A curated list of Canadian BIPOC fashion designers and brands to check out ASAP
By Megan Ebreo
This past year has brought about a tremendous wave of change into our lives, especially for marginalized communities. From an unexpected worldwide pandemic to the Wetʼsuwetʼen pipeline protests and a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the support of BIPOC communities is critical in amplifying underrepresented voices.
There are a multitude of fashion brands that Black, Indigenous and people of colour have created that offer high-quality stylish apparel. With increased pressure on many fashion businesses to stay afloat during the pandemic, we should all try to make a conscious effort to support local fashion brands. Here are 11 Canadian BIPOC fashion labels to support this month!
Cherry Gardens is a Toronto-based line of athleisure-inspired loungewear clothing, founded by Mylantha Davey. The brand has been featured in various lifestyle publications such as The Kit, VITA Daily and Elle Magazine.
Davey was inspired to create this brand while employed as a brand marketer. A Vancouver native who moved to Toronto 10 years ago, Davey envisioned a versatile clothing line that could be worn both at home and while going out. The name Cherry Gardens was inspired by a neighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica, a town Davey had made her home for a time.
The focus of Cherry Gardens is to create quality loungewear that enables customers to wear the apparel in all types of environments, whether that be incorporating the loungewear for a night out or wearing the apparel for a comfy and laid-back day in.
Davey especially emphasizes the representation of women of colour in her label and hires models of colour to showcase her collections. In addition to their signature Cherry Gardens tote bag, The line of comfortable loungewear offers shorts, long sleeves, underwear and tanks in a variety of colours,
Love Closely is a Toronto-based streetwear label founded by creative director Taha Yousuf and co-founders Falah Sadiq and Adnan Aleem. The popular streetwear line has been worn by celebrities such as Roy Woods, Jessie Reyez, Ali Gatie and AJ Saudin.
Love Closely has also been promoted throughout various publications such as CTV Toronto, BBC Radio, and Complex Canada. The brand hit the runway in 2019 at the annual Fashion Art Toronto event among many other designers.
Love Closely infuses Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, as well as art history woven into Western streetwear style. The fashion brand focuses on ethical production processes and directly interacts with their partners and production factories on a continual basis to ensure high-quality standards. Love Closely sells a variety of pieces such as scarves, jackets and tees designed with poems and artistic verses written in Arabic and Urdu.
Lesley Hampton is a Toronto-based fashion line that blends together Indigenous-inspired fashion with activism. Lesley Hampton, an Anishinabe fashion designer, created the label with a focus on expressing profound messages within her clothing pieces. Hampton focuses on advocating for topics such as body positivity, mental health awareness, as well as diverse representation in fashion, film and media.
The brand has been featured in several publications such as Vogue, Refinery29, Elle Canada and Fashion Magazine. Hampton has also premiered her brand in fashion week events in Toronto and Vancouver, such as Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto (IFWTO). Hampton’s work has been recognized worldwide, making headway after her designs appeared on the red carpet at the 2020 Golden Globes.
Through her modern and authentic Indigenous designs, Hampton advocates for equity, diversity, inclusivity and authentic representation. She uses social-cultural concepts for inspiration and strives for visible representation on the runway and in her model casting. Her size-inclusive, message-packed designs aim to provide women “a space for healing, thought and action for reconciliation,” as she explains in an interview with the Toronto Star.
Hampton’s latest collection includes a variety of casual, athleisure pieces in a variety of colours such as pink, neutrals, white and black. Items such as biker shorts, leggings and T-shirts embroidered with powerful messages can be found on her site.
Love and Nudes is a Toronto-based lingerie brand that offers underwear and bras specifically catering to women of colour. The brand was founded by Toronto-native Chantal Carter Taylor after launching a crowd-funding campaign, “Own Your Tone,” in 2015.
By 2017, Taylor was able to release her first collection of lingerie in a range of skin tones. Love and Nudes has received coverage from various publications such as The Kit, CBC, Huffington Post Canada and the Toronto Star. The lingerie line was created out of Taylor’s awareness of the lack of skin tone range delivered by various lingerie companies, as well as an absence in the fashion market.
Taylor highlights that the term “nude” has always been associated with the colour beige in the fashion industry and noticed that Black and POC models were expected to wear nude undergarments that did not suit their skin tone. Her goal was to create a brand that combated the systemic racism underlying the lingerie industry and change the perception of “nude.”
Love and Nudes empower Black women and women of colour in the fashion industry by supporting them in business leadership roles. The brand operates with an ethical supply chain by providing single mothers a fair wage as employees. Love and Nudes offers wire-free bras and underwear in a variety of tones such as Butterscotch Honey, Espresso and Nutmeg.
Warren Steven Scott is a jewelry and accessory line located in Toronto. Scott, a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation, is a tailor and designer who created an accessory line inspired by Coast Salish forms. Scott’s work has been recognized internationally for its strong Indigenous influence in fashion worldwide, having been featured in Vogue and Fashion Magazine.
After discovering his love for fashion, Scott attended Ryerson University and received a Bachelor of Design in Fashion. He then interned under the wings of Canadian fashion designers Jeremy Laing and Comrags, where he received his formal training in the fashion industry.
Scott launched his namesake label in 2018 while appearing in Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. Scott’s work displays a modern and contemporary approach to fashion through an Indigenous lens and “bridges the Western concept of luxury fashion with his ancestral worldview on ethics, craft and aesthetic sensibility,” according to Scott’s business website.
Warren Steven Scott accessories are found in a variety of shapes, such as ovoids and crescents, and come in a variety of colours. Gold, rose, silver and hues of bright neon colours are available online in an abundance of designs.
