ROOTS 100 Bloor West, 416-323-3289, roots.com
As far as TIFF-connected Toronto retailers go, no one is more Film Festival fixed up than Roots. Over the next 11 days, the brand will be gifting celebs at the IT Lounge swag suite and co-hosting George Christie’s annual bold-face luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel. Co-founder Michael Budman and his wife, Roots design director Diana Bald, will also be opening up their home for writer/director Paul Haggis’s star-saturated Artists for Peace and Justice fundraiser.
This all happens as the brand celebrates its 40th birthday with an exhibition of four decades’ worth of iconic varsity jackets, Olympics gear and negative-heel footwear at the Yorkville flagship store. Those sporty sneakers, which launched the label into Canadian style history in 1973, are also being reissued in black and brown Tribe leather.
Roots picks: The rosy leather goods lineup for autumn includes the Mademoiselle satchel with a detachable strap, $258 off-duty celebrity-friendly varsity jackets come with blue or green melton bodies mixed with black leather sleeves, $398 the negative-heel lace-ups are $158.
Look for: A leather jacket created for the anniversary in collaboration with Toronto coat label Smythe. It’s out in stores and online Saturday (September 7).
Hours: Monday to Saturday 9 am to 9 pm, Sunday 10 am to 9 pm.
