Inside WDLT117, the Toronto boutique that buys deep

Eighty three pieces of Homme Plissé Issey Miyake sit on the shelf at WDLT117, on St Thomas Street. Behind them are 66 from Song for the Mute, 65 from MM6 Maison Margiela, 52 from Guidi and 51 from UJOH. The door is a Victorian brick townhouse off Bloor.

The buy behind that door is unusually legible, because within now holds all of it. In the shop's own words it is "a designer concept store that's always evolving, but at the core is focused on emerging and existing designer collections from around the world," built into "a recently gutted and remodeled Victorian era brick townhouse." The name comes from wanderlust. It has traded here since 2019.

It buys its assortment seasonally and sells it new. There is no consignment rail and no resale, so everything on the floor is first hand and in season.

The median is the whole argument

There are 1,105 published products on that shelf and 3,358 priced variants. The cheapest is $16 and the dearest is a Stalvey Trapezoid 1.55 Mini in lemon at $6,949. All figures Canadian.

The number that decides what kind of shop this is sits between them. The median item costs $575.

That is not the number the Bloor Street run trains you to expect. A $575 median means the room is not built around one hero handbag with a wall of $200 accessories propping it up. Most of what hangs there is clothing a working person could buy in a single decision and wear for a decade.

The pleat is the deepest shelf in the building

Three Issey Miyake rails run to 125 pieces between them: 83 under Homme Plissé, 31 under Pleats Please, 11 more under the main line. The shop's designers page adds the 132 5. and BAOBAO lines. Nothing else in the room comes close.

What the pleat is for is unglamorous and exactly why it sells here. It packs into a carry on and comes out finished. It washes at home, and it does not hold a crease from a car seat or a subway bench. A Pleats Overall in avocado is $499. The MC Hooded Jacket in black is $850, the MC Mesh Polo $970, and the Duvet Jacket in yellow tops the family at $2,650.

Leather is where the money stops moving

The second anchor is Guidi, 52 pieces of it, and this is the family that reads as expensive without ever announcing itself. A PL06 Chelsea Boot in white runs $799. A Mini Backpack DBP05 is $1,295, the Golf Handle Bag in beige is $2,750, and the 310WZ_RC piped front zip boot sits at $2,650. This is hide bought for how it will look in year four, not year one.

MM6 Maison Margiela does the lighter version of the same job across 65 pieces: leather mules in pastel yellow at $1,120, and the shoes people wear to work rather than photograph. Between the two labels the room answers leather at two prices.

The young rail is where the buy takes its risk

This is the part that will either convert you or send you back out the door. Song for the Mute is 66 pieces deep, including a woven straw overshirt at $879. UJOH runs to 51: a cropped box blouson in beige at $1,020, a four pocket shirt in black at $850, a shoulder tied blouse in brown at $399. Undercover is 47 and holds the top of the room's tailoring, a wool languid jacket at $2,700 and a tailored blazer at $2,650.

Under those sit Coperni at 37, Marine Serre at 35, Helmut Lang at 24, and Sulvam at 21 with a slip sarouel trouser at $329. The cuts are wide, dropped and long. If your last five purchases were slim, this rail will feel like an argument, which is the correct reaction. Against the city's other designer rooms, this is the least cautious buy.

The jewellery case is the way in

YVMIN is 48 pieces, Tom Wood 36, and there are 24 rings on the books. A fabric hat hair tie is $195. This family costs a fifth of the coats and does most of the recruiting, because it is how somebody who has walked past the door for two years finally buys something and finds the room is not hostile.

Who this room is wrong for

Plenty of people. If you dress to a dress code, if you want a label read from across a boardroom, or if you need the same trouser again next spring in the same cut, this buy will frustrate you, and that is a matter of taste rather than service. Several of the strongest pieces look like nothing on the hanger.

A room that sells you nothing you already own is either a mistake or an education.

The shop says as much itself. At the 2019 opening the founder told Retail Insider: "Our selections are not for everyone. A client may come and love everything. Or they may come and not understand."

Read the return policy before you pay, here and anywhere else. Returns are exchange or store credit within 14 days, unworn and unaltered with tags intact, footwear back in its box and dust bag. There are no cash refunds. Jewellery, books, lifestyle goods, skincare, special orders and anything discounted by half or more are final sale. Try things on properly.

Before you go

Book. The shop runs one on one appointments with a stylist, and a room this deep is wasted on a browse. Basic alterations are "included on regular priced garments," which quietly changes the maths on a $499 overall. If a piece is not in the room, ask: the services page says "Our buyers will do their best to see if that piece is available to be ordered, even though it is not part of our regular assortment." If you would rather not come in at all, WDLT117 To Go drops up to six items from the website at your home to try on. The same townhouse runs ticketed workshops with local artists, two or three hours of pottery or flower arranging, sold on the site alongside the clothes.

Phone 437.777.WDLT (9358) before you make the trip, and book the hour while you have them. On within, the shelf you see is the shelf in the townhouse: the shop keeps its own register and its own money, and we take a commission only on what we sell for them. How that works is short. The house opens to shoppers on 1 October 2026.

Common questions

What is WDLT117?

WDLT117 is a multi brand designer boutique on St Thomas Street in Toronto, set in a remodelled Victorian era brick townhouse. It describes itself as a designer concept store focused on emerging and existing designer collections from around the world, and it buys its assortment seasonally and sells it new. It carries 1,105 published products drawn from roughly 70 names on its own designers page.

Where can you buy Issey Miyake in Toronto?

WDLT117 stocks Issey Miyake's Homme Plissé and Pleats Please lines, with 83 and 31 published pieces respectively, the deepest single family in the shop. Prices in the pleat run from $499 for a Pleats Overall to $2,650 for a duvet jacket. Its designers page also lists the 132 5. and BAOBAO lines.

How expensive is WDLT117?

The median item at WDLT117 is $575 Canadian, with a floor of $16 and a ceiling of $6,949. A Sulvam trouser is $329, a UJOH shirt $850, a Guidi Chelsea boot $799. The heavy end is coats and leather goods, and the floor of the room is homewares and small accessories under $50.

This shop is on within. We wrote this because the room is worth writing about, the shop did not pay for it and did not approve it, and every fact above was checked against the shop's own sources in August 2026.

within opens on October 1 and this boutique's shelves open with it. The waiting list is the way in.