Mark’s and Old Navy have best weathered the retail storm of the last year in the eyes of Canadians, according to the latest brand health ratings from market research firm YouGov.

YouGov bases its rankings on an index score from YouGov BrandIndex. That score measures overall brand health by combining six key contributors: impression, quality, value, satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and reputation.

The scores are also determined by averaging the results of a series of nationally representative polls between Sept. 1, 2020 and Aug. 31, 2021, tracking how brand health has changed over the last 12 months.

Canadian Tire-owned Mark’s – which has been in the midst of a brand refresh during the time of YouGov’s polling – topped the list, just over seven points ahead of second-placed Old Navy. The remainder of the top five – H&M, Gap and American Eagle – found themselves in a bit of a pack, with 0.1 points separating each of them.

The top two retailers wound up on the top of the list thanks to having the biggest increases over the last year, with Old Navy’s bump being slightly higher than Mark’s. They were followed by American Eagle, Lululemon and Gap in terms of improvement. Though their final rankings fell outside the top ten, Aritzia, Harry Rosen and Nordstrom all had notable improvements in brand health. Moores, Zara and Banana Republic all managed to stay within the top ten, despite not being able to increase their scores.

The ranking are part of the first round of brand health ratings YouGov has released for the Canadian market, following similar lists for the personal care and beer categories last month. Comparing the lists, Canadian fashion retail brands are roughly in line with beer brands in terms of perception, though well behind personal care brands: Mark’s 26.7 score would still put it outside the top ten personal care brands.