Pretty Denim is a Toronto-based women denim brand founded by creative director Tahnee Lloyd-Smith in 2018. The brand has received praise from The Kit, Fashion Canada and the Toronto Star. A former men’s fashion stylist turned denim designer, Lloyd-Smith created Pretty Denim out of the desire to eliminate the notion that denim pieces could only be incorporated in women’s wardrobes for casual occasions.
Through Pretty Denim, Lloyd-Smith aims to push the notion that denim can be worn for every and any occasion. The brand contributes to the slow fashion movement by incorporating materials such as natural brushed bull denim, a fabric traditionally used for upholstery.
The slow fashion movement, which can be seen as the opposite to fast fashion, is a thoughtful and conscious approach to garment development. Slow fashion movements are based on a philosophy of ethical and sustainable creation of clothing materials, emphasizing social and environmental awareness.
Lloyd-Smith sources all fabrics from North American mills and emphasizes the prolonged durability of bull denim. The brand offers a variety of slim-fit denim jeans, buttoned tops and long denim dresses.
Atelier New Regime is a Montreal-based unisex streetwear label founded by Setiz Taheri and brothers Koku Awuye and Gildas Awuye in 2018. As a relatively new label, Atelier New Regime has already caught attention by publications like Complex Canada.
The brand has been worn by various celebrities such as Drake. The brand has also been highly favored by Rihanna and Post Malone, who both co-signed the brand’s “Encore” capsule collection. Atelier New Regime received the Menswear Designer of the Year Award at the 2018 Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA) and has also collaborated with Puma for an Atelier New Regime and Puma A/W ‘18 Collection.
The brand incorporates cultural elements of Montreal, high fashion and streetwear style into one. Much of the label’s apparel focuses on incorporating colour blocking elements, while consistently including a bold neon hue as part of the brand’s signature mark. Social awareness is an ongoing theme for the label as the apparel is known for its bold powerful statements, such as “Freedom Always Has A Price,” in their Fall Winter 2020 collection. Atelier New Regime offers a variety of oversized sweaters, graphic tees and branded baggy pants.
BAIN is a Montreal-based line of unisex handbags established by Linsey Myriam Bain. BAIN has been featured in The Globe and Mail, Fashion Canada, Elle Quebec, Elle Canada, MTL Blog and La Presse.
Over her career, Bain has created collections for Kendall and Kylie, RUDSAK, Nicole Richie, ALDO and Mackage. Bain created her line of bags after seeing a gap in the market for original designs made to last with quality material.
The brand explores themes like colonialism and gender inclusivity in fashion. The genderless collection of bags consist of sleek nylon material and nappa leather. With five different styles, the bags are featured in black, white and blue, made available in limited quantities. In light of the pandemic, the brand has also started producing face masks in various colours.
Lezé the Label is a Vancouver-based comfortable workwear label founded by Karen Lee and Tanya Lee. Initially garnering attention from the Vancouver Sun. Lezé the Label provides anti-wrinkle workwear apparel that emphasizes the aspect of comfortability, rather than typical workwear designs.
The brand emphasizes sustainability and ethical production processes as an utmost priority. As part of their innovative and sustainable approach, Lezé the Label uses reused coffee grinds and integrates the ingredient into their apparel, infusing it into the yarn and knitting it into the fabric. Along with the coffee grinds, Recycled polyester is one of the main ingredients used in many of the line’s clothing pieces.
Reusing materials like these grinds provide ample benefits due to its anti-wrinkling, anti-odour and temperature control properties. Their Pacific collection is also created with recycled fishing nets that have been recomposed to its material composition. This is part of the brand’s commitment to less crude oil production and reduction of carbon emissions.
Lezé the Label’s goal is to create a shift in consumer consciousness and push sustainable fashion to the forefront of the industry. The brand offers jumpsuits, turtlenecks and slim fit pants and blazers, all are designed with comfortability and a pyjama-like fit.
Spencer Badu is a Toronto-based genderless streetwear label founded by Spencer Badu in 2015. Badu created his brand during his first-year of college at Olds College in Calgary, Alta.,, where he studied apparel technology. Previously known as SP Badu, Spencer Badu has been featured in a variety of publications like Now Toronto, Complex Canada, the Toronto Star and BlogTO. Badu took part in Toronto Fashion Week 2018 as a fashion designer.
Badu’s label has gained attention from many celebrities and has been most notably worn by ASAP Rocky and Young Thug. His clothing line features pieces that are modern and minimalistic in approach and can be found at retailers such as The Bay and Modesens. Spencer Badu aims to challenge societal notions of gender and gender perception, tradition and conformity.
Apparel on Badu’s site is worn by both men and women to emphasize gender fluidity in his pieces and highlight the line’s unisex appeal. The brand offers convertible coats, cropped t-shirts and sweaters, intricately detailed trousers and embroidered track pants.
Spencer Badu is currently aiding the Toronto community amidst the pandemic by sewing 1000 masks a week in support of the #MGH1000Masks Challenge.
Mercy House is a Montreal-based label founded and designed by Alberta native Karen Vaquilar in 2017. The brand is named after Vaquilar’s mother and has been mentioned by Elle Magazine and MTL Blog.
Mercy House offers a line of minimalistic utilitarian apparel and accessories that have been worn by artist Dani Leigh. Mercy House has made appearances in both Montreal and Toronto through pop-up stores in Kensington Market and Queen West. The brand actively strives to reduce their carbon footprint by producing collections thoughtfully and in small batches.
Mercy House watches their stock and material consumption in order to lessen their environmental impact and participate in the slow fashion movement. The brand offers oversized cropped sweatshirts, sweatpants, hoodies and biker shorts in monochromatic colours.
There are countless BIPOC designers offering high-quality and stylish apparel that will need support this winter season. This month, support BIPOC designers and brands to help their businesses thrive in what has been a challenging time for the local business community. You might just find your new favourite source of fashion!