the Next Big Thing.  It’s common sense!