Gravity Pope
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gravity Pope Company Ltd. <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;"></td></tr> | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | Edmonton, Alberta , 1990 |
| Headquarters | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
<tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Industry</th><td>Retail</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Products</th><td>Footwear & Apparel</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Employees</th><td>80</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Website</th><td>www.gravitypope.com</td></tr> |
[edit] Company History
Gravity Pope was founded in 1990 in Edmonton,Alberta,Canada. Prior to owning Gravity Pope, Louise Dirks worked retail for many years and then studied clothing and textiles at the University of Alberta. She has always been extremely interested in fashion and modern style. After University, she co-owned an import shop. She and her partner traveled the world to find unique artisan goods. They traveled to India, Thailand, Nepal, Turkey, Morocco, Guatemala, and Mexico on a regular basis, buying beautiful hand made products. In the process, they purchased a line of boots from Czechoslovakia called Monkey Boots. The distributor for Monkey Boots also sold Dr. Martens. Louise Dirks and her partner brought in a few pairs to their import shop and were surprised how quickly they sold. Soon there became a growing section of Dr. Martens merchandised amidst embroidered Indian cashmeres, Turkish kilims, and Guatemalan Ikats. The import shop out grew the small space and in 1990, Gravity Pope was born. Originally, Gravity Pope sold only footwear and a small area in the back was subleased to a friend who opened a coffee bar. In later years this space flourished into a clothing section filled with unique fashion brands. In 1992, due to increased workload and traveling and buying for both the import shop and Gravity Pope, the partnership ceased and Louise became the sole owner of Gravity Pope.
In a city known mostly for the world's largest shopping mall, West Edmonton Mall, Gravity Pope remained a popular and successful streetside store on Edmonton's Whyte Avenue, eventually becoming a leader and an example for business on the popular shopping and entertainment strip. Through the nineties, Louise Dirks and Gravity Pope provided much of western Canada with fashionable footwear. From grunge Dr. Martens to raver style platform shoes, Gravity Pope built a reputation for keeping up with and keeping ahead of fashion trends. Striving to be a fashion leader, but also a resource for well built, hand-crafted shoes; Dirks worked to import quality shoes that reflected traditional shoe making techniques to compliment trendier styles.
[edit] Today
Beginning in Fall 2002, Gravity Pope began selling its own private label footwear in a limited number of styles in addition to its legendary selection of domestic and imported brands.
Gravity Pope works to provide shoes for customers with special requirements like vegetarian shoes and ethically made shoes. A number of exclusive and limited edition styles are also available.
Today Gravity Pope continues to offer an extensive selection of footwear for men, women and children. The selection covers a variety of genres, including sport, comfort and fashion. Some of the brands include Paul Smith, Chie Mihara, Trippen, Georgina Goodman, Sigerson Morrison, Moma, Cydwoq, Camper, John Fluevog, Converse, Kenneth Cole, Hugo Boss, Earth, Keen, Birkenstock, Clarks, Puma, Adidas, Vans and Reebok. In Edmonton, an extensive range of men’s and women’s unique fashion clothing including Acne, April 77, Fillipa K, Nudie Denim, Earnest Sewn, Corpus, Loomstate, Edun, G-Star, Diesel, Miss 60, Fornarina, Betsey Johnson, and Nice Collective is also offered. Gravity Pope has acquired world fame for its original footwear selection and its unconventional approach to retail.
