Andréanne Mulaire: Sustainable Fashion & Cultural Pride

Stuart Murray  0:00  
This podcast was recorded on the ancestral lands, on treaty one territory, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe Cree, Oji Cree, Dakota and the Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Metis nation.

Amanda Logan (Voiceover)  0:19  
This is humans on rights, a podcast advocating for the education of human rights. Here's your host, Stuart Murray.

Stuart Murray  0:31  
Today we're diving into a subject that touches each and every one of us, the clothes we wear behind every t shirt, every pair of jeans, every dress, every dress is a story, and often that story raises big questions about human rights, sustainability and the impact of fast fashion. My guest today is Winnipeg based fashion designer Andrean Moliere, co founder of Anne Moliere, and she has built her work on values of sustainability, cultural pride and ethical production. So in a world where fashion dominates, Andrean is showing us another way one wear, respect for people, culture and the planet is stitched into every garment. So on that basis, Andre Anne moulier, welcome to humans on rights.

Andréanne Mulaire  1:22  
Bonjour. Well, thank you for including me in this wonderful podcast. SEMA Fe plaisir

Stuart Murray  1:29  
Adrienne, just to sort of for those listeners, can you introduce yourself a little bit and explain what it is that you

Andréanne Mulaire  1:38  
do? Yeah, so my name is Andrean Muller, dandenonll and but I go by the name of Anne, and that's why the company is named after my great, great grandma, my Metis ancestor, Catherine Miller. So we named our company Anne Mueller, and we we actually create women's wear in Winnipeg that are sustainable, but that also tells the story of our Metis culture. It's something that I started 20 years ago. This year, we are we've been in business. And when I started my company 20 years ago, it was always around sustainability. That was, this is the way I was brought up. It has always been engraved in me about taking care of the planet, but also it was a conscious decision when I started the company, what kind of impact I wanted to do. And there was two. One was to take care of the planet. Somehow I didn't know then what that entailed. I just knew that I wanted to reduce waste. That was my number one sentence, and number two was to be proud of who I am and never forget where I came from. So if you fast forward 20 years later, there's a lot of decisions that I've made along the years, that you know, decisions as continuing production in Winnipeg in Canada, knitting my own fabric in Canada, keeping the story of my ancestor alive, which in 20 years ago, a lot of people did not Want to buy products where my dad designed that the indigenous designs, because it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a pause, a positive impact, or a positive thing that people wanted to connect to. But then you see 20 years later how it's, you know, the stories are thriving. People want to know more about indigenous people in Canada. So always staying true to me and saying, No, I will continue, even though it's not the best time. I will continue to kind of Thrive Forward and also being in, you know, every decision I make about sustainability, how do I make my clothing, the way I design? Why do I create zero waste products, when sometimes those are very costly because you're reusing fabric, but the labor is intensive, but it's it's a value that my parents have definitely embedded in me when I was a little girl, and that I carry with me and and who makes an MRI and to the point of today, you know, sometimes I think back, and as much as it is hard to run a business that does everything in a way, not the wrong way, but in order to have, you know, a big profit In Your Pocket, I don't think that was my big purpose was to have a multi million dollar company with a lot of dollars in my pocket. It was always I want to be a CEO that created an impact, versus a CEO that just had millions and nothing. So that's my personal purpose, and why? We're still in business, why a lot of com or customers are finding ways to really relate to us and believe in in what we're doing and support it, because you feel good when you're supporting a good company doing good, right? So we're kind of that transition business company that helps customers either finding themselves with their their their background, their ancestors or indigenous background, are also those that want to kind of move forward, or shift from fast fashion to slow fashion to sustainable fashion. And how do they do that? Who do they trust? What steps do they they take? Can they do baby steps, or can they learn along the way? And just one more thing to add, my grant, my so we're our family. Mulat family is a long, lenient family of entrepreneur. I have great great grand my great great grandpa worked along Louis Riel and my Matey, my Catherine mulai was the first teacher, rule teacher in design. She taught how to do labor. Three forgot now, what? How you say that in English? Embroidery, Rotary, yeah, because she was taught by the nuns in Quebec. So she moved, she came back. That's a big story, but you can read it on my website, and so, you know. And then generation pass, and then I have an uncle that started a business, and another uncle, and so we I kind of have that in my blood, this entrepreneur, Voyager, trading. And so I take it. I'm very grateful that I have it in my blood. And so for me, it was a lot of another part of the entrepreneur was education. Because I do, I find, like all my grandparents always said, Education is very important. So another part of the company that I really thrive on, and I really want to make sure that customers can relate to, is the education of fashion, of history, of like you said in your intro, of storytelling, because it is so true. I love how you you actually added that in the intro is that every piece of clothing have a story. It's either, if you buy it offshore, somebody somewhere else, and it's a little boy or little girl that made it. It has a story. Might not be the good story, and it could be very sad story, but it has a story. And it's this concept of being, acknowledging that, and saying, Where does this clothing come from? Where does this fabric come from? And yeah, asking questions, where this made Yeah, you know, yeah. So that's,

Stuart Murray  8:01  
yeah, no, listen, it's fascinating. Thank you so much. I mean, one of the things that you mentioned, I'd like to just explore a bit with you, as you talk about how your designs are rooted in sustainability and indigenous culture. And I just wonder, you know, you talked a little bit about how those values guide your work, but perhaps, why do you think it's important that you continue to do that? And I just think, for anybody who's listening to this podcast would wonder, you know, why are you still doing that today, and why do you believe it's important to stick to those cultural values? Yeah,

