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What would you wear to a meeting with Karl Lagerfeld? In Bojana Sentaler’s case, she felt that a black-and-white homage was the most fitting. “I thought, ‘I need to wear something he’s going to like,’ so I changed 10 times, and I was late,” she recalls over a plate of branzino at Sassafraz, a power-lunch destination around the corner from her brand’s flagship storefront in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood. Sentaler was a fearless 23-year-old Schulich School of Business grad living in Dubai, where she was working on economic investment reports for the region. “I was sitting in meeting rooms with these very-high-profile individuals, and one thought that would always come to my mind was ‘How are they different from me?’ ‘What do they have that I don’t have?’” recalls Sentaler, now dressed in a cream shift dress and nude Valentino Garavani slingback pumps, a light-grey Lady Dior bag resting on the chair next to her. Lagerfeld happened to be one of those individuals. He was heading a luxury real estate development in Dubai, and Sentaler was interviewing him for a report. The famous designer did not want to talk about clothes, only architecture and photography. But once the pair were off the record, Sentaler told him of her dreams of having her own fashion brand. “He bluntly told me, ‘You either have it or you don’t, and if you have it, go for it.’” And go for it she did, launching Sentaler, a line of alpaca coats, in 2009. Sentaler was inspired by a trip to Peru, where the animal, native to the Andes mountains, is highly revered. “Once I touched the fabric, it was done—I fell in love with it immediately,” she says. [instagram-oembed url=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ2HdcgjnFH/?img_index=1″ /] But it wasn’t just a love for the soft, naturally-thermal-insulating material that spurred Sentaler’s decision to go into coats. Given her business acumen, the move was carefully considered. You see, back in the early 2000s, the outerwear market was split between functional, if unflattering, puffer jackets and stiff wool coats. The colours were mostly limited: black, camel, grey—maybe burgundy if you were lucky. Alpaca fabric, meanwhile, has a natural ability to drape, which allowed Sentaler to create silhouettes that skim the figure rather than obscure it. It was at this point that the “aha” moment came. “I realized that I could create an outerwear company whose coats could serve the warmth and functionality part but also make people look good and feel good,” says Sentaler. Why didn’t she consider going into dresses or shoes? “Because I already loved all the dresses and shoes on the market—there was no gap there.” The first collection was funded entirely by Sentaler and consisted of seven coat styles. Sixteen years later, the brand counts more than 40 styles (including a menswear line, launched in 2021), around 20 employees, a flagship store in Yorkville and stockists in the top department stores in North America, including Neiman Marcus and Holt Renfrew. Online sales are “exploding,” says Sentaler, noting triple-digit growth in bricks-and-mortar direct-to-consumer sales year over year.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF SENTALER
And while the client list includes A-list stars like Catherine, Princess of Wales (who first wore a grey Sentaler jacket on a royal visit to Canada in 2016, helping to put the brand on the map), Lindsay Lohan and Colman Domingo, the true acolytes of the brand sit in the corner offices of Fortune 500 companies all over North America. Some clients collect coats like Christmas ornaments, with over 50 in their closets. “They’re executives—they don’t have time to shop, but they love the brand and what it stands for,” says Sentaler, adding that one client even credits her Sentaler coats with helping her close business deals. Styles come in classic hues like camel and sooty grey but also bright, notice-me powder blue and scarlet red. Sentaler works with her fabric mill in Peru to develop exclusive textiles, like a glittered alpaca tweed. This season, the brand introduced detachable shearling collars that can be mixed and matched with various styles. And while the classic wrap and collared silhouettes are not going anywhere, looser, boxier takes in keeping with current trends pepper the collection. There’s one brand identifier that remains consistent: a ribbed detail along the sleeves that starts just above the wrist. “At first, not all the coats had ribbed sleeves, and then our clients told us that they didn’t want to buy a coat without it, so it became our signature,” Sentaler explains. The founder still designs everything herself, fitting sketching sessions in between a hundred other tasks. “The best way to describe my job is that it’s like an iceberg,” she says. “The tip is what everyone sees—the parties, the trips to New York and Paris. But below the water, the iceberg is much bigger. It’s the sleepless nights, the grit, getting no and figuring out how to turn it into a yes and making decisions in five seconds.” Plus, there’s the small matter of tariffs. On this topic, Sentaler comes across undaunted. “As an entrepreneur, you accept the ups and downs. You’re not working to prevent things from happening; you’re taking the things that happen and finding solutions.” [instagram-oembed url=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DQPEa36jigv/” /] To unwind from the stress, Sentaler works out religiously. “I run, I weight train—I really want to try kick-boxing,” she says. “But it would be impossible if I didn’t love it. To achieve success, you have to be able to do things that 99 percent of people don’t want to do.” Sentaler is well on her way to building the next generational luxury fashion brand. It remains privately held and self-funded. Over time, investors have come knocking with offers to claim a stake in the brand, but Sentaler is “overprotective” and has refused every investment or acquisition offer. For now. “At some point, I will probably agree on some kind of partnership, but it has to be strategic,” she says. “I’m not just looking for financial backing; I’m looking for a partner that believes in what the brand stands for.” Sentaler has every right to feel protective of her label. After all, she cracked the code to outerwear that doesn’t have the wearer making a beeline for the coat check. Or, as she likes to say, “Your coat is your candy wrapper.” With growth ongoing, the founder has her sights on opening more brick-and-mortar locations. In October, the brand opened a seasonal boutique in Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, and just this week, Sentaler set up shop along Madison Avenue in New York—an exciting milestone for the brand. Both boutiques will be open until December 31. [instagram-oembed url=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DRQT8y0kjoV/” /] Beyond store expansions, Sentaler is also toying with the idea of an apparel line—something her clients have been asking for. “They want to wear the brand head-to-toe, with a dress or suit that matches their favourite coat,” she says. And while expanding into a new category might seem daunting, if anyone can do it, it’s the woman who wasn’t afraid of Karl Lagerfeld. [content_module id=”1″] This article first appeared in FASHION’s November 2025 issue. Find out more here. Continue Reading
