Who we were, are and Going to be.

---

After graduating from the Academy of Design, and becoming the key buyer for a large jean retail chain, Rodney Philpott founded SHKANK INC a wearable couture fashion house focused on creating original, fun, and outrageous pieces for club kids, and fabulous people alike. Twenty five years later, Rodney's knack for dreaming to life one of a kind, over the top designs that appeal to the fun side in everyone has led his pieces to be seen and featured everywhere from NBCʼs Miss Universe Pageant, to the So You Think You Can Dance stage, the Grammy/Oscar Awards Red Carpet and the Designer Fashion Showcase’s blue carpet in Bay Roberts Newfoundland (just to name a few).

His always head turning, not for the faint of heart pieces have also been featured on ET Canada, the cover of TV Guide, the cover of ZINK Magazine, Chatelaine Magazine, CBCʼs hit show “How do you solve a problem like Maria”, the feature dance flick Honey with Jessica Alba, and CTVʼs Juno Awards amongst others. Rod’s designs have matured but have never lost the fun appeal of being a woman and being your own person.

Rod’s designs have matured but have never lost the fun appeal of being a woman and being your own person.

Rod has filmed a reality tv show called Wedding Dress Wars in 2012. Not only did he wow the producers and the watching audience he won the heart of the bride when she chose his design as her wedding dress. His wedding dresses have brought tears to the eyes of fathers while his prom dresses promise fathers that one day they will be giving away their daughters on their wedding day. Rod’s bridal vision has been published in Today’s Bride as well as Elegant Wedding magazine.

Heʼs been honoured with designing for the Stephen Lewis AIDS Dare to Wear Love charity fashion show in 2012, 2013 and 2014. He was selected to be a designer for the Cashmere White Collection 2012 to fight breast cancer. He was than asked to return in 2013 and design for the Cashmere White Collection’s 10th anniversary. Rod has focused his time on participating in charity fashion show fundraisers as a way to give back to the community. He feels a warmth of self accomplishment when he can bring creativity and beauty to many heart wrenching causes. Rod’s favourite causes include Community Living Cambridge”s “Fabulous Fashions Redesigned”, Stephen Lewis AIDS Dare to Wear Love and the Cashmere Breast Cancer design competition. Rod continues to share his talent with local university and college students looking to intern for their fashion careers while he creates his one of a kind designs for women who refuse to settle for the sake of beauty.

Rodney was honoured in winning the best design for Cashmere's 2020 Bathroom Tissue dress in support of breast cancer.

SHKANK INC was born 1993. It has grown and matured since its incorporation but it has always remained and cherished its niche market. It has continued to be run by its founding designer, Rodney Philpott.

Mission Statement

“Our mission is to provide avant guard custom women’s evening fashion to empower you to look and feel your best.”

We get a lot of questions regarding our name SHKANK INC. Everyone seems to wonder what we mean by it and where it came from. Rodney chose this name because he started off designing and creating one of a kind off the wall club kid wear. The club scene was a lot different back in 1993 Toronto. Going out on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday night never meant wearing your favourite pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. Going to the club was a statement of individuality. It was a statement of someone’s personal passion regarding his or her personality. Rodney’s designs were show stopping. They got attention because they amplified a person’s spirit. His designs had life even when they were hanging in the closet. Rodney has never taken his fashion sense seriously because it’s never standing still. It is it’s own identity and it ever evolves. He’s always let his fashion sense take flight to challenge society norms and a persons’ inhibitions. The name SHKANK embodies this belief. It challenges society norms around what people incorrectly take away from the name SHKANK. There is no sexual innuendo in our name. Art is controversial and Rodney’s designs are art. It challenges women to embrace their individuality. To never settle in choice because “that’s what’s on the rack.” It also challenges women to wear designs that compliment their personality. Not smoother it. Rodney chose red for his corporate logo because he wanted a strong first impression that was filled with passion.

When Rodney graduated from the Academy of Design he took a leap of faith and matured his designs to become pieces that could be worn anywhere at anytime. He realized his friends and his market were graduating college, university and the club scene for full time employment, mortgages, children and life insurance. Rodney’s focus may have left the club scene but the club scene has placed its footprint into the design creations of today. Rodney may have stopped designing latex pants suits but the same energy, drive and spark of genius is found in every stitch within his current day studio. SHKANK INC  designed and created custom couture evening dresses, cocktail dresses, red carpet dresses, prom dresses and wedding dresses. You will not find off the rack at Rodney’s studio. He is happy to bring to life the imagination of his niche market where his designs bring tears to the eyes of fathers giving away their daughters on their wedding day, to enthusiastic photos of girls on their prom night, to the nervous first lip-synch performance at Pride, to the desktop photo of old college friends dressed up having dinner at a reunion to proud Moms at Mother’s Day brunch wrapped in incredible fabric inspiration.

Rodney is the first to point out that life is not a dress rehearsal and that we embrace fashion for the sake of ourselves. Everyone deserves to feel special and with 8 billion people sharing our planet why would anyone want to surrender their individual personality? Today, Rodney thrives at participating in fashion show fundraising events throughout North America. He believes beauty and inspiration cannot be locked away. These fashion shows allow him to share his creative genius with women of all walks of life and economic backgrounds. Custom couture is not a choice. It is a lifestyle.

