Clothing Designed in Québec: Aubainerie's Certification

You know that little tag inside your kids' clothes. The ones that go through the wash three times a week, minimum. It lists the fabric. The care instructions. Delicate cycle, lay flat to dry. (Even though it all ends up in the dryer anyway. We know.)

Here's what that tag won't tell you: there's a whole team behind it, and they care. Someone picked that exact cut of pants so a kid could sit on the floor or do somersaults without a fuss. Someone else dreamed up a style built to outlast three seasons instead of just one. And someone watched the quality at every step of production, because a garment that gets washed several times a week has no patience for shortcuts.

What the tag also won't tell you is that this team works right here. In Québec. And that the sweater you'll pull out of the dryer tonight is the pride of people whose whole job is making your life a little simpler, without emptying your wallet.

The tag stays quiet on that. We won't.

What does Designed in Québec actually mean?

It's one of three certification marks handed out by Les Produits du Québec. A Designed in Québec product is a manufactured product whose entire design team works right here in the province. In plain terms: someone, somewhere in Québec, was dreaming up this piece long before it landed in your cart.

And there's no ad agency behind that logo. It's a non-profit that manages three separate marks, each with its own set of verified criteria. At Aubainerie, we earned the Designed in Québec mark for 95% of our products, working directly with the organization.

That difference actually matters. A claim is something you can slap on a label with zero effort. A certification has to be earned. One product at a time.

Because designing a garment is never just sketching it. It's working out sleeve shapes knowing full well they're headed straight for apple juice. It's stress-testing a fabric against several loads of laundry a week. It's redoing a collar because it's scratchy, and nobody, ever, wears a scratchy sweater twice. (You know the one. Still sitting at the back of your drawer.)

For us, this goes way beyond fashion. It's about backing local talent, giving Québec expertise its due, and putting our money where our mouth is on the local economy.

What actually happens before a product gets certified?

A lot of checking. We'll be honest.

Every product that gets submitted is reviewed on its own. A compliance officer goes through the paperwork, item by item, before certification is granted. Nothing slides through.

That's how we confirm the whole design process genuinely happened here. And yes, it takes a while. A catalogue runs into the hundreds of items, and every single one gets tested. No exceptions, no shortcuts.

Which means that little mention on a product page isn't just a nice thing to say. It's proof: real designers, real creators, right here, put real thought into what you're buying.

SHOP OUR LOCALLY DESIGNED COLLECTIONS

A story that started long before the logo

Odds are you've been coming here since your own mother brought you. And odds are you're now the one dragging your kids along, watching them grow out of everything way too fast.

We've grown from our early days into a lot more than just an affordable fashion chain. We've become a habit for families here. The one you reach for the night before school starts, when a coat suddenly doesn't fit, when a field trip gets announced with three days' notice. A huge selection of clothing and accessories at prices that make sense, and a bond with local families that's been building for a generation.

Here, a snowsuit has to survive until April. Kids' pants have to survive recess, which is its own kind of extreme sport. A summer dress has to come out of the wash still looking like a dress. We're dressing people who play outside at minus thirty, and that changes everything about how we design a garment in the first place.

Being a Québec company, to us, means investing in local talent and giving our culture a stage, one piece of clothing at a time. Because when local businesses back local creators, everyone comes out ahead.

Why should any of this matter to you?

Because behind our collections, there are close to 2,500 people working all across Québec. From design studios to the store down the street from you. Jobs that stay right here, in towns big and small, all over the province.

Choosing something designed here also means choosing authenticity, quality and stuff that lasts. More and more people want to buy local these days, and this certification has become as much a trust signal as a sense of belonging, in a world where most people couldn't tell you where their clothes actually come from.

Our pieces aren't just fabric sewn together. They carry the pride of the people who dreamed them up.

Buying local should never mean picking between your values and your wallet. And yes, you're fully allowed to sneak something for yourself into that cart too. You've earned it.

Honestly? There's something kind of great about knowing the coat your kid's about to drag through the slush until April was designed by someone who actually gets our winters.

And who knows, your teenager's next favourite sweater might have been dreamed up a few kilometres from your front door. (We think that's pretty great.)

SHOP NEW ARRIVALS