Andréanne Mulaire  8:35  
very good question. Well, I think it's, it's no secret that our planet is warming up and and so that's a big. It's a big, you know, it's a big. I don't want to know, I don't want to say error, but it's just something that's happening on this planet that we are consuming so much. And so when I said, at the beginning of starting my company, I want to reduce the waste in the industry, because we have a problem with waste. There's a lot of waste. We're discarding clothing like nothing today, and it's creating an impact on our climate. There's your you could see the climate change changing, and I don't want to dive too too much into it, but it is real. A lot of people think it's not, but it is 100% real. And if we can't take care of it today, and I know one one business, like myself, a small business, it won't make a huge impact. But when everybody follows, does small steps, it creates a bigger impact. So for me, it's, you know, it has, nature has always been very important to me, because we we walk on, we all walk on this land. And if we're not respecting it or even taking care of it, it will take it will just disappear. So I think that's number one is, you know, to be very mindful, like a. Of our planet to really take care of it, and what we buy, what we discard, what we throw away, every week, every week. How do we recycle? Those are all impact that we're creating on this planet. And if we can make little changes in our lives, then we can all create. We can actually, you know, see a better temperature. The thing about the the world heating up, it's, you could see it everywhere. So we need to do something. And there's a lot of environmental advocates that have great information and even stats about what's happening in the next 10 years. Yeah. And then, and aside from that, is, you know, the whole identity and the respect heritage, that's another part of of of human rights. Like you say it's, it's a part of who you are. It's about us respecting everybody. And I, you know, there's so much war in this world like there's no reason why we can't respect different nationalities, different heritage. And so it comes down to, for me, I want to be I want to try to invite and also inspire others to to respect others and to accept themselves. And so that's a huge thing about pride. You know, be proud of yourself. Be proud of other cultures. Respect the cultures, they all have significance. So you know, sometimes I find I kind of, it's pretty simple. It's just respect other people. But I try to do it. I try to walk the

Stuart Murray  11:50  
walk and talk. It is pretty simple to respect other people. It's just for whatever reason, very difficult, which I, you know, that's for a whole nother podcast, I must tell you. So one of the things, Andrea is you mentioned some of the stats, and I just pulled this one out that said that that every year there's 92 million tons of waste with respect to clothing. And you're talking about how you want to and you've been looking at from a sustainability and how you run your company, just from your perspective. Andrean, so how did you like as a young person? Did you were you not sort of swept up in what the latest fashion was? And I want to ask that question on the basis I want to move into this term fast fashion, and what does it mean? And for those that might not know or heard about it, I want to get into that conversation. But for most young people, young boys, young girls growing up, there's a lot of fashion conscience that gets thrown at you that you know you get swept up in. Did that? Did that ever happen to you, or did you always have this sort of sense from your your parents, your grandparents, that that wasn't what you wanted to be participating in.

Andréanne Mulaire  13:06  
Yeah, you know, to be honest, it, it was, I was brought up just buying what we needed and not more. So it's almost, it's been embedded in me not to be, you know, a consumer and buying a lot, even when I started my com, before I started my company, I used to be a contemporary dancer, and that was the fork I was going going into either be a full contemporary dancer professionally or continuing with design. And I remember the costumes we had to buy for one concert, and they were polyester, uncomfortable. And so that's where I actually started to make clothing. I started to make our own costumes. First of all, they were expensive, they were uncomfortable and they were so I just started doing that. And and then it was just kind of dawn on me how people reacted and say, Oh, my God, this is amazing. This is better. So when I started my company, it was always, oh, I want to work with natural fibers. I don't want to go out there and make other things. Another pointer is at school. When I did my design school in Montreal, we often were geared towards polyester, and because I knew from dance, what the comfort part of polyester, how it breathed and not. And I had also done human ecology in U of M, and we did, I did more of a textile focus. So I had also that background of, okay, the behind the scene, what happened in factories and the fabric notion, I was able to kind of make decision right there at school, and we did so many samples per per week, so they having that knowledge, and then going into starting my business, I kind of know knew already I want to work with natural fibers. Now I didn't know where I was getting, getting that five fabric. So I started buying overseas the. Fabric. And then what happened is I started to have allergies. I was working because I was sewing so much at the beginning, and I started having allergies. And my hands were were just so they were hurting and they were puffy and itchy. And so I knew something was weird and wrong. And so I would talk to my parents say, you know, I just, I don't know what's happening, but I'm having reactions. So then I sent samples to Hugh, to U of M, where they had a lab at that time, and they were able to see what kind of chemical, what kind of fabric was I work, where working with, and I was supposed to work with organic cotton, but it turned out to be a conventional cotton with, you know, some treated chemicals in there. So that made, you know, so everything that happens, I've always kind of figured out, okay, what is happening? Why is this happening? And then I take a step forward, and I'm like, Okay, I need to figure out, how do I get fabric from Canada? Because we have higher regulations, and I could control it more, because I could just take a flight, go to the knitter and then see them. So that's where I decided to start. I went to Ontario, and then I even met with Craig kilburger, which is Free The Children, right? And he said, You know, I've worked with these kind of manufacturer in Toronto or in Ontario. I think you should go and see them. So I did. And that's the starting point of my first decision of making your fabric in Canada. Yeah. And then sorry. And then we, then we decided to make in Winnipeg, because I can control the batch. I can control the the the production. And I think at that point too, I was so small, I didn't want to start dealing with someone in, you know, in China or overseas. I just thought, Oh, I'd be nice to just work with someone in Winnipeg, drive there, see how my my products are so are being sewn, and just work like that. But over the years, you know, of course, I've had business associates saying, you know, why you still making it in Winnipeg? You gotta go overseas to get a better profit. But over the years, I've just realized how the value of making something in in Winnipeg, giving jobs to people in Winnipeg, around me, being able to control the quality was just way more a value factor than than anything else. And then along, you know, every step along the way of the company, I have made decision in terms of in 2018 I think we decided to look at our supply chain to really dive in and see where our products are. Where is the the fabric, the yarn, getting from to where it's getting knitted, to dyeing, to Winnipeg, to shipping to the customer, to see actually, how much carbon emission are we using, how much water are we using, how much energy are we using. And that's not something a lot of people will do, because it costs money to do this, to do this whole but for me, it was important to, I think, at the like I said before, proofs in the pudding, and you got the walk, you have to walk the walk, to talk the walk. Yeah, and showing this on our site, being very transparent, is the one way to show your your customers, what you're doing is real, because there's, it's so easy to green wash, to kind of say, I'm green, but really, are you, when you dive more into it, are you really? Are you saving green? Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, So

