Aritizia founder Brian Hill has retail in his blood. His grandfather, an Irish immigrant, bought a dry-goods store in Vancouver in 1945, and his father later opened a department store, Hill's of Kerrisdale.
Tailored woolen coats and colorful sweatsuits have helped mint Canada’s latest billionaire. Brian Hill, the founder and former CEO of popular women’s clothing brand and retailer Aritzia, is now a billionaire worth at least $1.1 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates.
This is thanks to a nearly 100% jump in the company’s share price over the past year. The 63-year-old Hill owns 18% of the publicly traded retailer, best known for its “everyday luxury” items like a $250 Super Puff jacket and $148 Effortless Pant. He also has an estimated $350 million from appreciated stock sales since Aritzia’s IPO in 2016. (A spokesperson for Aritzia did not respond to a request for comment.)
Hill opened the first Aritzia in a Vancouver........