canadian designer horses atelier
Photography by Justin Aranha

Shop Canada: Horses Atelier and the Power of Community

“It’s a real gift to be able to make things in a small quantity”

The Kit is all about shop local, shop Canada. This week, we’re celebrating homegrown designers in a spring fashion lookbook, photographed (at a distance) by Justin Aranha in Toronto. Today: Best friends and designers of Horses Atelier, Claudia Dey and Heidi Sopinka photographed outside of their West-end studio.

Heidi Sopinka and Claudia Dey, the best friends and founders of Horses Atelier, are thinking a lot about frontier living right now. “We’ve always had a fascination with and love of pioneer dressing,” says Sopinka. “We want to make things that are comfortable and easy to move in in these times” she adds. This sense of make-do practicality blended with cool-girl allure has informed their line since its launch eight years ago, but feels even more vital right now. Just as vital is the community that the duo have built in step with their brand. “This has reminded us that we’re still very much within that community and that everyone is still with us.”

After hastily closing up their west-end Toronto studio in March, Dey and Sopinka have refocused their energies to their online shop, where their customer base is growing. The brand no longer keeps wholesale accounts with retailers, something that has freed the designers from “the relentless fashion calendar,” says Dey. “It’s a real gift to be able to make things in a small quantity and see what people are liking and go from there organically,” says Sopinka. “Hopefully we’re part of a paradigm shift where people are wanting to spend their dollars in a more impactful way and make the choice to support smaller brands,” says Dey.

The designers are also releasing non-medical face masks made from archival Horses Atelier fabrics with all profits going to The Daily Bread Food Bank. “People can think of clothes as shallow, but we’ve had moments with friends who have gone through horrible things and we love to send a parcel in the mail to let them know we’re thinking about them. Clothes can be deep as well,” says Sopinka. “Fashion is a form of autobiography,” adds Dey.

SHOP HORSES ATELIER

Horses AtelierBelted field suit, $415, horsesatelier.com
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A true brand signature, a “Horses jumpsuit” represents everything the brand stands for: genuine practicality and comfort cut from Italian cotton-linen canvas and made to be worn again, and again, and again. 

 

Horses AtelierBlouse, $395, horsesatelier.com

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Made from 100 per cent silk and custom dyed, this square-neck blouse is effortlessly feminine without feeling too twee. A great one tucked into high-waist denim or worn loose, ’70s-style. 

 

Horses AtelierCropped jacket, $395, horsestatelier.com

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This jacket looks like a treasured vintage find and will lend a whimsical touch to any outfit.
 
 

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