Functional menswear brand dEDIGER back in fashion

Tanner Brooks gets things done.

The 32-year-old lives in the country, drives a truck, works all day as an electrician and helps out on his family’s farm on evenings and weekends. Every so often, he drives into the city to grab a drink with his buddies or to take his girlfriend on a date.

Not bad for someone who doesn’t exist.

Brooks is the customer avatar for dEDIGER, a Winnipeg-based menswear brand that offers everyday durable, functional clothing. Shelley Ediger started the brand almost 15 years ago, put it on the backburner in 2018, and relaunched it in August with the help of Naomi Shindak.

From underwear, socks and sweats, to long-sleeve shirts, hoodies and vests, to T-shirts, tuques and ball caps, dEDIGER offers an array of clothing — all designed and manufactured in the Exchange District with “Tanner” in mind.

“The idea that we’re designing for this guy is that we know his closet,” Ediger said. “He doesn’t want a lot of stuff, and he wants to wear it to work and he wants to wear it in the city. He doesn’t want to feel silly or out of place in either one.”

Ediger had returned to Manitoba after studying fashion design at Blanche Macdonald Centre in Vancouver when she first created dEDIGER.

She grew up on a grain farm in Homewood, some 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

While hanging out with male friends back home, she repeatedly heard them say they couldn’t find clothes they liked. Carhartt and Walmart brands workwear were their only options.

“I thought, maybe this is an opening for me to do something kind of neat,” Ediger said.

She launched dEDIGER on the rooftop at the Winnipeg Art Gallery during Nuit Blanche in 2012. She was working full-time as a patternmaker at Peerless Garments and making dEDIGER clothes by herself during evenings and weekends.

The brand received a positive response, Ediger said — so positive other companies started asking her if she could help them manufacture their clothing.

“I thought, maybe this is an opening for me to do something kind of neat.”

In 2018, she put dEDIGER to rest to start GarmaTech Inc. Headquartered in a 1,000-square-foot production space on Juno Street, Ediger and her seven employees do design work, pattern making and manufacturing for a range of brands.

Last spring, Ediger launched Sero, a line of do-it-yourself sewing kits meant to encourage people to make their own clothing. GarmaTech produced the kits using deadstock fabric.

By then, Ediger had hired Shindak, an aspiring fashion designer, to work at the company. When Ediger realized Sero wasn’t taking off, she and Shindak brainstormed new ideas to ensure GarmaTech’s leftovers didn’t go to waste.

One weekend, while mulling over the idea of relaunching the brand that got her started, Ediger said she saw three different people out and about in Winnipeg wearing old dEDIGER clothes. That, coupled with the fact she regularly received inquiries about the brand’s products, made bringing dEDIGER back to life an obvious choice.

Ediger and Shindak celebrated dEDIGER’s rebirth with a party at Little Brown Jug Brewing Co. in August. Some attendees showed up wearing clothing from the brand’s first iteration.

Today, the brand has replaced its original slogan, “Life outside city limits,” with “Built to perform.”

The company’s logo is half tire tread and half grain of wheat, and some of the clothing features the co-ordinates for a swimming hole close to where Ediger grew up.

All of GarmaTech’s employees are involved in each step of the design and manufacturing process, allowing them to focus on quality and thoughtful construction, Shindak said, adding the brand aims to keep prices accessible so customers can support local.

Since the relaunch, Shindak has been designing for dEDIGER, connecting directly with customers at markets and growing the brand’s presence.

“We’ve seen a strong response, especially from blue-collar workers who feel like there haven’t been many options built with them in mind,” she said.

For Ediger, bringing the menswear brand back to life has been exciting and rewarding.

The clothing was inspired by her rural upbringing, and she is quick to express her gratitude for the people in her hometown near Carman.

“Since the day I started, the community has (shown) overwhelming support and encouragement towards both myself and the brand,” Ediger said. “It was and still is the backbone of support every entrepreneur dreams of.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca