Canadian Designer Wanze Song Should Be on Your Radar

For Wanze Song, the process of creating has always kindled her curiosity. She has an early memory of learning origami at school in China; the transformation of a flat piece of paper into a three-dimensional object through a series of precise, calculated folds captivated her. As a designer and the founder of her eponymous label, Song applies this focus on meticulous craftsmanship to her work, combining traditional garment-making techniques with thoughtful functionality.

After studying fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University, Song continued to hone her skills both at home and abroad (namely, London and Shanghai) with stints at Beaufille, Kiko Kostadinov and Xiao Li. When the pandemic brought her back home in 2020, she was overwhelmed and burnt-out by the demands of the fast-paced industry, so she paused to rest and reflect on the future. “I thought about what I wanted to do, how I wanted to make things and what was meaningful,” she says. “How could I make this career sustainable in the long term?”

During this time, Song also began making pieces for her family and friends. Before she knew it, word had spread and the demand had gone from just a few units to 500. “I’d never wanted to create my own business, but during that time, I was just eager to be making things,” she says. Seven collections later, Song continues to let her values—a dedication to exceptional pattern-making and a deep understanding of her clients—guide her work. Since launching her brand in 2022, she has maintained a commitment to expanding steadily through intentional relationships with her customers. For every new collection, her studio turns into a showroom where she walks visitors through each garment in detail, going over everything from the material source to styling recommendations. For spring/summer 2026, she found a muse in pilot Amelia Earhart. The collection—which is carried at Lost & Found and Grays in Toronto and Neighbour in Vancouver—remixes utilitarian silhouettes with elevated fabrics, resulting in pieces like a plaid funnel-neck anorak made in a lightweight organic Japanese seersucker cotton. “People are a lot more engaged when they know what they’re consuming,” she says. “When they’re knowledgeable about what they’re purchasing, they feel more confident in understanding their own style.”

Local manufacturing is the other key to strengthening our connection to clothing, says Song. She found a like-minded collaborator in Alexis Venerus, the founder of Sew-Rite Studio, whose small-scale production atelier makes the majority of Song’s collections. “It’s important to highlight and understand the time being put into making quality clothes,” she emphasizes. Throughout all of this, she has built not only a brand that reflects her values but also a close-knit community. “What’s surprising is all these friendships that I’ve been able to build throughout the years,” says Song. “To see people’s lives evolve and have these relationships have been the most precious and rewarding aspects.”

CRAVING CONNECTION

“Going into a space where there’s so much clothing can feel intimidating, but I want to create an experience for people to go shopping, have someone go through every single piece with them and try new things. [That process] also helps me understand who these people are and how I can better create my collections and make pieces that are filling a need in people’s lives. How do I make clothing in a way that feels more connected? In the beginning, that was just a question. Through experiencing and doing, I’m getting more answers to these questions every season.”

NOTE TO SELF

“The biggest challenge for me has been learning that making is just a small component of operating a business. [And I’ve learned] to not take myself so seriously. There are bigger issues and problems in society. But I always think that if you want to make a change in any industry, you can take a small step toward what you believe in and that can actually have a big impact.”

THE MAKING OF CLOTHING

“I always say that making clothes is so hard—you can feel it through the stitches. There are a lot of [considerations] that go into it, like how the material affects the drape and structure. I feel like being a good designer is [about] truly understanding these aspects. It’s about creating the moment that can make someone feel empowered and understand why we put so much work into it. This can shift our behaviour and relationships with clothing—and maybe also with other things in life.”

Source: https://www.ellecanada.com/