Just days before Black Friday, Canadian performance apparel brand Strike Mvmnt propped open the doors to its first U.S. outpost, located at 1215 Polk St.
The brand got its start in Vancouver's Gastown neighborhood about three years ago, with a focus on designing a performance-based shoe that looks attractive.
"You can wear them to the gym, you can wear them on a 5k run, you can wear them on your pedals, but they also look good," said Marlon Thompson, retail and marketing manager for Strike Mvmnt. "And that's the bread and butter of our whole brand."
In the same vein, Strike Mvmt also designs fitness apparel for men and women that doubles as street clothes. "One thing that we're really proud of, when it comes to our apparel, is that it's all produced in North America. The majority of it is produced in British Columbia," Thompson said.
"We're committed to uniting different members of the community, different members of the athletic community, fashion community, the parkour community, by movement," Thompson said.
One community that's flocked to the brand since its inception is Crossfit. "I think it's part of the aesthetic. Crossfit is somewhere between your standard, for lack of a better term, 'bro' who goes to the gym and is an avid weightlifter, and your parkour guy who doesn't really care about fashion but is probably a little bit cooler than your 'bro.' Crossfit is somewhere in between there, and I think that's where our product and our brand sits as well."
San Francisco regularly ranks as one of the healthiest cities in the United States and is replete with high-end gyms, so it's no surprise Strike Mvmnt set its sights here. But Thompson notes the shop's expansion to San Francisco can also be attributed to how similar it is to its hometown.
"I always say that if we were to put a mirror up to Vancouver, San Francisco would just be our older brother. It's very similar aesthetically, culturally. The love of health and wellness translates pretty directly between the cities. San Francisco has just been around a lot longer, and it's bigger."
With the holidays on the horizon, expect to see the new kid on the block hosting regular in-store events. Next up is a "welcome to the neighborhood" celebration from 6-8pm Dec. 16th, with Lululemon and Studiomix joining in.
The shop's hours are currently 11am-7pm Monday-Friday and 12-5pm Saturday, but that's subject to change as it settles into the neighborhood.