Stuart Murray  18:36  
Andrea, let me just come back to a couple of things. So one of the things, when you were you went to Montreal, and you were studying, and you were working with a lot of polyester at that time. Mm, hmm, why? What was the, what was the magic of polyester in terms of design and clothing? Well, this is

Andréanne Mulaire  18:52  
where they would bring us to a fabric like a fabric store, where we had to buy our own fabric, and that's what they were offering. And so I was always trying to look for something. I remember, I made a skirt in wool and it was supposed to be a we were supposed to do a skirt for we had different themes. And at that point, you know, we had bar themes, like, if you're going to the bar, sure, and I remember I said, Ah, no, I don't want to make a bar skirt. I'm going to make a wool skirt. It's very Ralph Lauren, and I had made it lined, and it was checkered and, and I just, I looked around my classmate and everybody had made these cute little, you know, skirt that are so short, and blah, blah, blah. I made this like Louis, you know, San Dior slash, Ralph Lauren, you know, wool skirt. So for me, it was always I was looking at timeless styles that things that, you know, I was trying to use natural fibers and create a product in that fabric. And I think another thing that really inspired me to move into the sustainable. World was at at school when we had, when I had to do my last design, my last exam, we had to do a Couture dress. And I remember we had, I picked the wolf as my inspiration, and I had told my my teachers, that I wanted to make this dress out of hemp. And they said, Well, don't be surprised if it doesn't, doesn't go on the runway, because it's not, that's not runway fabric. So that, of course, I took the challenge, and I said, I'll make you sure it will go on the runway. So I went and and I searched everywhere in Canada and the US for hemp, Jacquard, hemp silk. I said, No, I'm going to find hemp, but in the very glamorous way. And I did. I sourced it all by myself, with my own money, and I made the dress. And they were so stunned. So I think that reaction showed me that I could do something with with what I wanted to, for sure, show the world that obviously did not believe in,

Stuart Murray  21:05  
yeah, so when you said they just the comment, back when you said you were going to make something with hemp, and they said it will make the runway, were they basically criticizing or not criticizing, but making an observation, just saying that, you know, no matter how good it is, that that product is not something that people want to see on the runway. Was it a design issue? Andrean, I'm trying to figure out if it was design or if it was the fabric. And people saying, well, there people are not going to buy product that's made out of hemp.

Andréanne Mulaire  21:33  
I think it was more their understanding of what hemp was, right? And for them, they probably thought it was a ragged, raggedy fabric. Maybe it. They've seen styles in the past that look very, you know, very relaxed, very decontacted, not, not fashion worthy. So for me, it was more of an A knowledge of fabric, like, can that fabric be transformed into something glamorous? I don't think so. So that belief of a very narrow minded because you have to be open minded to think that hemp could become on a runway like even if I asked someone today, do you think hemp can be a runway worthy and I'm sure a lot of people would say no, no, no, no, because they don't think it can be transformed into silk, into different like a beautiful scarlet red, and I had gold, and you thought it was silk, but it was actually meant to made out of hemp.

Stuart Murray  22:30  
And so just take us backstage for a second. I mean, you know, obviously you are marching to a different drummer. You're doing something you know, you're passionate about. People are wondering if it's going to work when you produce this product on day on do you get a chance to put it on the model? Like, I'm just wondering, what was their reaction when you've showed them what they were going to wear? And tell us a little bit about that.

