shawn mendes roots

Roots hoping for Shawn Mendes boost as stores see sluggish sales

Can a dreamy homegrown pop star on the rise save an iconic, yet struggling Canadian retailer? Roots had better hope so.

The one-time "outdoor lifestyle" giant is trading near an all-time low on the Toronto Stock Exchange right now after revealing that its sales numbers had fallen well below expectations over the past three months.

Roots Canada blames "unseasonably warm fall weather" and "the absence of a large marketing campaign" for its soft third quarter, but shares have nonetheless plummeted by more than 20 per cent since the news was made public earlier this week.

Singer Shawn Mendes, on the other hand, just headlined the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and is gearing up for his first ever stadium tour.

The 20-year-old, multi-platinum recording artist continues to explode in popularity across the world thanks to his recent Rolling Stone cover story, musical talents and aforementioned dreaminess.

He could very well be collaborating with some of the biggest names in global fashion (I mean, if YSL gets with G-Eazy that hard, why not?)

Instead, the GTA-born superstar has partnered with Roots to launch a new, limited-edition capsule collection to celebrate his first stadium show in Toronto.

That stadium show in Toronto won't take place until September of next year, but the Roots x Shawn Mendes line officially launched on Tuesday with an in-store event at the Eaton Centre (the products will be available online starting today).

"I'm so excited to launch this collaboration with Roots," said Mendes in a Roots press release on Monday. "With my first ever stadium show coming up in my home town Toronto, it felt like the perfect way to celebrate, by teaming up with one of the most iconic Canadian brands."

Roots, for its part, says this project "is the first step in an ongoing creative collaboration between Roots and Shawn."

While Mendes has a young, hysterical fan base, much like Justin Bieber at one point, these clothes aren't priced for tweens with babysitting money. Shirts and toques are relatively inexpensive, but $82 might be a lot to spend on sweatpants for some, let alone almost $600 on a Shawn Mendes-branded leather jacket.

Either way, bringing a heartthrob into the picture has turned a lot of eyeballs toward Roots, and that's never a bad thing. 

The publicly held company recently lowered its 2019 financial targets based on poorer-than-expected sales, from a minimum of $61 million to a minimum of $46 million, but who knows—the fangirls could help get them back on track.

If so, we could start calling Shawn Mendes a pop star and fashion patriot.

Lead photo by

Roots Corporation


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