Shelley Klassen is a Canadian designer who has built her career by creating an irresistible feminine style of chic women’s clothing. Her store in downtown Vancouver, also houses her design studio, and offers a wide variety of feminine, chic clothing for ladies who appreciate timeless couture presented in a stylish, approachable setting. Providing on site fittings and alterations as well as custom design, the atelier prides itself on creating the perfect fit for every client. Come to our boutique for your personalized shopping experience! All clothing is designed and manufactured in Vancouver, Canada. Shelley Klassen offers on-site professional stylists and custom design for all occasions. We are proud to support other local design talent, offering pieces from other local designers like Vancouver’s Bronsino and Surrey’s FIRMA Energywear. We carry over 20 different local jewelry & accessory designers.
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: We work with small companies for digitizing patterns, printing markers to having garments cut and sewn. We work with family run manufactures and home sewers. Our labels and print material are all from Vancouver companies. Shelley Klassen is proud to support other local talent by showcasing their work from belts, shape wear, art and jewelry, we host an amazing group of local artists and designers, all made in B.C. Our fabrics and notions are purchased from B.C. and Canadian suppliers. We use B.C.-based businesses for 80% of our inventory supplies. And for our services, we’re working with local businesses almost exclusively. So whenever we pay for accounting, banking, coaching, consulting, distribution, media (advertising, etc.), transportation, repair & maintenance, IT services, or any other service, – 90% of the time it’s a B.C.-based business. We use local companies for cleaning services, industrial repairs, and IT support. We also work with local photographers and models of varying sizes and ethnicities.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: It is rare to find clothing made in Canada and we are proud that we design and manufacture 100 % out of Vancouver B.C. We are committed to passing on everything we’ve learned over the years by mentoring students from local design and high schools and providing internships. Our goal is to make all women feel beautiful regardless of shape and size. We do this by offering off the rack tailoring to create the perfect fit for their body type and custom design.
We are proud that we have reduced the carbon footprint by buying supplies and manufacturing locally. Our studio and boutique lighting is now all LED. We aim to have the best yield on our fabric cuts to reduce on wastage. Sizeable fabric scraps are kept and reused. We donate unused fabrics to local schools. We also donate about 1% of our revenue to charitable organizations.