Downtown Toronto is rich in street-wear boutiques, but with so many, how do you pick the best ones?

In my small school located miles away from the city, people dressed the exact same way. My fellow school mates would buy clothes for the same brand names, expecting themselves to be unique even though everyone else had the same clothes on. Hollister, Aeropostale, Abercombie and H&M. The four apocalyptic disasters that were sent down to this earth to prevent people from having a unique and personal style. I always thought the people with the most up-to-date styles and the newest clothes were always the coolest people.  I wanted to be apart of that group, one of the cool kids who were known for their sense of style and trend-setting abilities. The one trip to downtown Toronto’s fashion district changed my life, every store there was so unique, so fresh and so hip. If I could name all of the stores I would, but out of all of them, five stores stick out:

Over The Rainbow:

Opened in 1975 as a premium denim retailer, Over the Rainbow sold jeans and apparel  from many different countries. As time passed,  Over The Rainbow increased it’s reputation and by 2007, the store was known as one of the go-to denim stores of the Country.

Over The Rainbow now sells over 250 styles of denim (largest selection in Canada) and carries over 100 different brands like 1921 and PRPS.

http://rainbowjeans.com/home.htm

Due West/Next Door:

Roughed up and edgy are the thoughts that come to my mind when I think of the ambiance of the store. Established in 1973, Due West is a mid-end retailer that has a very relaxed and chilled out vibe. When I first entered this store, I saw brands like Dom Rebel and G-Star, (which I personally don’t wear) and a lot of more street-ish and more urban styles of clothing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is into the more graphic aspect of design.

www.duewestclothing.com

Next Door:

Next Door is probably my favourite stores out of the five. Located right beside Due West, Next Door sells higher end brands such as D&G, McQ by Alexander McQueen, DSquared and J.Lindeberg. You definitely get a more up-scale feel when entering this retail store, along with the simple and straight forward design of the interior. There is also a great contrast between the exposed plywood walls and the simple yet noticeable clothing showcase.

http://nextdoorclothing.posterous.com/

Show Room:

The first time I went into Show Room was during the 2009 boxing day sale. At first I thought it was going to be impossible to find something that I would actually like but I was surprised to see such a wide variety of clothes to choose from. After 20 minutes in the store, I had over $350 worth of clothes in my arms and I was walking towards the cash register. This two-floor store is filled with higher priced garments on the second floor and plenty of hip and up and coming brands on the first floor. From brands and labels that would get anyone spending every penny they have, including: Diesel, Cheap Monday, Miss Sixty,  Naked and Famous, Levis, True Religion and Lucky 7.

http://www.theshow-room.com/

Got Style Menswear:

Voted as the top menswear store by in Toronto by Now Magazine, Got Style is the leading menswear store when it comes to casual or business attire. The aesthetics of the store is what every man would want to see while shopping; flat-screen TVs, comfortable furnishings and a sleek interior. Got Style also has it’s very own male only spa which provides haircuts and hot-towel shaves.

http://www.gsmen.com/

Today marks two weeks since the huge tent down in Liberty Village showed off beautiful fashion lines and designs to media and fashionistas for LG Fashion Week. As a part of the jam-packed (both lineup and audience wise) Gotstyle menswear fashion show, JUZD strutted down the runway with a fierce energy to showcase one of the many styles that Gotstyle sells at the store on King St. W. With looks, such as geek and chic, as well as fancy and sleek, JUZD took care of the urban and hot look. And despite it being a menswear show, our female shirt definitely did make its way into the lineup.

Images courtesy of LG Fashion Week., credit George Pimentel

Making sure that readers always have the up-to-the-minute news, CANOE.ca doesn’t deviate from its usual by delivering the down-lo on whose pieces you’ll be seeing on the runway at LG Fashion Week. Showcasing the Gotstyle Menswear “Made in Canada” show, which will take place on October 23 at 6PM, CANOE spotlighted several of the designers, including JUZD’s lead designer Jing Liu.

Click on the following link to read the article: http://lifewise.canoe.ca/Style/2009/10/15/11417061-sun.html

When someone says they’re buying “local,” it’s usually a reference to the groceries in their baskets, but in the fashion world, this concept takes on a whole new meaning. Poised on showing off Canada’s talent in fashion, menswear store GotStyle will be hosting the “Made in Canada” during Toronto’s Fashion Week in October.

In doing so, the well-known menswear store will be featuring brands that they sell, such as Bustle, Kwasi, and of course, JUZD Streetwear! Are we excited? Of course!

Toronto Fashion Week is one of the most talked about events in the city with over 450 registered media personnel and 25 000 persons in attendance. During the fashion week, the website achieves over one million hits per day.

To learn more about the itself, as well as sponsoring it, head over to the GotStyle Menswear blog.

Seems as though the word about JUZD is getting out! With success in Holt Renfrew, GotStyle and Green is Black more and more people are quick to grab the one-of-a-kind JUZD t-shirt. The fashion world is seeking new, innovative and eco-friendly designs and being the planet’s first bamboo designer label, it’s hard to avoid getting JUZD…

Original Article http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/article.aspx?cp-documentid=672500

Hot looks, Cool for the planet

We’ve found a dozen designers – many of them Canadian success stories – whose collections are carried in stores across Canada. Check out the green designer collections we’ve found that will make you green in heart while your friends go green with envy.

JUZD (short for Juiced) was the first bamboo designer label. Said to be inspired by the legend of 1898, when the African Mountain Gorillas were discovered, each shirt in the JUZD collection has an exclusive design and is made from organic bamboo fabric. All JUZD T-shirts, such as the ones above, retail for $100 at Holt Renfrew stores across Canada. You can also buy their shirts directly from their website at http://www.juzd.com/.