There are lineups out the door for this once-a-year cashmere pop-up shop in Toronto, Canada Reviews

Earlier this month, a cozy storefront appeared on Queen Street West, filled top to bottom with an even cozier fabric — cashmere. The pop-up is a true labour of love: a family-owned business that began out of their home in 2018, Noble Cashmere Co. spends 10 months of the year sourcing cashmere garments to restore and upcycle for their once-a-year sale, perfectly timed for the holiday season.

“We are sort of a start-to-finish company, where we go from picking to processing each item ourselves,” says Liz Noble, founder of the brand. “We’ve developed relationships with rag houses over the years who specifically bring us blocks of cashmere to go through — we’ll go through thousands of sweaters at a time to choose what we can restore, and we process around 3,000 sweaters a year.”

The result is a two-month pop-up filled with cashmere pieces of all colours, sizes and brands, many with a distinct Noble touch — some small imperfections are covered up with artful handmade patches while other pieces are upcycled entirely into adult & baby hats, cowls and eye pillows. Also in store is an “as-is” rack, featuring items the team couldn’t restore to the brand’s like-new quality that customers can snap up for a discounted rate.

The brand has built up a devoted following; Noble notes their customer base ranges from repeat buyers who look for the pop-up every year to visitors from out of town who have been drawn in by the colourful interior. “We have some people that come every day or every week, because we’re constantly putting out new stock. Since it’s a once-a-year pop-up, we don’t save anything — we just box and process as we go, so people like to come back and sort of treasure hunt,” she says.

Pieces range from $70 on the low end to a few rare designer cashmere items that sell for around $700. The shop features everything from Italian and Scottish cashmere to North American designer pieces, with sizes from extra small to 3X large for all genders. “It’s a bit of a candy store, in that we have the full range,” Noble says. “When thrifting for cashmere, it’s quite a search — finding something that fits you, finding something that is the colour you like or the style you like. But we have it all right there for you, and it’s in pristine condition.”

She notes that the team hand washes every sweater that comes into the store: “They are meticulously clean and back to great shape.”

Noble previously ran a children’s clothing line made out of discarded cashmere sweaters before pivoting to full-time teaching and focusing instead on repairing sweaters just for friends and family.

Eventually, her hobby turned into an at-home pop-up hosted by Noble and her husband: “It would just be friends and family and friends of friends, and they would come, and it was kind of like a clothing swap frenzy. It was awesome.”

With interest in restored cashmere growing, Noble Cashmere Co. took on a small Dundas West storefront for just a couple weekends a year before Noble made the leap and quit her job as a teacher to run the brand full-time. She also hired her niece, Odessa Dobbie, to join the company full-time as creative and managing director.

The pair has clearly made sustainability a major priority for the brand; aside from the focus on entirely pre-loved items, Noble Cashmere also promotes the longevity of items with a mending and restoration service for customers as well as in-person classes devoted to teaching all skill levels how to mend and patch their own sweaters.

“Cashmere is such a beautiful fabric that is not easy to gather — it takes six cashmere goats to make one sweater, so it’s quite a process, and we want to respect that process,” Noble explains. “And people love cashmere, but it’s not necessarily something they can afford firsthand, so we’re trying to make it more accessible to people.”

The pop-up, located at 706 Queen St. W., will run until Dec. 22 every day other than Monday.