If you’ve visited Ossington recently, you’ll notice a sleek new shop on the strip — well, newish. A menswear institution in the west end for Toronto’s most stylish residents, Lost & Found has found a new home (no pun intended) just a few doors down from its last one, and the new space is bigger and better than ever.

Since opening in 2011, the store has been a go-to spot for fashion lovers looking for quality, timeless pieces. It’s clear there’s real demand for long-lasting menswear, because the move down the street was prompted by co-owners Justin Veiga and Jonathan Elias noticing they needed more space to meet the increased demand from customers. 

“Never in a million years did we think we were going to take over 12 Ossington Ave., but the stars aligned and after a lengthy negotiation we were able to make it work,” Elias says. “This was a dream come true.”

The new shop’s sprawling interior is meticulously organized and seemingly always photo-ready with a ’70s-inspired colour palette, cosy lighting and beautiful clothing displays. 

“We’ve never been in a space like this in our entire existence as a store; we never imagined taking over a space of this size, especially looking at our previous stores,” Elias says. “We were given a blank canvas and ultimately our designer, Tom Chung, put pen to paper and created our oasis!”

Longtime Lost & Found fans will know that footwear is an important part of the shop, and a peek inside the new store proves that — head to the back for a bright yellow wall displaying all the dress shoes of your dreams, including a few from highly sought-after Paraboot. There’s also a snazzy sneaker display down the middle of the store, where you can shop some of the cooler New Balance colourways, a whole host of Nike Air Max styles and plenty of other retro options. 

“It’s the first store where we are able to properly display our brands, our art and to truly give the store the presentation it deserves. We’ve accumulated a lot of things —brands, art, toys, clothes — over the years and this landscape has allowed us to finally present what Lost & Found can offer the community,” Elias says.

For a local shop, Lost & Found’s inventory never fails to impress and certainly holds its own against larger department stores in the city — they stock upwards of 70 brands, including The Real McCoy’s. 

Elias says the shop focuses on brands that are “not readily available, hard to find, slightly unknown but still have a lengthy history” — including Sassafras, John Lofgren, Alden, Paraboot and Lady White. “Each one of these brands focuses on quality first and foremost, the fashion part just comes naturally, and for the most part pieces can be worn for years down the road.”

While prices might be higher at Lost & Found than the usual fast fashion prices we’ve gotten used to, it’s because the store’s ethos is all about “quality over quantity,” Elias says. “Our customers buy into the ‘buy less, buy better’ mantra. We look for high quality brands and pieces that will stand the test of time from both a fashion and function perspective.”

An incredibly stylish welder jacket from The Real McCoy’s priced at $1,195 is one of a few pricier items in the store, alongside a Junya Watanabe embroidered cardigan currently on sale and a pair of Margaret Howell single pleat trousers. Otherwise, you can expect the usual slower fashion prices (around $100 to $500 for most denim, collared shirts and knits), along with a constantly rotating sale section. And don’t miss the Artist Series — a collection of white T-shirts designed by local artists to give your basics collection some flair. 

Elias says they’re planning a few pop-ups in the future, including ones with Alden, Body of Work and Birklenstock to look out for a whole host of exciting ones planned for the new year.

Menswear fashion will be anything but predictable after a visit to the shop — and that’s exactly what Lost & Found is going for. With knowledgeable staff who are happy to chat about trends and consult on your purchases, this spacious new location will hopefully succeed in drawing more Torontonians into the world of always cool, never boring menswear.