Holt Renfrew announces major brand acquisitions for fall, including exclusive rights to Tom Ford’s women’s collection

Now more than ever, Toronto’s biggest fashion retailers are engaged in a battle of the brands, with Holt Renfrew and The Bay going punch for punch for high-street supremacy. Measuring whose stock is up these days seems to depend on who can gain exclusive rights to a high-profile collection (or, as mentioned last week, a celebrity endorsement), and today Holt Renfrew announced that it would be the exclusive Canadian retailer for Tom Ford’s much-hyped fall 2011 women’s collection. But that wasn’t the only good news this morning: Barbara Atkin, Holt Renfrew’s vice-president of fashion direction, announced the acquisition of Givenchy’s men’s collection, the Pendleton Portland collection for women and, for those fans of the Olsen twins, their collaboration with TOMS Shoes. Suddenly, it seems like the consumer is being pulled by the arms in two directions, from Queen Street West and Bloor Street. Should anyone’s limbs fall off, we’re sure somebody will have exclusive rights to designer prosthetics next month.