saint barth lemy see le ch teau saint barth lemy le ch teau inc. type public tsx ctu.a industry fashion founded montreal quebec canada 1959 founder herschel segal headquarters montreal quebec canada key people jane s. segal ceo emilia di raddo president secretary director 1 products formal wear casual wear evening wear footwear revenue 303.88 million cad 2007 1 net income 24.75 million cad 2007 8.14 % profit margin 1 number of employees 3 000 2007 2 website lechateau.com le ch teau inc. is a fashion company founded in 1959 in montreal quebec canada that designs imports and retails a wide range of women s and men s apparel accessories and footwear . 2 in 2006 the company generated sales of nearly 303.88 million cad . 1 the company sells directly to customers with over 232 retail stores in canada one in the new york metropolitan area as well as five throughout the united arab emirates and saudi arabia . 4 as of 2007 le ch teau employed more than 3 000 people worldwide . le ch teau manufactures about 35 % of the merchandise itself in canadian factories with the remainder being imported . 2 4 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1959 1982 1.2 ipo and expansion 1983 2003 1.3 restructuring 2003 2011 1.4 rebranding 2012 2 dress for success 3 a family affair 4 notes 5 references 6 external links history edit a le ch teau store in promenade early years 1959 1982 edit founded by herschel segal in 1959 as le chateau men s wear it began as a menswear store in downtown montreal s victoria square formerly called craig st.and on st. catherine s street a bustling shopping district at the time and a third store in verdun on wellington street . 2 segal gave his store a french name because of the budding francophone feelings occurring in quebec . at first le ch teau was not a fashion forward store as it would later become as segal sold overstock from his father s old store . in 2003 segal described his early customers as old ... blue haired ladies . 5 le ch teau did well at first and three more stores were opened . however by the early 1960s the company was close to bankruptcy and all but the original store were closed . in 1962 le ch teau added women s clothing shortened the name to le ch teau and switched to selling the latest imported european fashions . the store imported from carnaby street in london a fashion centre at the time as well as other imports such as french suits and italian turtlenecks . 5 this worked well and within a few years le ch teau completely phased out the original traditional clothing style to concentrate on selling fashionable imports to youths . segal claims that le ch teau was the first to introduce bell bottoms to canada and had the latest european fashion before it even arrived in new york . le ch teau played an integral yet little known role in john lennon and yoko ono s 1969 montreal bed in providing the signature velour jumpsuits worn by the pair . 6 by 1972 the chain grew to 10 stores and by the end of the decade le ch teau had over 50 stores across canada . 5 by this time le ch teau had shifted to selling mainstream fashion instead of the latest imports from europe . ipo and expansion 1983 2003 edit in december 1983 le ch teau had its initial public offering on the toronto stock exchange tsx where it has since remained . it raised 7.3 million . by the early 1990s le ch teau had 160 stores and had switched to doing most of its design and manufacturing itself . in the early 1990s there was a prolonged recession in canada which hurt most business in the clothing industry . in the mid 90s le ch teau experimented briefly with goth styled clothing and in 1997 it launched a short lived adolescent girls brand jr. girls . by 1999 the company s stock fell to an eight year low and the company took a large quarterly loss of 1.3 million in the three months ended july 29 2000 compared with a profit of 1.1 million a year earlier . 5 this led to a management shakeup store redesign changes to the merchandise and according to le ch teau a concerted effort to improve its quality and image . executives at le ch teau said the company s designers went too avant garde and the chain s younger market recoiled . 5 restructuring 2003 2011 edit in 2003 segal acknowledged the disposable fashion stereotype and said the company forgot about the product . we might have been sloppy he said . but now we re putting in more money and time . we have an inspection system and a young lady who s a grad of a textile school . we never had that before . 5 since then le ch teau has been trying to build up its brand image and shed the image that its clothes are only for wearing to nightclubs a view that still persists . that year it released a collection based on the 1960s set ren e zellweger movie down with love and was the exclusive supplier of clothing to canadian idol contestants . 5 rebranding 2012 edit with many us retailers expanding into canada including competitor express and fast fashion stores such as h & m and zara gaining market share le ch teau relaunched their brand in 2012 . the company went from apparel for young trend hungry shoppers to new concept stores carrying better quality grown up clothes at affordable price points . the rebranding was complete with a new logo and new white sterile more upscale stores with nickel fixtures and glass shelving . known for their tailored and form fitting clothes it sells formal wear casual wear evening wear and footwear . le chateau now has over 240 stores in canada . while le ch teau is publicly traded the company is tightly held with 67 % of shares owned by silverstone the company s board executives and two institutional investors . in addition the shares have less than 2 % of voting rights . the current ceo is segal s wife jane segal . to further the new company direction le ch teau clothes were featured in the canadian film after the ball featuring stars such as chris noth portia doubleday and lauren holly.the movie was released across canada in early 2015 and is romantic comedy with a fashion twist . le chateau used this opportunity to launch a clothing line named lauren s closet a fashion line inspired by lauren holly which features much high end trendy work and nightwear at affordable prices . dress for success edit in 2014 le ch teau launched a partnership with dress for success a non profit company dedicated to help economically disadvantaged women by providing them with high quality professional interview attire . le ch teau has committed over 1.4 million dollars 5 of clothing to the program . le ch teau is further collaborating to the cause through partnerships with high profile stars such as lauren holly having her promote dress for success to her fans . a family affair edit herschel segal the founder is the cousin on david segal the david behind davidstea . 7 he and david co founded the specialty tea shop in 2008 . herschel is also the father of susan segal the founder of squish candy a gourmet gummies company . 8 notes edit a b c d google finance a b c d le ch teau history company profile for le chateau inc ca ; ctu.a . retrieved 2008 10 14 . a b le ch teau company profile a b c d e f g h starr ryan the clothes that made the man canadian business february 17 2003 p. 36 http arts.nationalpost.com 2010 11 02 john lennon and yoko ono give le chateaus fleece a chance davidstea co founder namesake david segal resigns as chain s brand ambassador . retrieved 2016 09 16 . for le chateau founder business is family affair toronto star . thestar.com . retrieved 2016 09 16 . references edit evans mark clothing sector in tatters financial post august 15 1992 p. 6 . giese rachel consuming passion this magazine november december 2002 p. 23 . kletter melanie le chateau s american dream wwd november 2 2000 p. 8b . more 34th street changes wwd march 13 1997 p. 30 . olijnyk zena retail sector shudders in eaton s shock wave financial post march 1 1997 p. 4 . vogl cara quitting the club marketing magazine september 29 2003 p. 16 . leckner ruck le chateau launches dress for success program le chateau october 30 2014 p. 1 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to le ch teau . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title le ch teau & oldid 742698444 categories companies listed on the toronto stock exchangeclothing retailers of canadaclothing companiesclothing brandscompanies established in 1959companies based in montreal1959 establishments in quebechidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 5 october 2016 at 06 58 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view