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‘This is not a hobby. We’re doubling the revenue,” said Emma May, a former attorney and political assistant. Her Sophie Grace line wants to be Lululemon for the office
Published June 4, 2023 • Last updated 16 minutes ago • read for 4 minutes
In 2020, Emma May launched Sophie Grace, a new womenswear brand that aims to be Lululemon for the office. Photo by Donna Kennedy-Glans
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This is a conversation series from Donna Kennedy-Glans, a writer and former Alberta minister, featuring newsmakers and intriguing personalities. This week: entrepreneur Emma May.
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Lululemon and Aritzia, fashion brands mainly for women, are among Canada’s best performing companies. Both are run by men. Emma May, a female entrepreneur in Calgary, wants to get involved.
Emma, 51, is a master of rebranding. She has worked as a lawyer. Founded a high-end real estate company. For a time, she was a top aide to Alberta Premier Jim Prentice. And in 2020 she launched SophieGrace, a new womenswear brand named after her own daughter who wants to be Lululemon for the office. Her first product arrived just weeks before the world went into lockdown.
“Thirty-two boxes showed up in my driveway on February 23, 2020. Worst timing in the world,” laughs Emma.
We’re in SophieGrace’s corporate showroom in Ramsay—a trendy neighborhood just east of downtown Calgary—comfortably perched on the mustard-colored velvet couch planted in the center of the showroom. The sofa feels like an island in a sea of mix-and-match jackets, trousers, shirts and dresses.
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“I remember that after leaving politics I got rid of all my suits. I sold them. I hated them,” says Emma. “And then I had to dress up for a board meeting and just wanted a pencil skirt and matching blouse.” It’s easy for men, they buy suits, Emma explains, but all the choice is frustrating for women. It was a light bulb moment: Wouldn’t it be easier for women if they had a collection of pieces they could coordinate?
“When women dress for work, in a position where they need to be taken seriously — like a prime minister, like a Supreme Court judge, like a young intern,” says Emma, they do mental gymnastics over what to wear . In the mall, everything is aimed at the youth or focused on fun, sexy, look-hot clothing.
“For the woman who wants to show up and be taken seriously — to be seen for who she is rather than what she wears — there aren’t many options,” reports Emma.
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In 2018, after sketching ideas for her brand, Emma found Lisa MacCarthy, her head of product, who had previously worked at Lululemon; hired a designer; then went to Los Angeles and bought fabric. All steps in this entrepreneurial journey were shared by Emma via personalized Instagram posts.
“I took out a $140,000 line of credit on the house and placed the order, transferred the money, in the first week of January 2020,” says Emma.
We make a tour of the showroom floor. The fabrics feel soft, smooth and stretchy. SophieGrace offers convenience to working women who are totally intolerant of discomfort after the pandemic. It’s possible to see how Emma’s updated version of the working woman’s power suit could foreshadow a new normal. We’re talking about other fashion trendsetters: Mary Quant, the mother of the miniskirt, who pushed a post-war generation of women away from corsets and other restrictive styles. And today, American Eileen Fisher’s Zen designs, originally aimed at mature women, are being picked up by Gen Z consumers in thrift and thrift stores.
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And it’s not just the styles that evolve. Entrepreneurs who break into the fashion world break conventional business models. Nordstrom, an American luxury department store, is expected to leave Canada in June; business executives say they couldn’t make any money here. “Their rental profile was insane,” Emma exclaims, and the shopping experience “visually overwhelming.”
“I loved the ground floor in Nordstrom, especially in Vancouver, the shoes and makeup. But when I went upstairs into the dressing room, it was difficult to navigate,” Emma describes.
Her approach with SophieGrace is to spend much less on rent and help the client quickly find what she wants, online or in person. Pop-ups in places like Toronto and SoHo draw attention. And the larger showroom space is suitable for holding social events where women can come together, with shopping as a side event. People may not buy Tupperware, but the business model survives.
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Bouncing back and forth between a warehouse in Calgary and a shop and manufacturing facilities in Vancouver requires a founder with boundless energy. Emma is also smart enough to hire a talented team to help carry out her plan. But she discovers that when it comes to access to capital, it’s men who still call the shots.
“When you talk to them about women’s fashion, their eyes glaze over,” Emma complains, “and it suddenly feels a bit like Housewives of Orange County, like this is some kind of side project that’s really cute.”
“This is not a hobby. We’re doubling sales every year,” Emma says in an adamant voice. “I’m in the middle of a million-dollar financial raise.” SophieGrace is on track to reach $4 million in sales this year and $8 million next year. Like the businesswomen she dresses, Emma expects to be taken seriously.
Donna Kennedy-Glans is active in the energy sector and a multi-generational family business. Her latest book is Teaching the Dinosaur to Dance: Moving Beyond Business as Usual (2022).
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