Andréanne Mulaire  22:53  
Yeah. So when? So when the exam happens, you create the design, and then you have to find your model, and then you have to put the dress on the model. And then you come into the room, you show the dress to the customer, to the teachers, you have a book to that. You have a sketch you have all your fabric, and you show each fabric what they are, kind of a sketch book that represents your design. And so that's exactly what I did. And then they said, No, this is not hemp. And I said, this is hemp. And then I actually even kept the tag, the fabric tag, right? Because I was worried. I'm like, Oh, I don't know if they're going to believe me. So I did, and they could not believe it. They it was three teachers that did the exam, the rating, and yeah, they said, I've never seen this before, and you are going on the runway. And I was so excited, I bet, but yeah, but it was just one of those things that I'm like, Man, if I could prove them wrong, who else can I prove wrong? You know,

Stuart Murray  23:55  
sure, for sure. And so, you know, well done. And thanks for sharing that. I just think that you know, there's so many you see, you know, through social media and different things, all these runways, all these models, all these things that happen. And, I mean, some of it, you know, the clothing is, is quite extraordinary. And you know, when you do something as you did, which went against the grain and produced a product, a material that even they didn't recognize, you know, that's really probably inside, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a validation of who you are and what you believe. But, you know, that's, that's a great story to share. And so, so Andrean tell us now a little bit about sort of this term, fast fashion, and, and, and how, you know, what does it mean? How is Anne Moliere your company? How are you showing a different way to those people who want to look good, feel good in clothing, but are not necessarily caught up in this term fast fashion? What is fast fashion to start off?

Andréanne Mulaire  24:56  
Well, fast fashion is, is exactly how. It's, it's said it's fast fashion. It's like fast food, if, if somebody wants to understand what they all know, we all know what fast food is not really healthy for you. It's made really fast and it's low quality. And so fast fashion is the same. It's made overseas in abundance, a big, big manufacturer that uses child's people not paid. Well, no windows. It's a very poor condition. They get paid almost nothing, and they have no benefit, like it's, it's really the, the worst condition possible for for manufacturing, but it costs maybe 10 cents for 1010, products. So for the big companies, like not going to name them all, but you can definitely find them online. You can you see they will take a better profit, bigger profit, because their products are so cheap and so, you know, not expensive. But what happens is, people just discard those pieces because they're not made. The fabric is, is not really quality. We all know. We've had a t shirt in our lives that just came apart, or when you washed it, it just twisted for some reason. Well, that's all part of the low quality, because people are trying to make something very fast, cheaply. And what's happening is, when you buy something that's cheap, that's not expensive, then you start not to care as much. So you purchase it. You're like, Matt, just cost me $5 $10 whatever the cost is, I I'll just throw it away and buy a new one. Well, that's the consumption part that is really concerning me, because that's where we are getting too much. You're we're wasting so much for no reason. And then the, you know, you think of in the past how people had one great outfit for the Sunday mass or something, and you wore that outfit all the time, and they took care of that outfit, then they wash it properly. Well, your your cost per wear was like almost zero, right? Or even in the minus. But when you think about something that you buy, not you know, not expensive and not made from a company that are made from a company that you know, just, just want profit, your cost per wear probably will be more expensive because you'll wear it once and you throw it away. So that's another part that we've been trying to, you know, educate our customers, is sometimes you invest in a piece that, yes, it might be a lot of it's expensive at the beginning, but your cost per wear, because you're going to wear it so many off so often during the year, or, you know, have it for five to 10 years, it will cost you almost nothing. And that's a good thing to you know, that's a good investment, basically,

Stuart Murray  28:06  
for sure, for sure. And so again, just to come back to kind of fast fashion, particularly from a human rights perspective, I think what you're saying is that a lot of those pieces of clothing are manufactured with child labor, or people that are not being treated properly, or they're working in factories with no windows, in terms of working environments. So from a human rights perspective, you would say that fast fashion is something that does not respect human rights.

Andréanne Mulaire  28:33  
Oh, 100% 100% Yeah, and slavery, too, happens, especially in in fabric, like in the picking the cotton, that's there's a lot of cases with slavery around the fabric, bamboo sometimes. So when you know those are all things that I really paid attention to, even where we got our cotton or our bamboo, I had to make sure that our our factory, were slavery free. I had to use those words, those were

Stuart Murray  29:00  
even today. Andrea, I mean, in 2025, she had to use the term slavery, free,

Andréanne Mulaire  29:06  
yeah, really, I had to, yeah, just to get that, that certification, because you want to make sure it is very clear what you're buying. There's, you know, I think what's happening now, more than ever, is there's so many loopholes, so you have to be very clear on what you're asking for and do a lot of due diligence, yeah.

Stuart Murray  29:29  
I mean, clearly you know which you've done, because you don't. I mean, just even at the at the outset of this podcast, you talk about you thought you were getting cotton, yeah, you know, and you found out that it was, you know, giving you soy rashes or whatever, and you kind of had it tested and realized, you know, not as advertised, right? You that's not what you were getting. So, so, yeah, I mean, I think you know all of that is, is, is really, really interesting to find as because I'm glad you know I was going to say, when I heard, first heard the term fat. Fashion, which you've explained, but Andre on, when I heard, first heard it, I thought it was just that people were just sort of rotating their product, because, well, all of a sudden, this is out of fashion. This in the summer fashion, and, you know, fall fashion, and, you know, so you're just discarding things. And that's where, you know, we have this incredible waste that that is somewhere the desert in, I don't know if it's in Peru or whatever. But, you know, people can go online and be pretty shocked if they're interested. But you know, you also say, I love the way you talk about it, you know, likening it to fast food, because that's very, very similar something we understand is fast food and fast fashion. So, so, you know, one of the things that that I'd love to get your sense of is you have clearly decided that you're going to use, you know, sustainability, and we talked about it at the beginning, indigenous culture into what you create and how you do that at the very beginning, Andrean was, was the waste in the fashion industry? Was that something that was done because they have the speed they wanted to create it. Or was it just that people looked at a piece of cloth that they had and said, Well, I only need 80% of it, and the other 20% we don't have use for where, what kind of is if you have the ability, the question, I hope is fair to you, is to explain, where did the waste start to come from in the fashion industry?