Rodney enjoyed 19 years at his Toronto location. His studio had become a geographic landmark on Yonge Street (just south of Bloor and Young). His billboard named “Sarah” was visible three blocks in either direction of Yonge Street. Through 19 years, Rodney saw his neighbourhood go through ups and downs. Unfortunately, there were more downs than ups. It became a struggle to maintain a couture design studio image when adult sex shops, fly-by-nite greasy spoons and cheque cashing stores littered the street landscape. The last two years, it became embarrassing having clients arrive for fittings with sex shops advertising their daily specials or the police escorting a customer of a cheque cashing store into their awaiting car. It seems, landlords were more concerned with rent dollars than with the quality of the tenant or the quality of the neighbourhood. The last straw came when the studio got a new neighbour – the adult only massage parlour.

After some soul searching, Rodney realized a majority of his clients did not reside in the downtown core of Toronto. They commuted from the surrounding suburbs. They battled with the ever omni present traffic and fought to find then pay the outrageously expensive parking. When he polled a group of them, they enthusiastically asked that he relocate west of Toronto leaving the city all together. Rodney had already relocated his personal residence to Cambridge. A city that is 80 kms west of Toronto. Cambridge is a picturesque city on the Grand River with a long history of heritage buildings and neighbourhoods with sidewalks and mature tree lined streets. With a leap of faith, Rodney moved SHKANK INC to the heritage neighbourhood of Galt in Cambridge, Ontario.

The relocation to Cambridge coincided with SHKANK INC 20th anniversary. The Directors of Rodney’s company finally convinced him, it was time to have his name on his designs. SHKANK INC would remain as the corporation and a new label would be created in his name. The new label is Rodney Philpott Designs. 

The navy background stood for the solid foundation of his name. The white stood for the endless artistic possibilities of his fashion designs. The chartreuse stood for not conforming to the norms of society fashion – i.e. it’s not lime its chartreuse.

Rodney’s new heritage address in the Galt neighbourhood of Cambridge was short lived. After one year, a personal decision to relocate Rodney Philpott Designs  and his family to St.John’s Newfoundland was made.  SHKANK INC’s corporate office would remain in Ontario.  Rodney's family would be moving to St.John’s to be closer to his parents for elder care. He's a proud Newfoundlander born and raised in Point of Bay. He left for Ontario at the age of 17 but never forgot his heritage. He never forgot the incredible parents that supported him.  Life gets crazy and hectic for everyone. Time becomes precious and in short supply. With aging parents, Rodney re-prioritized his personal and professional lives and only regrets it took this long to find his way home to Newfoundland.

Rodney Philpott Designs has its new home in downtown St.John’s on the west end side of Water Street. The new Fortis office building is our backyard neighbour. We are a stone’s throw away from the heart of downtown St.John’s (3 blocks) but parking is always available unlike the core downtown. This west end neighbourhood of downtown St.John’s is rebuilding itself without forgetting its history. Our new location is anchored between the Newman Wine Vault Heritage Building and the Railway Coastal Museum. Our showroom is intimate and ever changing. You never know what Rodney’s designing. We look forward to becoming an activate corporate citizen of St.John’s and Newfoundland.  

Reinventing yourself is always a sign of growth.  We are please to announce as of 2018, Rodney Philpott Designs is now its own company under the ownership of Christopher Philpott. This now completes a formal separation from SHKANK INC. 

Rodney Philpott Designs will focus on its Newfoundland market and looks forward to become a strong good corporate citizen to his new home in St.John’s. Rodney Philpott Designs will embrace its new motto Pulchritudo est passione – “beauty through passion” . 

The bridal store lives and breather Kaizen. It's a Japanese management style where life is never static. It evolves each day. You build on your successes and your shortfalls. 

Rodney and Christopher are now selling three brands of wedding dresses ;

1.  Rodney Philpott - designed and custom made right here in St.John's, Newfoundland. 

2.  Kaya Nova - a European brand designed in Krakow Poland and made in Slovenia. 

3.  Helen Fontaine - an incredible budget friendly brand designed and made in Hong Kong.

The introduction of Helen Fontaine and Kaya Nova will allow our clients the ability to have fun with customization to their own comfort levels where we can change the neckline, add/delete sleeves and or anything else of a retail designs. It is our job to make our clients experience an environment that allowed them to be present and mindful at each step of the process of purchasing their dress.

February 6, 2023,  our bridal store, Rodney Philpott Designs, celebrates 30 years of business. For 30 years, Rodney Philpott has been hand sewing custom dresses.

He's been fortunate to have had an incredible team of employees that have helped him throughout this milestone. We will never forgot the help our employees have provided us. Our strength comes from them.

The first question we are asked is, "How many dresses have you made over 30 years?". Doing the math one night made us quite humble. We'll give the number of customers we have had since moving to Newfoundland because this island is now our home.

We moved here December 2013 and as of February 6, 2023,  have had 3,197 customers. This number includes all the customers that trusted us with a custom wedding, graduation, bridesmaid, mother of the bride/groom, evening, cocktail and baptism dress as well as wedding dress alterations.

We want to thank all of our customers. We learn something new from every experience because we believe in a Kaizen business model. We celebrate our successes and we adapt and learn from our miss steps.

We move into our future with a broader product offering. We now sell three brands of wedding dresses;

1. Rodney Philpott

2. Helen Fontiane 

3. Kaya Nova. 

We also sell an incredible line of retail veils head pieces/fascinators that come in all different lengths with either lace, bead and or crystal embellishments. We have 30 different samples!

We still continue to do our custom dresses and ... we now carry an incredible retail line of veils and hair accessaries