What I saw Wednesday: Canadian Content

When I popped into the store this week to check things out I felt like I was back in the beloved indie store Nokomis: I kept running across the great Canadian brands that were Nokomis favs like House of Spy, Passenger Pigeon, Smoking Lily and even the Nokomis house brand!

Nokomis dress; Size S, $46

Nokomis dress; Size S, $46

Finding pieces from Canadian designers who are no longer producing under the brand, like Nokomis, is bitter-sweet. It sucks that they are gone, but then you know that the pieces which are left are truly unique and a great addition to your collection.

House of Spy has a new name: Maison Clothing, by the same designer. Check out the super cute teapots on this House of Spy tunic!

House of Spy detail
House of Spy tunic; Size M, $28

House of Spy tunic; Size M, $28

Sadly, Passenger Pigeon is no longer in production. Boo. So you can probably imagine what it sounded like as I hissed "NO WAY" when I found this one on the front dress-rack:

Passenger Pigeon dress; Size S. $36

Passenger Pigeon dress; Size S. $36

....They're bikes...printed on organic cotton...ethically made in Canada.....oh, come on!

Ever stalwart Smoking Lily has a special place in my heart as they were the first to pop up on my fashion radar many, MANY years ago when I first became conscious of indie-Canadian designers. I'm always happy to find Smoking Lily in the shop.

Smoking Lily jacket; Size M, $32

Smoking Lily jacket; Size M, $32

 ( Note: This looked like a pretty small medium to me).

Preloved is also a brand we often have in the shop that I just LOVE. Always well constructed, I love figuring out what the pieces were before, and then having that "But how did they do that?!" moment. I think this purple bolero was pants. Yes, pants.

Preloved jacket; Size M, $30

Preloved jacket; Size M, $30

Here's a brand I'm not familiar with, Snoflake, and there's not much I could find on them. But the tag says straight up "Made In Canada", and that's good enough for me! Check-out that awesome stitching detail at the bottom...

Snoflake skirt; Size L, $28

Snoflake skirt; Size L, $28

From our friends at Noul (formerly Loft 82), this paint-splattered shirt:

Loft 82 shirt; Size M, $30

Loft 82 shirt; Size M, $30

And one honourable mention: this skirt has no tag and looks to me to be hand-made by someone awesome who did a super pro job. I LOVE garments that are hand-made, and this one was probably made by someone in Edmonton, so it gets, like, double Canadian-content points.

Beautifully hand-made skirt; Size L; $20

Beautifully hand-made skirt; Size L; $20

But, what really blew my mind is that I believe the fabric itself is hand dyed! This type of me-made makes me swoon. Well done, fiber-artist who created this piece, whoever you are!

Excellent craftsmanship!

Excellent craftsmanship!

I was really excited about these finds; I'm so glad these brands get to live-on in our store!

YV

 

 

 

 

GREAT new things....coming soon

Went to the "Trends" trade show today (all day I thought it was called "Trendz", which had me smirking. Buts it's actually "Trends", so shame on me!). We placed some really exciting orders from Hue for the fall. Since it's still winter now, it was easy to imagine how awesome this stuff will be in the fall. We ordered more of those chunky boot socks (similar here) that were a favorite last year with our customers (and my friend Danielle. Salut Danielle!), along with some new styles of boot socks (similar here) that are super soft, and some thinner socks that I've been calling "library socks" (which I can't find a picture of....you'll have to pop in in the fall to check them out!).

We also picked out some awesome "super opaque" tights in various colours, and if that's not opaque enough for you, we also ordered some that are so opaque they call them "Blackout". Love it! And, as always, some solid black leggings. In the past the Hue leggings that we carried were regular "control top". This time we ordered the leggings that are "tummy slimming". The sales-rep described how wearing them felt like being "locked and loaded"; say no more, I knew exactly what she was talking about (amiright?)! They come up a bit higher than the regular control-top leggings, so they are really holding everything in.

These will all be in by the end of summer, we'll keep you posted! And, hey, we also saw these really practical foundation-garment bandeaux (in a variety of colours). I'm busty and often need that little extra coverage with certain tops that are just a bit too low. We didn't order any, but we could order at any time. Let us know!

YV

Imagine our Hue rack filled up with everything I just described!

Imagine our Hue rack filled up with everything I just described!