Andréanne Mulaire  31:21  
Well, the waste comes often. There's two parts there. Comes from the manufacturing sector, where, when you You bowl cut and you bulk, you make a lot of clothing, then you have a certain amount, like you said, that you don't use. So that's been discarding, and it just throws away in the garbage. And then the second part of waste is when we just throw away our garments because we're just like, I'm tired and I don't want, I want to buy a new one. That, for me is waste too. So there's those two component, and also just to go back into the fast fashion. The the one thing that I always ask customers is when a product is so so cheap, it's like five bucks. There's a reason for that, and because fast fashion is all about the big companies, what they do is the the pump. These manufacturers say, I need 1000 designs per week. I need 3000 per day, and so all they're doing is they're working, working, working their ass off just to make their demands. And that is why you're you're super right on it's huge on human rights, and that's a big reason why I want to make the clothing in Winnipeg, because I can control the the wages, I can control the the environment. I can control the respect too. You can. There's still manufacturers in Canada that are some you'll be it's, you know, you'll be surprised to know that they don't they're not respected, or their benefits are not being paid. So things like that are still going in in the manufacturing sector. But does to talk about more the ways. So those two components, when I noticed I was making our garments in I had a manufacturer I was working with on Logan, and most

Stuart Murray  33:16  
of them I Winnipeg. Logan, yeah, in

Andréanne Mulaire  33:17  
Winnipeg, yeah, yeah. And so a lot of the manufacturers are closed now, but 20 years ago, I that's how I started, before opening my own. And I remember, this is where it's it really triggered me when I saw them coveting for another company, and they were just piled up, piled up, and then they had a big chunk, and they threw it away in the garbage. And I said, Well, how much garbage bins you guys throw every week? Oh no, that's, that's today we're gonna throw. They have, like, four or five every day. And I thought, oh my goodness, this is like in Winnipeg. This is locally. So that was another big thing to open my own manufacturer, for me to control my own waste. So when we do have waste from a production, either one that we use, we have a laser cutter and then we also have a hand cutter employee. And having those two techniques, we're able to save 80% of our fabric because the hand cutter will create will hand cut orders that are custom from the scraps that are the remnants that we get from our big production, and the production will do our zero waste collection. So if I wasn't controlling that of for sure, for sure, this would all go in the garbage and then toss because it's faster, easier, right? It's the same thing, if we want to compare it to recycling. How? You know, it takes effort to put your different recycling products in the different recycling bin. I often say that to when I do presentations with students, I try to give them this analogy of, what does that look like? You know, the effort of recycling, because that's what we do at annual air well. It takes an effort, and you have to you put your the correct bin, or the correct product in the correct bin, and, yeah, you got to think about it. Got to wash it and put it in. But at the end, you're actually doing a better, better service to your planet and to the whole purpose of recycling. Then just put everything in one recycling bin and and then that goes to the recycling plant, and then they can't even use it, so it gets discarded. There's no, you know, the whole reason of the whole recycling. So I went off a little thing there, but, yeah,

Stuart Murray  35:31  
no, that's okay, no, because what's interesting is that, you know, having done a little bit of research on on animal area company, as it's called, you you make product for people that could be extra small to extra extra large. You know, you don't look at body shape and say, we don't do that. You look at it and say, whatever body shape you have, we will make sure that we make a product for you that you're going to believe in and feel good about and stick to your your your core principles of sustainability and culture. So when you look at that though, Andrean, somebody might just say, Yeah, but how when you you know it's one thing if you make you know everything medium, or if you make everything large, but if you can go from all of those sizes, how does that impact your ability to control how much waste you have when you've got so much variety in what it is that you make of the same product,

Andréanne Mulaire  36:27  
that's good question. So first of all, I always believe that sustainability is for everyone. It's not just for a certain person. It's not for a certain you know, price point too, because we offer a resale program which gives you a different entry point. We also have another collection. It's called the green sale, which gives you sustainability on a budget, basically, but the whole sizing chart from double extra small to 6x so this is a business tactic. This is what I've learned. You know, over the years. How do you maneuver this, and how do you manage this as a business perspective? And we have the, you know, some of the sizes, like the double extra small, or when it comes to three to 6x you can pre order it. So we'll do it on demand. And this is where my, my one of the cutter associates, she will hand cut from the remnants. And then everything else is we do smaller bulk orders because we know those are the most popular size. So I pick and choose. Sometimes I have to pick and choose, what colors, what styles do we bulk at Bull cut in? And some do we do one ofs? And we just whenever that order comes through there online, then we cut or somebody comes into the boutique and say, Hey, I would like this. You don't have it in stock, sure, we'll cut it. And I think you have to pick and choose sometimes like that, in order for to maximize a bit of your your fabric, or also, you know, your business.

