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Megan Fleming - Left Emma Shand - Right
Fashion brands Aldo and Jacob celebrate 75 years in business between them
Fashion runs in families around the world, from Gucci to Hermes to Missoni. This year, two of Canada’s most prolific fast-fashion retailing dynasties celebrate significant digits: Aldo turns 40 and Jacob turns 35.
The Aldo shoe and accessories empire began around the Montreal kitchen table of Aldo Bensadoun in 1972. Mr. B, as the founder is known, came up with a smash-hit clog based on an Italian design under the Aldo label that he sold at concessions inside fashion boutiques. Shoes run in the family: Bensadoun’s grandfather was a cobbler and his father had a chain of shoe stores in Morocco.
The first stand-alone Aldo shop sprouted in Montreal in 1978, followed by rapid expansion first across this country, then the U.S. with hundreds of stores. Today there are more than 1,600 stores in more than 72 countries on every continent save Antarctica. The stores outside of Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. are franchised, but the company remains privately held. Today Aldo’s son Douglas is the creative director and VP of marketing and son David is the president of Aldo Group.
