30 years of Rudsak | Adapting to changing winters

“When it snows, money falls for the rest of us. It changes needs overnight. We watch the weather every day. How much did he make last year? What are we planning next week? »

Selling premium winter coats for men and women when the cold season starts to feel more like fall is not an easy task, admits Evik Asatoorian, founding president of Rudsak, in an interview with The Press in the company’s offices located in the legendary Chabanel district of Montreal.

“People’s way of life has changed,” says Mr. Asatoorian, sitting among an assortment of coats for next year, many of which are much lighter than those designed for winter. “They live in condos of 500 to 1,000 square feet. They have indoor parking and often they go to work by car. For these people, a big coat no longer exists. They really go with a light coat. »

For the Quebec retailer, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, snowfalls are like a gift from heaven, but they are becoming rarer. To ensure its survival and attract people in stores or on the web four times a year instead of once, it has added t-shirts, skirts and sneakers to its collection in recent years. Canada Goose, a specialist in parkas for the Siberian cold, also recently took this route by selling something other than just warm coats.

And does leather, which made the company famous in its early days with the launch of a perfecto-style jacket, still have its place? “In the last four years, due to the difficult economic situation, people have given up on leather. »

But the man predicts his comeback in force. “The 80s look is very popular. I see a lot of people wearing the coat they had in the 80s.”

So, in addition to expanding its collections and hoping for a real winter, Rudsak has expanded its presence in America and Europe.

An expansion that goes abroad

With 14 stores in Quebec and six others elsewhere in Canada, Mr. Asatoorian wants the head office to remain in Montreal and the clothing design to be done here. However, he does not intend to open other stores in the province. “The business here has changed. Before online commerce, we were supposed to be at the Galeries d’Anjou, at the Rockland Center… This is no longer the case. Customers are buying a lot more online. »

Nearly 40% of the company’s sales are made online.

“After 30 years, people know us here. In Saguenay, we had a store. He is no longer there. But people buy online because they know us,” he repeats. Note, however, that Rudsak has opened a boutique at Royalmount, a new shopping center aimed at luxury goods.

In the United States, the situation is different. Rudsak currently has five stores in the United States, including in New York, Washington and Chicago. The company even intends to open two or three more next year.

“There, people don’t know us,” he says lucidly. To tame the market, you have to have stores. »

And does the election of Donald Trump, who has not hidden his intention to impose a 10% customs tariff on Canadian products entering the United States, worry him? “I think everyone who exports to the United States has a little concern,” he replies. Ultimately, someone is going to pay for this. »

Europe and ski resorts

In addition to Uncle Sam’s country, Rudsak has a presence in Europe. The retailer’s clothing is sold there in high-end department stores and specialty boutiques.

The Quebec company even sells collections in South Korea.

With its range of ski clothing launched in 2023, Rudsak intends to sell its suits and coats in boutiques on certain mountains in France in particular.

“They do a lot of après-ski at 5 degrees there,” he says with a laugh. So the Siberian cold is not always necessary to sell winter clothes…