Stuart Murray  38:00  
So can people buy product from you online?

Andréanne Mulaire  38:03  
Oh, yeah, we have a, yeah, our online website, and you can even customize. So that's another part of our business that we we really worked on and developed, is there a customization? Because, again, everybody's different, and we have tall, petite, we have in between, and because we own our own manufacture, we can offer that service. So you can go and order a pair of leggings. Those are the one of the most popular pieces that we sell. And you can have it long, and you can have it short, you shortened, and you select your your inseam online,

Stuart Murray  38:38  
right? And so just Just quickly, I will put these into the show notes for sure. Andre on. But what is your website?

Andréanne Mulaire  38:46  
It's annual

Stuart Murray  38:48  
air.ca Okay, fantastic. And, and do you primarily focus on women's clothing?

Andréanne Mulaire  38:55  
Yes, today, yeah, we do women's clothing. And do

Stuart Murray  38:58  
you ever look at saying at some juncture you may look at doing men's clothing.

Andréanne Mulaire  39:03  
I've had more and more requests, so that might be something. Yeah, I'm definitely a woman designer, because I did my training in women, but I would want to make sure that I can represent well the men too.

Stuart Murray  39:18  
So I won't use this podcast as sign a petition to get you know we need men's clothing from ambulator. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, no. But it's interesting because I you know you. It's something again, it speaks to your passion. It speaks to your level of interest. And you know, I mean, you are a women, women only company, in the sense, I think of who you know, who your your team is that makes your product. How do you decide what you're going to make? Say, are you thinking about what product you want to make for the spring of, say, 2026, or how far out do you plan? And tell us a bit about that process. Us from your perspective, again, not from mass producing, but from how you talk about sustainability and and the culture that you have brought to your business.

Andréanne Mulaire  40:11  
Well, when it comes to designing, you know, a season I do a season ahead. So I'm in the works of working on my spring 2026, and, you know, those are being a designer, a sustainable designer. Sometimes I have internal conflicts because I'm working with, I'm working against, you know, what is happening out there, which is, they're just pumping a lot of design, and they have trends and, you know, and our customers are seeing all these advertisement, they seeing all these ad these, these magazines that have all the cool trends in so you can't go totally off trend. So, because then your customers will say, Well, no, no, that's not in trend. So I can't buy that color, so you have to be, you gotta dance with this. And I've I've learned to to kind of dance with that, with what's happening out outside, and what I can offer, but I always try to do it mindfully. So this past collection for fall 2026 2025 it was all about remembering the land. And for me, I wanted to bring back some some older styles, things that have worked really well in the past, but also just sprinkle a few new pieces. Because for me, when my customers buy from another season, I want them to be able to buy another piece this season, but they can blend it together so then they they can build their their wardrobe, versus buying a new wardrobe every season. That's not the way I design. And so that's, you know, I've been doing that for a few years. I think in 2020, in 2018 when we started doing more trade shows where we travel across Canada and the US to sell to art shows. I noticed that, you know, I didn't have to always create a new collection, because I have new eyeballs seeing pieces that, you know, oh, I had it last year. But for them, it's new, right? And I have to, what I have to focus on is, is the style Correct? Is the Fit Correct? Is it comfortable. Are customers loving it or not loving it? What can I tweak to make it better? And those are the components that I use for designing. And sometimes I'll get inspired by, you know, a new color coming through or and I'll always ask myself, well, is this a color that somebody could buy and will wear for a few years, or is this an in and out one season kind of thing, because I don't have interest in just a one season thing. I've always been someone that likes classic pieces, but timeless too. And so I just, I guess you can it relates on my brand. And yeah,

Stuart Murray  42:53  
yeah, no, for sure. So you mentioned a little bit about reusable, right? And so I know you've got different programs that I'd love you to share with the listeners some of the things that you've done. So if somebody has a piece that again, they maybe it doesn't fit them quite right anymore, or there's Something's happened. What can they do with with your company, with that product that you have already made?

Andréanne Mulaire  43:19  
So in 2021 we launched a return to nature program, because we know the next is we talk about sustainability, but the future of fashion has to be circular. From the start, it has to take make a whole circle. So when I design, I always feel, I always look back on the end day, on the end first, and say, Well, how is this going to be discarded? And I work my way up, or I work my way back, or something like that. You know, I

Stuart Murray  43:51  
make circular Yes, I hear you, yeah.

