No Average Joe

Canadian retail guru Joe Mimran stands out from the crowd in more (stylish) ways than one

BY DEIRDRE KELLY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FORD

IS JOE MIMRAN (BA ’74) the busiest entrepreneur in Canada? The celebrated York grad is not just on the go – he’s firing on all cylinders, directing both his own private equity investment firm and a product development and design company that bears his instantly recognizable name. In his spare time, he sits on several boards in an advisory capacity, or creates new product for the revamped Staples Working and Learning Company or Tilley Endurables, the Canadian travel-wear brand he recently pulled back from the brink of insolvency. Mimran does it all looking like he just stepped off a yacht moored in the Mediterranean: a tailored Italian wool seersucker blazer, custom-made white shirt, stretch white trousers, a large gold Rolex and large, dark designer glasses on an amiable suntanned face haloed by brilliantined silver hair worn long at the collar like a rock star’s. 

Mimran works in fashion and knows all about the power of a well-groomed image. But it’s not a put-on. When you meet him in person, he’s as nice as he appears – looking you in the eye, easily answering questions, making you feel not like you have intruded on his busy day but like you have somehow enhanced it – which is a real knack. “I love to see people succeed,” he says, “and I love to have fun when I work and to enjoy myself when I work, and I love being around creative people. I come from a rough background and can be tough, but I’d rather treat others in a very beautiful way.” <<continue reading here>>