Fred Singer remembers returning from Germany in 1972. He was carrying the samples of what was then a hot new fashion line: Hugo Boss. Brimming with pride at his find, he displayed the samples for his father, Henry. "Is that a suit?" Henry asked, puzzled and put out. It was indeed. And as surely as Fred persuaded Henry to carry the line, the decision to sell it positioned Henry Singer as a store that, for the next 30 years, would always convey a fashion attitude. As transitions and eras go, the handoff from Henry to Fred was seamless, accomplished gracefully enough save for the occasional disagreement on what constituted the right products. And now there may be another transition on the horizon. Fred Singer, who came into the business in 1969, at the age of 21, is now sharing more and more responsibility with his 25-year-old son, Jordan. Before returning to Alberta last spring, Jordan had spent the better part of the last four and a half years working for Hugo Boss in the United Kingdom. He also had shorter stints with Giorgio Armani and Ermenegildo Zegna in New York. Fred's other son, Matt, is not involved in the three Henry Singer stores in Calgary and Edmonton. Matt, 27, is an avid adventure traveler, moviemaker and MBA student. Matt has paddled a canoe down Amazon tributaries. He's walked across Tibet with nomads for two months and he has bicycled through the Himilayas from Pakistan to China. "My interests lie in different places than the rest of my family," says Matt. "I drive a sport utility vehicle, not a sports car. But don't get me wrong, I love the luxury stuff. A lot of people peg me as a hippie-bohemian. But I'm a capitalist. I do this stuff because it answers questions I would rather answer for myself than read about in a magazine article. "I love retail and I'm very emotionally involved in the business. It's still my family name over the door, but my brother has had a long-standing interest in this business and it's what he's wanted to do all his life." Says Fred: "I've always wondered how two parents can raise two children who take such different roads. One's road is to Mt. Everest, the other's is to Bond Street." Bond Street back to Alberta, and the timing suits Fred just fine. "I'm excited," says Fred. "I like being around young people. I like young music. I want to think young, but the reality is I'm not that young. And I want to continue to serve the young customers and our customers who think young. There's never been a castle or a moat here. We welcome everyone who has an interest in looking good, especially the younger customer. And I'm not the one to carry the message to our young customers." If enthusiasm is any measure, Jordan would seem to have the requisite skill set. "Fashion really is any movement," Jordan says. "Young people do different things than older people. They don't necessarily want to dress like their fathers do." And while Jordan is excited to emphasize fashion merchandise, Fred will emphasize continuity. "We've always thought our customer is 30 to 35, and our customers have always thought of themselves as young." If there is creative tension between two points of view, it may, in fact, be two sides of the same coin. "Our loyal customers are going to continue to shop with us," says Jordan. "But we want to reinforce that they're shopping at a store that is bringing them the latest merchandise from the best designers and brands. A brand like Hugo Boss shows you that you can bridge two sides rather easily." And so, what to expect? While Jordan is working this fall in Calgary, he's interacting with staff at all three stores. He scouted Italy in June, then participated in all of the stores' most recent buying decisions, for spring 2003 merchandise, in New York and Toronto. He'll be involved not only in securing the clothing, sportswear and accessories that the stores carry, but also in working with marketing and merchandising efforts. Says Jordan: "It's really for spring [2003] that you're going to see changes. The net effect with customers is that they're going to see new, interesting products in our store. And you're going to see the lines we've carried in a new light." "Our product is going to change because our customer is going to change," Fred says. "Our customers want us to change. Jordan is going to bring new young people into the company." "It's as simple as a fresh set of eyes, some new blood, some different energy," says Jordan. "For instance, younger guys will wear suits, but they'll wear them in a different way. Some of the styles may be rooted in the past, but our era hasn't seen them, so they're perceived as new." Fathers & Sons: As a second-generation Alberta business, Henry Singer salutes the successive generations of customers that shop at its stores. Previous editions of the Henry Singer magazine have profiled the Comrie family of Edmonton and the Henuset family of Calgary.