Canada’s Knix puts down roots in the US with a new permanent store and fulfillment center
After seeing “tremendous success with brick-and-mortar” retail in Canada, the intimates brand Knix is honing in on the U.S. market, its founder Joanna Griffiths told Modern Retail.
On Friday, Knix, which is known for its leakproof underwear, will open its first permanent store in the States, in New York City’s Soho neighborhood. New York City has the highest penetration of Knix customers in the U.S., in terms of e-commerce sales, and it’s also close to Knix’s home base of Toronto. Knix hopes to eventually open more doors across Manhattan and Brooklyn after seeing “such brand awareness and growth coming out of New York,” Griffiths said.
Knix’s new store is part of a larger investment in physical retail — and the U.S. market — for the DTC brand, which launched in 2013. Knix opened its first store in Canada in 2019, and while 80% of Knix’s sales come from its website, its stores have been “a big-impact growth channel” for Knix and have a 40% conversion rate, Griffiths said. Now, after selling a lifetime 15 million pairs of leakproof underwear in North America, Knix is running a targeted strategy to build its audience in the States.
As part of this effort, Knix opened a fulfillment center in Ohio a few weeks ago. While plans for a U.S. facility were already in place before recent U.S. tariffs, new duties “kicked us into overdrive,” Griffiths said. Knix is still manufacturing in Canada, but the Ohio center means Knix can send items to its U.S. customers in a way “that makes the experience more seamless,” Griffiths explained. It also means that Knix can deliver items to its New York City store more quickly.
Knix’s new store in Soho, on Lafayette Street, will be its 14th standalone store, per its website. Knix is continuing to open doors in Canada, and by the end of the year, it will have 20 locations across North America. While the company did not disclose revenue figures, in September 2022, Knix sold a majority stake for $320 million to health and hygiene product company Essity. Since its acquisition, Knix has grown by double digits, per the company. Its customer acquisition in the U.S., specifically, is also up double digits, Griffiths said.
Knix finds physical retail helpful for connecting with customers, as its offerings, like bras and swimwear, are conducive to try-ons and fittings. With its store in New York City, Knix is focusing on two questions, Griffiths explained: “Can we be successful in getting people to walk in the door? And then, when they’re there, can we do a good job of making them feel connected to the brand and help them find a product they’re looking for?” She continued, “If we can see those two things, we’ll have a lot of conviction around rolling out more stores.”
Knix’s new store isn’t the company’s first go-around with physical retail in the U.S. During the pandemic, Knix signed short-term leases for three pop-ups in California, in San Francisco, Santa Monica and San Diego. These closed last year. Knix did not convert them into permanent locations due to various factors, including suboptimal locations and other retail closures nearby. Griffiths decided the company needed to “step back” and take a more targeted approach in only one U.S. city, versus three, she said. Knix has no immediate plans to open a second U.S. store, although Griffiths said Knix is “actively looking for alternative locations” outside the Soho store.
Knix joins other brands like Vuori and Alo Yoga in expanding its physical footprint at a time in which competition for customers’ dollars is tight. For brands, opening stores in a new market is important because it “brings the brand to life” for prospective shoppers, said Stephanie Cegielski, vp of research and public relations at ICSC, formerly known as the International Council of Shopping Centers.
For a digitally-native brand like Knix, a store also has “significant last-mile advantages,” like click-and-collect and easier returns, Cegielski told Modern Retail. What’s more, there’s a trickle-down effect for a brand opening a store, ICSC data indicates. Its 2023 study found that opening a brick-and-mortar store increases a brand’s online sales in the surrounding trade area by an average of 6.9%.
Outside of merchandise, Knix is looking to take an experiential approach with its New York store. It’s finalizing an agenda of marketing events like female-founder dinners, a block party and a private shopping event with 70 influencers, all within the first couple of months. It’s also partnering with actress Kristen Bell on an out-of-home campaign in New York City called “You’re Good” and planning educational panels around women’s health.
“We’re putting a much bigger emphasis on programming and connecting with the community and showing up in a bigger way as a brand,” Griffiths said. “We’re taking the playbook that’s worked well for us in the Canadian market and bringing it to New York, … and we’re hopeful we’ll get a lot of traffic and high engagement.”