Province of Canada Review

On my quest to support Canadian companies, I've delved deeper into Canadian-made products. Finding ethical and sustainable Canadian companies is one thing, but many of them do still have their products manufactured around the world... Finding Canadian-made companies, within a "reasonable" price point and that speaks to my personal style proves to be much more difficult. I put reasonable in quotations because ethical and sustainable brands come at a higher price than affordable fast-fashion - but that price point comes from paying workers a living wage and sourcing sustainable materials. There's a spectrum in terms of price points in the sustainable fashion game and when I say "reasonable," I mean that most items for sale are less than $150 cad.

This month, I'm reviewing Province of Canada. This is a Canadian owned brand that manufactures all of its items right here, in Canada. On their "about" page, they describe themselves as a lifestyle brand: they carry adult and kids apparel as well as home goods like baskets, soap, linens and dryer balls.

FIY: This post is not sponsored and does not contain any affiliate links. I purchased these items with my own money and all opinions are my own.

Province of Canada items range from socks priced at $14 to sweatpants priced at $128. They offer free shipping on orders over $75 and 30 day returns, with some exclusions (and return shipping fees do apply). The overall aesthetic of the brand is cozy and casual with muted colour-ways and a focus on loungewear items like sweats, leggings, and basics. They also offer a hint of an "academic" vibe with more traditional rugby shirts and logo branding that is reminiscent of university merch.

I was mostly interested in Province of Canada because I need to start replacing my socks and I wanted to do so by supporting Canadian-made. First, I picked out two of their Everyday Socks: one in grey, one in black. They cost 14$ each and I got them both in a size medium (take a look at their size chart - these socks are unisex). They're made from 80% cotton, 15% nylon and 5% lycra.

I've been wearing these socks for a couple of months and they're holding up great! They fit very comfortably and the bottom is plush so it feels like my foot is cushioned when I wear them. Compared to my previous h&m socks, these ones are a definite upgrade. I will say, when I first received them the material felt a little bit rougher than I expected but that didn't deter from the comfort of wearing them and after a couple of washes....

I'll also mention that their socks are part of the 1 for 1 sock program: with every pair purchased, Province of Canada donates a pair to a homeless shelter.

Still riding this sock train, I also chose the Slipper Sock ($24) in the colour Natural (also in a size medium). This sock is very much what an ideal grandma sock is: 85% preshrunk wool, a cute neutral colour and super comfy. Now, I hate wearing slippers (controversial, I know) but I love wearing these slipper socks overtop my thin ankle socks to provide an extra level of cushiony comfort and warmth to my feet. I love them so so much!

Last but not least, I tried their Monday Long Sleeve Crop Top ($52) in White in the size XXS. Now this shirt lives up to the quality that I felt in the socks that I ordered, however the fit isn't my favourite. It kind of reminds me of the fit of the classic Gildan blank t-shirts that you can get "customized" with graphics from t-shirt printing companies. This shirt is part of the women's range, and I'm generally an XXS in clothing, but the shoulder seams were too big for me (but not big enough to be a drop shoulder seam - which I know is trendy) and the sleeves are super long! I will say however, they did do the crop perfectly: I have a long torso and crop-tops are usually very cropped on me, but just as they described on their website: "Unlike your average crop top, we’ve added a little extra length so you don’t have to show off your belly button," which I really appreciate. I also think the boxyness-level is perfect. So my only suggestions is narrower shoulders and less sleeve length, because those two aspects make the top feel more like a cropped blank rather than an intentional design.

That being said, while this top isn't perfect in my mind, it's still a high quality garment. Even though it's white, it's not see-through and the cotton feels thick and soft. It also has the little tri-colour Province of Canada flag label on the sleeve (which is kind of hard to see given the extra fabric on the sleeve length). I've worn and washed it every week since I got it and it's holding up great (I machine wash cold, hang to dry).

UPDATE

After appreciating my purchases for awhile and after more of my h&m socks became too hole-y to wear - I ended up placing another order with Province of Canada. I got more Everyday Socks but in the colour Taupe and a sweatshirt. Firstly, the colour Taupe (which is kind of a neutral beige) is my favourite sock colour. I'm not a fan of pure white socks and I like that these are still light coloured but not too stark.

The sweatshirt I got is called the Weekend Sweatshirt in the colour Washed Camel ($98). This is a unisex sweatshirt and I got it in the XXS. I know I said that I wasn't a huge fan of the fit from the cropped shirt, however I do like my sweatshirts to be more baggy and casual so I thought this one was worth a try. I love garment dyed items, which this is, because they're always unique muted colours that I find get better with every wash. That being said, because of the dyeing process - it's important to wash the garment before wearing and then to wash it with similar colours after because the dye can bleed a bit. Now that's no fault in quality - it's purely because the item's dyeing process is done differently in order to get a specific effect. I'd be more worried with brighter or darker garment dyed items (like red or dark grey), but I didn't really have a dye transfer problem with this one since it is a lighter colour!

Concluding Thoughts

Overall, I'm really pleased with my Province of Canada purchase. I appreciate that they offer high-quality Canadian-made products at a good price point. I really enjoy their aesthetic and hope that they branch off to provide more options that aren't reserved for loungewear. I ordered from them twice already and can definitely see myself ordering from them again. Ultimately, I'd love to visit their store to try on garments. As someone who falls under the "petite" category of clothing, sometimes unisex clothing just don't work for me and I think some of their garments might just be "too loose" rather than "oversized & cute." The cropped shirt didn't work out for me but the Weekend sweatshirt did, so it's 50-50 at this point! I can't speak to the cut and fit of all their products, but the socks and sweatshirt are amazing and the long-sleeve crop was good, just not my preferred fit.