Andréanne Mulaire  43:54  
And so we created six program that would kind of bring life back to our garments. So the first program is the Refresh program, where customers can bring back, and I see a lot of leggings in this where they bring back leggings and we will refresh them, retake the seams, fix low holes, so we get a brand new season. You know, legging for a new season. So it really expands the life of your garment. These six programs. The second one is the resale program. So if something is just not you know, you you've had it for a couple of years, and you're just not wearing it, or your body change and your it doesn't fit, you can bring it back, and then we will give you credit for another piece of animal art. But what this resale program does is it creates a lower entry for other people's wanting to invest in annual and they can test out with these beautiful we make we clean them up, and we make sure that they're all very shopping worthy. Another program is called the Revive program, and that is. We take other products from, you know, customers will bring in a jacket, or we'll just take different products and we'll upcycle. So kind of use our remnants and revive it, or upcycle it. It's basically an upcycle program. We have the Zero Waste program, where we do it twice a year, and we reuse our own remnants from our production, and we'll create 100 pieces, and they're one of a kind. And every year I kind of, I this is where I have fun with because I'll go and create something that's a little bit outside the box. And, yeah, it's more, you know, it was like creating costumes when I was doing dance, I just kind of go a bit crazy on those pieces. But because they're one of a kind, they're fun. So and then we have the down cycle that the down cycle program we actually donate. So we have people coming every day, and we we put aside some some remnants, where they can come and use it for free. So we actually donate our remnants to whoever wants to do their own projects. And then we also have our fiber lab, and that is, I have a sustainable head of sustainability, Jody Benson, and so she has worked with different knitters that have taken our own waist and created a new yarn. So we have socks. It's called, they're called wasted socks, and we've used our own waist to create these socks, and we're working on beanies. And our long time project would be to create our own fabric. So we're not buying new fabric all the time. So you could see how that circle kind of closes up, and then, you know, there's like, infinity, great, you know, projects ahead that we want to do. But yeah, in time,

Stuart Murray  46:56  
in time, no, no, for sure. For sure. So Anthony, you know, your brand emphasizes ethical production, right? I mean, that's really what. So what does that look like, sort of in a day to day operation? Well,

Andréanne Mulaire  47:10  
ethical production means, first of all, that that the employees paid fairly in Winnipeg. That's for our manufacturer in Winnipeg. That is she, she is respected. We do check ins. We give them benefits. We have team, team building up to opportunities. Yeah, and that they feel like it's they're happy to come to work. And I think that's one of our big question when we do our check ins is, are you happy when you come to work? And they're all saying, This is gonna be my my work forever. And I'm surprised, because I'm thinking, oh my goodness, it's gonna be a long journey. But hey, when you hear that, I think you know, and the conditions too, you know that's a huge thing to have the right conditions, to have big windows for us. I was always adamant that I wanted big windows in my manufacturer for them to feel like they're in an office too, you know, like, Yeah, feel it's not just a underground dungeon. It's, it's somewhere that they can feel proud to be. Everybody has their their sewing section, and it's their little office, and they have some pictures and and I, I walk around and I'm very proud, so I think that's a good sign,

Stuart Murray  48:26  
yeah, yeah, no, for sure, when people are happy, that's amazing. I mean, so So Andre and you were, you were you able to show work like that through covid?

Andréanne Mulaire  48:36  
Well, we had to shut down at the beginning in March, I think, when everything was shut down. So we and then we started doing masks, and that went viral. So then, because we started doing masks, we were able to bring some sewers back. Because we're doing the they allowed the mask production to happen and but at that point, I only had 400 square feet of my manufacturer, wow. So the other people that was renting from the same space, they closed down, and so fortunately, I was able to take over their space. And then that's where today we have 2000 square feet, and I was able to kind of get the space. But it's interesting how covid, you know, it allowed me to grow to to create growth. And I knew I needed space, because we were working in a small, you know, tight space before that. But, yeah, I'm happy that,

Stuart Murray  49:33  
yeah, okay, yeah. But, I mean, you know not that covid is has been positive for lots of people, but there are ways that, for some you know, that it has helped them grow and help them adjust, or however it was, as you explained in your particular business, and somebody was not able to continue or chose not to continue, and it gave some space that you were able to sort of get involved in. So, you know, for Anne Mueller. Company, you know, that was a very positive opportunity, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. So I want to ask you a little bit about, what are some of the barriers, some of the barriers to producing clothing, sustainability, sustainably and fairly

Andréanne Mulaire  50:16  
well, definitely, barriers would be the profit margins. That's huge. I think that's probably the biggest one always competing against fast fashion, where the price point is lower, and you're trying to compete with this, but you're you can't, because you're doing everything right. Yeah, to be honest, I think that's the that's the biggest one, yeah. And, you know, just to have a biggest microphone to tell the world, you know, to have the budget of marketing that other big brands have. Well, you don't, because, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of your the profit, you're reinvesting it in your own company and supporting your your staff and sustainable initiatives. So you're almost, you know, putting that in there, versus,

Stuart Murray  51:10  
yeah, yeah. So what role like would if you look at yourself as an independent designer, you know? What? What role do you feel you can play in kind of shifting, the, I don't know, shifting the way that the industry has been operating.

Andréanne Mulaire  51:29  
Well, I guess, just continuing to tell, to tell my story, to share my story, but also to invite other business owners to try to do the same, so we can kind of work as a collective. And hopefully, you know with the government, if they see that this is important, and customers find this is important, there will be more initiative to support Canadian businesses and to support manufacturing in Canada. Because imagine if more people manufactured in Canada. We would have small hubs everywhere, and things would be we would have our our thread companies back. We would have our our all the notions, the needles, they all left like we used to have so many in Winnipeg, and now we have to order from other provinces or even outer country. I used to be able to just drive to the little shop and buy my my needles for my machines, so things like that. You know, it's, it's awareness. And, you know, a lot of, yeah, it's a lot of awareness and seeing, okay, if somebody's doing this here, you know, any new companies turning up, maybe being inspired of the path I've taken and say, Okay, I think I could do also, or maybe we can work together.

