École de Pensée: Pioneers of New Wave Tailoring

Range Rover & SHARP

For Canadians, comfort frequently trumps style. We like our technical outerwear, our practical workwear — even streetwear has grown mightily in recent years. Ours is not the first country that springs to mind when it comes to high fashion or tailoring. 

But Montreal’s École de Pensée is poised to change that. With its comprehensive ready-to-wear collections, custom suiting, and an inviting shop on a picturesque Mile End street, the brand is pioneering what it calls “new wave tailoring.” And, as the brand celebrates its 10th anniversary, things are looking more promising than ever — with more orders from European department stores and menswear boutiques, not to mention the label being awarded menswear designer of the year at the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards last October.

“We try to approach tailoring in a more informal way,” says Marc Garand, the brand’s co-founder. “If you feel good in your clothes, you’re going to be more confident and more relaxed.” It’s a philosophy reflected both in the brand’s commitment to detail and its subversion of the classics: eye-catching sport coats cut from fine European fabrics, overshirts with asymmetric detailing, extra wide-wale corduroys. 

“With our tailoring,” explains Garand from the brand’s Montreal office, “I think there’s a more fun way to wear a suit for work, but even to run errands or go to the bar. It’s always nice to wear good quality garments.”

The origins of École de Pensée can be traced back to Garand’s childhood friendship with co-founder William Lessard. After bonding over their shared interests in art, photography and even skateboarding, the duo began scoping out the world of fashion. Their common interests inspired both the brand’s name (which translates to ‘school of thought’) and its design philosophy, which has attracted a diverse clientele including musicians, artists and working professionals.

Garand and Lessard first crossed paths with the brand’s final co-founder, Julien Gauthier, while working at another high-end men’s store in Montreal. Recognizing a kindred creative, they welcomed him into the fold to lead their fledgling brand’s design and, after diligently saving funds, the trio crafted their initial samples and showcased an inaugural collection at industry trade shows in 2015. This generated interest from Simon’s and other retailers and, eventually, École de Pensée opened its flagship Mile End store in 2018. 

This deliberate but steady progress, Garand says, has allowed the brand to maintain its independence. “We still oversee everything as a collective, and we have the same vision and drive as we did in the beginning. With the three of us, we have 100 percent alignment and trust each other.”

The retail space on Montreal’s affluent Laurier Street in Mile End was designed to reflect the neighbourhood and attract a diverse range of customers, from young fashion heads to more mature men who know classic tailoring but like the brand’s unique details. “I think they also appreciate the service,” says Garand. “They chat with us about their needs, sometimes they even bring in old pieces from the ’70s or ’80s as references.”

This vision has garnered the attention of international retailers. “What immediately caught our attention was, first of all, the name. Its poetry echoes the precision of the silhouettes,” says Aubane Philippe, menswear buyer at Paris department store Le Bon Marché. For Philippe, EdP’s menswear classics have been modernized with beautiful materials and a harmonious colour palette. Specifically, she highlights the brand’s coats and jackets.

The quality is clear in the brand’s canvas suit construction and choice of fabrics. Knitwear is meticulously sourced from heritage British manufacturers, and innovative textiles including shea butter-washed cotton gauze underscore the brand’s ongoing commitment to research and development. The team also maintains close relationships with its factories, fostering long-term partnerships built on mutual respect. 

“Our shirt factory is focused only on shirts,” explains Garand. “They work with only 17 brands. We’re a smaller client, but they love us and we love them. We have dinner with them. We know their families. It’s super important to create long-term relationships and we have the same partners from the beginning.”

Ecole de Pensée’s made-to-measure tailoring also doesn’t skimp when it comes to fabric selection, using mostly Loro Piana fabrics and other top-tier mills, and even Harris Tweed from England. Garand always gets excited for the Fall/Winter collections with all of the interesting fabrics and patterns that come with it. “The entire collection is rich in interesting fabrics like mohair, cashmere and Angora. We’re really being recognized for our coats at the moment. This fall, we’re doing oversized, double-breasted, shawl overcoats.”

This focus on combining elegance with integrity is also evident on the brand’s Instagram feed, which showcases influences as wide-ranging as the Les Automatistes art movement, the works of painter Léon Bellefleur, and the vibrant atmosphere of artist hangout Le Café l’Échouerie. 

“They were really tailored and nonchalant,” says Garand of mid-century Canadian creatives, “but not afraid to wear a nice jacket while they worked, or be free-thinking in how they dressed. A lot of people try to find inspiration in another country, but we have always been inspired by our home. We appreciate the ways these guys created different movements. People in Quebec or Canada say it’s impossible to launch a fashion project or be in music or the arts, but these guys did it. They created a revolution.”

For many Canadians, Garand says, the true mark of success is finding opportunities or gaining recognition abroad. But École de Pensée is not interested in such matters. Instead, they consider being based in Montreal — not a city known as an international fashion capital — as an advantage, allowing them to remain focused, and to not waste time worrying about potential competitor brands. With the accolades and admiration the brand has attracted, not to mention rumours of a second store opening, it’s an approach that appears to be working.

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