eal Little Black Dresses , celebrating a century this year, jackvictor.who still make their shirts in Toronto, in a 30,000-square-foot facility (lipsonshirtmakers.Consumers are becoming more educated, Farbstein says, and learning first-hand the true cost of buying more items of a lesser quality.because that shirt is indestructible.Farbstein is referring to Harry Rosen’s house line, J.Tilford (the J is for Jeff, plus Paolo who worked in the sportswear department and Tilford was a name they saw on a storefront in London).Coppley, too, is a Canadian company that continues to produce suits in a range of styles at reasonable prices (since 1883;For more creative and fashion-forward male readers, Philippe Dubuc (dubucstyle.com) in Montreal comes to mind, as does Philip Sparks in Toronto (philipsparks.And influenced by retro Savile Row dandies, at the peacocking end of the spectrum there’s Duly Equipped, an emerging menswear label byTaiwanese-Canadian designer Yenting Chen (dulyequipped.It’s just a year old and everything is hand-tailored by Chen himself (though like many other independent Canadian brands, using fine fabrics sourced in Italy and the U.My story is a familiar one; blissful ignorance as to the working conditions of the people who have manufactured my clothing for my entire life, until headlines cause me to look beyond the edge of my nose, or hemlines as it would be.I am to be in a wedding in July and need to obtain a black suit, a plain white shirt, and a black tie.I have been Googling and briefing websites and have become frustrated.Often, I’m just as frustrated.One learns to read between the lines and interpret the careful choice of words that are either intentionally misleading or unwittingly vague.For example, one menswear retailer I had long-assumed to be domestic, their Canadian online made-to-measure suits, shirts and pants turned out to be designed in Vancouver but produced in Shanghai.it’s just not what readers have been asking for.WOMENTracing the supply chain gets more difficult as companies grow from niche to production on a larger scale, beyond the seasonal employment of professional home-sewers.or at least, they have more variety.There’s Pillar by Allison Wonderland Party Dresses , environmentally conscious clothing that’s made in Vancouver (pillarclothing.com), as is Adhesif (adhesifclothing.I thought of Lav Kush (lavandkush.ca), Twigg Hottie’s (twiggandhottie.com) house brand and for knits, Cecile Benac (cecilebenacknitwear.com), or Moose Beaver designer Leah Antoinette, who makes everything in Toronto.It’s easier, in fact, to think of young labels of independent designers than larger brands, since the designers are often covered in the media, at fashion shows and other events.Many readers from Ottawa wrote in, hoping to find bricks and mortar stores to visit that weren’t expensive designers.In that city I’ve stopped in at Victoire (victoireboutique.com) on Dalhousie Street myself, and for interesting tailoring that’s appropriate for an office (sometimes with an artistic twist), to Clothes by Muriel Dombret (murieldombret.Unfortunately, the government of Canada wasn’t that helpful to manufacturing.They were more interested in making reciprocal agreements with other countries, to import cheaper goods from others.It was a very short-lived cycle but ruined so much of what was going on.Case in point: Silver Jeans, a division of Western Glove Works, the longtime Winnipeg apparel producer.The last 5% of the domestic production (which had the licence to produce Victoria Beckham’s dVb jeans) moved offshore to Hong Kong, China and the Philippines about five years ago.handbag is a purchase a financial planner would endorse.But with quality goods, which are admittedly a little more expensive than the pennies-paid-per-piece garments we’ve grown used to in the last decade, there is such a thing as amortization, or cost-per-wear.beyond the reader’s preferred budget (secondclothing.so nothing supermodel like either!With proper care, the jeans wash and wear well for a long time, much longer than jeans at half the price.I wear mine a couple times a week, wash them regularly and still have the pair I bought three years ago (which may explain why retailer Shopgirls.ca has sold almost 6,500 pairs).Loved your article and taking you up on your offer.for my two daughters Homecoming Dresses , ages nine and three (mostly for the nine-year-old; the three-year-old gets her sister’s hand-me-downs).I agree the best solution can’t just be one that soothes our conscience.But I don’t want blood on my kids’ clothes.What do you recommend?I immediately thought of Meme for Kids by Preloved (who upcycle clothing into cute new garments, preloved.ca) and of Mini Mioche, a successful children’s apparel brand that has an online presence (minimioche.They came to mind in part because of their durable, hand-me-down factor: When we profiled them a few years back, the company founder explained that it was one of the reasons the clothes (dresses excepted!are not markedly gendered as boys or girls: so they can more easily be passed down through siblings and friends.for a mock wrap dress) that are all manufactured in Scarborough, Ont.everyday bras and undies.For men, most of the undergarments by Stanfield’s, the familiar department-store brand, are still manufactured in Truro, N.com) And while there are several emerging upscale designer brands of lingerie for women, they’re pretty, they can be pricey, and none seem to offer full-support brassieres to compete with prices I’ve found from Grenier (made in Canada since 1860, cjgrenier.for bras, half the price of European-made counterparts, at Sears and other retailers, cjgrenier.If you’re a manufacturer of reasonably-priced, Made in Canada socks reading this, please drop me a line.I’ve been looking for youWhen summer’s over, brands like Westcomb Outerwear (westcomb.com) manufacture in B.you’ve already heard, ad nauseam, about Canada Goose, canada-goose.On the dressier side, Sentaler by Bojana Sentaler crafts overcoats and j.