Stuart Murray  52:47  
Or, yeah, I, you know, it's, I think that when you I mean, Winnipeg has been known for years and years as a place where there are tremendous number of garment facilities. And, you know, you see that change, but I think again, it speaks to you know, your perseverance, your creativity, your your your entrepreneurship, as you say with you, runs in your family that you're still striving and thriving and continuing to grow your your business, Andre on. I, I am delighted I, you know, I'd look at always sort of these conversations with a little bit of a like an hourglass, and as the last sands kind of start to find themselves at the bottom of the hourglass. I just want to say, you know, how thrilled and delighted I am to speak with you and and one of the things I always try to say to some of my podcast guests is, you know, this being kind of your podcast, if you will, you have just such an amazing career that you've already established with tremendous runway in front of you. I just wonder if there's a question that I didn't ask you that you would like me to have asked you about your your business, about your history, your past, your family, your creativity.

Andréanne Mulaire  54:05  
No, I think you've done really well and asking really good variety of questions.

Stuart Murray  54:10  
You'll have to edit that out, because nobody wants to, you know, right? Sorry, that's, that's gonna get edited out. But, but no, I mean, I just, you know, there's, there's something there that you know, like, for example, maybe, maybe I should have rephrased it. Andrean said this way, if somebody's listening and saying, You know what I really want, I love what she's saying. I'm so motivated by what she's saying, and I really want to find a way to look at sustainability and bring some kind of sense of culture to way I would design. How would you tell them to go about pursuing that dream.

Andréanne Mulaire  54:43  
And this is about designers. Yeah, designers? Well, first of all, it's all about the yourself, what you believe in, because if you don't care about the environment, then it will be hard for you to. To do something for the environment. So I always say, whatever speaks to you, there's always ways to to find a way to reduce waste within whatever you're doing. So one thing I often tell any companies is we're all responsible for our own waste, and this could be a really good, like area of creativity, where you think outside the box and find ways to to reuse your ways somehow, or donate or do something not doing something is even it's worse. So you know, it's hard for me to say where they would go. There's so many different avenues online that you can find ways to redesign, repurpose, but sometimes I struggle with that too. So you know, to be honest, it's, it's always, it's, it's an ever changing way of designing. And things always happen. And there's another, you know, either fabric, a new fabric, comes along, or and they're, you're always, you're always trying to figure it

Stuart Murray  56:15  
out, do the dance, as you say, exactly. But I think

Andréanne Mulaire  56:19  
trying to do it. That's what you got to start doing. You can't just wait for it to come to you. You just got to test try do something, you know, ask, ask people around you. What's your what's your input? What's your input? What do you think about this?

Stuart Murray  56:37  
Yeah, yeah. So I did say one last and I just thought of another one. So I'm gonna just ask you, who's your favorite? Do you have a favorite designer?

Andréanne Mulaire  56:46  
Um, I have a few, and people might find it. Yeah, I have a few designers. What one did I really like? It's Ralph Lauren, and I think it's because of his the way he blends old and new. I find that very romantic, very the vintage and the and the, you know, the history, the Western so I look at the esthetics sometimes of designers. I don't look at just the garments or the fabrics. It's really how they make you feel, how they make they present themselves in public and things like that. You know, I've always liked Stella McCartney because she's very avant garde in terms of the Sustainable World and more of a sporty but, yeah, I finally, all you know, I have a couple that I kind of keep an eye out and I see what kind of feeling are they, what kind of emotion are they giving out this year and and that's how I feed off of it. Yeah,

Stuart Murray  57:55  
yeah, it's awesome. So Andre on, one of the things that you know occurred to me is you're, you're always looking for input, for feedback from different things. If you know, if somebody wanted to give or something was said in this podcast that you were looking for, what would you like them to do?

Andréanne Mulaire  58:15  
Oh, I would. I would love for them to if they have a question about something I've said, or they would want to get a, you know, an answer, more elaborated answer, if they just Yeah, send us a question or ask us if there's anything that they want, you know, something more elaborated.

Stuart Murray  58:33  
And would they go to your website to do that? Andrean, is that the best?

Andréanne Mulaire  58:37  
Yeah, they can go to our website and contact us and send us an email any questions you have. I'm an open book, and I love to answer any questions that customers have or audience have.

Stuart Murray  58:51  
That's fantastic. Okay, all right. Well, I hope that you get lots, because that means, from my perspective, lots of people are listening, and for you, there are lots of people interested. So Mr. Buku, thank you so much for that love with you. Again, I, you know, let me just, you know, just say I'm, I was so looking forward to this conversation, because I knew there would be so much that I could learn. And, you know, just a little bit of research I did on your website, and I heard, you know, that some of the, I mean, there were so many things that I was going to ask you about, you know, you talked about goal nine, goal 12, goal 13 out of the three un goals. I would just say, if anybody wants to find out about those, they should go to YouTube and they should look you up, because you're very passionate about that. This has been a really, really wonderful conversation. And I just want to say, Mr. Buku, thank you so much for taking the time to to jump on to humans on rights. I really appreciate it.

Andréanne Mulaire  59:44  
More pleasure, Stuart,

Speaker 1  59:46  
thanks for listening to humans on rights. A transcript of this episode is available by clicking the link in the show notes of this episode. Humans on rights is recorded and hosted by Stuart Murray, social media marketing by Buffy. Davey, music by Doug Edmond For more, go to human rights hub.ca

Tara Sands (Voiceover)  1:00:07  
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