I wasn’t the only one who put off buying a new winter coat thanks to last month’s unseasonable warmth. What if it doesn’t snow at all, I thought, not an unreasonable concern given the last winter’s mildness. Then, like a holiday miracle, Toronto received a snowstorm on Boxing Day. Sheepishly, I headed out to shop.
After some crash-course research online, I learned that last winter’s warmth was a bit of an aberration. After two cold winters in a row, the weather pattern known as Arctic oscillation kept polar jet streams from moving South, making 2011-2012 one of the warmest Canadian winters on record. “It’s the closest we’ve come to cancelling winter,” Environment Canada climatologist David Phillips remarked at the time. But this year winter will be more typical, with cold temperatures and some harsh storms, keeping with a global pattern–scorching summers leading into freezing, stormy winters. In the complex world of meteorology, both weather extremes may be caused by climate change.
Though cold weather eventually came, and amateur outdoor hockey will continue (along with professional hockey, as we learned this week), I still wondered if climate change was a concern for brands that specialize in winter clothing.
“I’d be lying to you, and ourselves, if I were to say this warm spell hasn’t been a concern,” wrote Shayda Omidvar, Marketing Manager for OSC Cross, in an email before the late December blizzard. An offshoot of Outdoor Survival Canada, a company that has been keeping people cozy in down jackets for five years, OSC Cross was born from the realization that urbanites wanted lighter jackets for milder temperatures and the crowded TTC.
“In the city people are always on the go,” wrote Assistant Designer Tammy Yiu. “Running in and out of coffee shops, stores, onto the streetcar, and on their bikes. Having a coat that is lighter, in terms of warmth and weight, is a lot easier and just makes more sense.”
Indeed, companies’ only insurance policy against warmer weather lies in producing a variety of products suitable for different temperatures. Lauren Pugh, Marketing Coordinator for Rudsak, Canada’s leading leather brand, is unworried by fluctuations in winters. Rudsak offers a wide variety of items, including a bags, footwear, accessories, a new ready-to-wear line, and lighter leather jackets designed for autumn and spring. The odd warm spell doesn’t melt Pugh’s cool confidence in the company, citing that Rudsak parkas are still very much in demand.
“Winter isn’t going anywhere,” she says. “So long as there is snow and below zero temperature drops, there will be consumers seeking winter wear. People want to be prepared and shop beforehand rather than be left to freeze, scrambling to find whatever they can, as quickly as possible.”
I didn’t mention that’s exactly what I had done.
When meterologists can barely tell us how to dress next week, let alone next year, labels that will do the best are the ones that can adapt to the needs of different clients and climates. Line Knitwear, founded in 2000 by John Musvat and Jennifer Wells, sells their contemporary, mid-priced knits across Nother America from icy Montreal to arid Dallas.
Muscat explains that selling in a variety of locations means they must always keep an eye on what’s doing well and what’s not, always being ready to adapt. “You can’t just make a collection and hope for the best,” he says. “I’m concerned all day long, every day, about everything! That’s just running a company. If you’re not worried about everything, then you’re silly.”
If climate change isn’t at the top of those worries right now, that’s partly because the company already offers items suitable for warmer weather, like light, linen items in autumnal colours for fall. “We did that primarily for those climates that don’t get that cold, but that still want to buy knit wear.”
But, he admits, he might’ve been more concerned about weather if I’d asked him last winter, when it felt like “the tropics.”
“When I was in Hong Kong, it was so warm, I was in a short sleeved t-shirt. It’s always been warmer there, but never that warm. You really have to think, ‘Wow, how am I going to address this climate?’ when, in December, you’re in a short-sleeved t-shirt, and it’s the middle of the night, and you’re completely comfortable.”
The two things fashion and weather have in common? Change is inevitable and nearly impossible to predict. With ricocheting temperatures matched with a unsteady economy, Canadian companies will have to adapt in order to stay ahead. Or, as Muscat puts it, “If you don’t evolve in fashion, you die.”
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Max Mosher writes about style for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @max_mosher_.
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