Cleverly done by Mark’s

When you see or hear about Mark’s Work Warehouse you don’t immediately envision clothing which caters to the fashionably inclined person. For the longest time, I’ve known Mark’s as a store which carries work gear and plain business clothes. The last time I shopped in Mark’s was for a winter jacket in high school and I haven’t been back since. However, this Canadian retailer is undergoing a transformation focusing more on style and a demographic increasingly concerned with practical fashion.

Cleverly dropping the “Work Warehouse” portion of the name, I was invited to attend Mark’s fall/winter 2010 preview last week and was impressed at the large clothing selection being offered, such as its perfectly pressed shirts (aka: the no-iron dress shirts), knits and jeans.

I was more drawn to Mark’s leather pieces; jackets, gloves and of course footwear. There are several styles of the ladies’ QUAD COMFORT boots which caught my attention. They cost $149.99 and are designed with non-slip rubber soles and salt-stain protection.

The most interesting footwear on display was a heated men’s hiker boot, which at the press of a button the sole heats up. Although designed for practicality, had this boot been developed for the fashion conscious person it would have been a really big hit

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Mark’s also put on an extremely clever, small and intimate fashion show that didn’t overkill the focus of the presentation highlighting the versatile, practical yet stylish qualities of its clothing – event planners take notice. Audience participation was a must during the runway show as Paul Aguirre, Tricia Campbell Hall and I doused male models with water guns to test the water resistant hoodies and poured mud on a pair of women’s boots to test its salt-stain protection abilities.

I had a really good time at Mark’s fall/winter 2010 preview and enjoyed the hands-on experience.