“I really admired their development and growth. When [Kit and Ace] was founded, it was the hottest brand to work for; a bit of an offshoot of Lululemon,” David Lui (pictured, right) explains.

Lui, who serves as CEO at Unity Brands, a company he co-founded with fashion visionaries and entrepreneurs Joe Mimran and Frank Rocchetti, has been following the trendy chain ever since it was established in 2014 by the Wilson family (of Lululemon). And, as of July, with Unity Brand’s acquisition of Kit and Ace, Lui is assuming the role of CEO there and is overseeing, amongst other things, the organization’s growth, marketing and e-commerce.

The marketing veteran – with decades in leadership roles such as VP of marketing at Mark’s and SportChek – respected what the Vancouver-based Kit and Ace stood for and the technical quality of the product – purpose-driven cashmere apparel (to combat fast fashion), easily worn across seasons “whether in the boardroom or at the beach.” Kit and Ace was addressing an emerging need with a growing trend at the time of its launch. “Many of us were more on the move. Wellness was becoming top of mind, and the brand provided an outdoors-indoors lifestyle product.”

But while the apparel itself was beloved, with an enterprising former leadership the brand went on a scaling spree that saw it establish 61 stores and 700 employees around the world in less than two years, only to massively downsize by 2017 and lay off many. In 2018, by the time George Tsogas – who had been VP of international distribution and global logistics at Lululemon – took over the company, the international stores had been shuttered, six stores in Canada were left along with 140 employees. Tsogas then implemented a more prudent strategic vision, a tweaked direction – turning the apparel into athleisure – and stabilized the brand.

Roughly a year ago, an opportunity arose to discuss some form of partnership between Unity Brands and Kit and Ace. “We met with George [Tsogas], and the group that bought [the company] from Chip [Wilson], we also met with Chip, and discussions just naturally included a potential acquirement.” Lui and his partners were excited about the prospect: the brand was well known, it had a strong fan base, a top of the line revenue. “The company also weathered the pandemic quite well. In fact, there was a growth in revenue during that time. And that growth continues today. All of these things made it a big attraction,” he says.

Acquiring a successful company is only the beginning, however. And Lui knows this. One of the exciting parts for him in such an acquisition is the storytelling potential, a strong suit of his. But the first challenge Lui sees resides in building a high-performing team. “We want to communicate to our guests that the brand is alive and well and that we are willing and prepared to grow. Part of that involves recruiting talent.”

In that spirit, Lui has created new opportunities within the marketing department. “I identified some holes within the department itself and shifted a few people around into the right roles. And now, we are searching for a chief marketing officer that can lead holistically.” In the past, there was no one main marketing leader or CMO. The marketing was split between performance marketing because ecommerce was a big part of the business and brand. And Lui wants there to be one to bring it all together, including partnerships and what brand extensions there could be – “to really form a brand strategy.” Lui goes on to share that he’s also just signed the agreement to hire Will Creative as the agency to help with their brand development as Kit and Ace moves forward.

And once the company has the right team in place, it will hit the ground running and focus on growth. “We have ambitious plans, we want to grow while we install a lot of the foundational elements of rebuilding a business at the same time,” Lui shares. “Many of our team members here use the analogy ‘We’re flying the plane while we’re assembling the plane.’ That’s fine, but we need to make sure that the wings and the engine continue to run.”

When it comes to the types of marketing initiatives and brand campaigns that Lui has in mind for reinvigorating and reimaging, storytelling will be at the heart of it all. “Whatever channels we deploy, the core is ‘What story are we going to tell?’ We’re keeping our brand DNA: the technical aspects of our product that suit an active lifestyle. That’s going to hold true. We will also start to create more content on social media.” The brand is planning to ramp up their social efforts along with the respective ad campaigns surrounding their product launches starting as early this fall. “I believe the biggest marketing tool that we will be initiating is making our stores outfitted and properly merchandised in a way that displays our story.”

And when Lui talks about ambitious plans he’s referring to a clear market expansion, which includes a store opening in Vancouver, one in Calgary and a potential third in Toronto (with distant plans for one in Montreal). “By the end of next year, we’re looking at another four stores. So that will get us to about 10 to 11 stores by the end of 2024.”

With regards to his role as CEO of the company, having been a marketer for so long gives him an interesting brand perspective as opposed to a CEO who might have come at the position from a finance background. “I’ve always been advocating for marketing to have a major seat at the table in terms of corporate strategy. Marketing is not lower funnel work. It has to be at the corporate level, led by the CEO.”

This CEO (who won a BDC Young Entrepreneur Award, was named one of Business in Vancouver’s Forty under 40 and ranked 11th in the Global CEO Awards) believes that the world of marketing is changing and that marketers are slowly getting their due recognition. “Marketing touches every aspect of every organization that you know. And I hope that with me in this seat, it demonstrates that marketing definitely should drive strategy.”