“Kindness and grit. Maple Syrup and poutine. Thank you’s and sorry’s. West Coast and East Coast. We’re all things Canadian.”
Meet Canadian Made: a truly made in Canada lifestyle and streetwear brand that allows you to show pride for your country in a modern way. We’ve identified this company as CultWorthy. What is CultWorthy? Young up-and-coming Canadian companies who create products we think are cool AF. We reached out to the owners of Canadian Made, simply because we loved their products and wanted to rock them ourselves. Read more about them in our interview below and follow our Instagram account to win some swag for yourself.
What do you think is your most (cult worthy) product?
Our Polite AF t-shirt. It’s cheeky and unexpected, which is why we think our customers have liked it so much.
How did you two come up with the idea behind Canadian Made? Tell us about your office and process?
We were on a mini getaway in Prince Edward County and the idea sort of just came to us – two days later we were designing product. As two Canadians born from immigrant parents, we have a lot of love for this country – Canada may be the land of maple syrup and poutine, but it’s also the land of unity, acceptance, and respect. So we wanted to celebrate that with a brand that was 100% designed, printed and made in Canada.
Our idea quickly spiraled into material samples, catalogues, boxes of inventory and packaging so we converted our guest room into a dedicated Canadian Made office. The room now houses all of our inventory and shipping materials and acts as a makeshift photo studio for our product photography.
In terms of process, we both ideate design but Anthony executes. He designs everything himself and works with our screen printing partners in Toronto to bring the artwork to life. From there, all other responsibilities are shared – order fulfilment, customer service, social, ordering, etc – it’s teamwork for the win.
If you could choose any celeb to be a product ambassador for your brand, who would it be, and why?
Anthony – Dem would obviously choose one of the Ryans.
Demetra – Gosling or Reynolds. I’m not picky.
Where do you find your inspiration for new slogans and designs?
Anything can inspire a new design, really. We have a couple new designs coming out soon that I thought of while watching a movie and another while taking our puppy for a walk.
Tell me about a design idea that sucked?
Before we launched, a lot of concepts were killed. They were too busy, too obvious, too confusing. Ultimately, they just didn’t fit with our brand. One design that stand out incorporated way too many icons that are trending in pop culture right now. At first we thought it would be a hit and then when we looked at it realized it needed to be burned.
Where is your favourite place in Canada, and why?
Demetra – I love Toronto. Everything about the city, I am in love with. With that said, Kingston (where I was born) will always be home.
Anthony – I used to live in BC when I was younger and just love the access to true wilderness out there. But every time I come back to Toronto I fall in love with it. It just feels like home. It’s an amazing and humbling feeling when you’re out of the city and come back to those towering buildings all around you. You just can’t describe it.
Anthony and Demetra, Founders of Canadian Made
If someone had $99 what should they spend it on?
We love Campy candles – we discovered them at the One of a Kind show a few years ago and now have a healthy candle collection thanks to them! Our favourite scent is Smells Like A Long Weekend and Smells Like A Late Night.
Tell us a Canadian Made secret.
Canadian Made is not our full time focus. We each have our own careers outside of Canadian Made – Anthony is a Product Marketing Manager and I’m a Senior Project Manager (not to mention Anthony has another side business he’s been running for five years!). It also may not seem like it, but it really is just the two of us managing each part of the business. At times, it’s been a lot to handle but we’ve been focused and worked a lot of late nights to see our small seed of an idea come alive.
What is next for Canadian Made?
We’re exploring more product lines, like vintage posters, enamel pins, and extended apparel types like hats, kids clothes, and sweatpants. We have a lot of ideas in the works, but you’ll have to follow along to find out when they get released!