By design Elmwood students’ clothing venture instils pride, breaks down stereotypes in blue-collar neighbourhood By: Eva Wasney Posted: 2:07 PM CST Friday, Feb. 13, 2026

Xander Woodley is spending his fourth period filling orders.

The Grade 12 Elmwood High School student pulls a blank sweatshirt from the supply closet and double-checks the customer’s purchase: one double-extra-large GPS Crewneck in navy.

He walks over to the heat press at the back of the graphics lab and flips through a stack of transfer sheets to find the correct design.

“It’s a map of our community of Elmwood; these are all of the streets, as well as the Red River and co-ordinates of where we are,” Woodley says, pointing to the line-art rendition of the northeast Winnipeg neighbourhood, the ward boundaries of which run from McLeod Avenue to the Canadian Pacific mainline and from the eastern bank of the Red River to Lagimodiere Boulevard.

After 35 seconds in the press, the sweater is transformed — from an unremarkable article of clothing to a walking billboard that proudly announces the wearer’s home base.

Woodley is a member of Elmwood Supply Company, a student-led apparel venture designed to confront negative stereotypes about the diverse, working-class neighbourhood — one sweatshirt, mug and tote bag at a time.

For the young people involved, promoting their community has been transformational.

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Elmwood Supply got its start in 2020, when graphic-design teacher Matthew Reis clocked a group of students trying to make gang-related merch in class.

“I saw through what they wanted to do and said, ‘Why don’t we come up with something that everybody would wear?’” he says.

Reis teamed up with business-education teacher Patrick Gadsby to create a project that capitalized on the students’ interest in streetwear while fostering global competencies — teacher-speak for practical life skills, such as problem solving, collaboration and good email etiquette.

“Even just talking to other human beings, for some of them, that’s the biggest thing they end up learning,” Reis says.

Genuine human connection is a central tenet of Elmwood Supply.

“We’re preparing kids for what life is like outside of these walls,” Gadsby says. “They’re learning the moral piece of what it means to be a good community member, as well as what it means to run a business.”

“We’re preparing kids for what life is like outside of these walls.”

The first assignment involved learning about the history of Elmwood and taking photos of local landmarks — the La Salle Hotel, Roxy Lanes and the Louise Bridge, a steel-truss span that brought industry and connectivity to the area when it opened as Winnipeg’s first bridge in 1881.

Back in the classroom, the students designed a logo for their clothing brand and printed their photos onto a small batch of shirts and hoodies emblazoned with the word “Community.”

Next, they had to figure out how to promote and sell their products to customers within and beyond the Chalmers Avenue high school. The company’s tagline — culture, creativity and community — was born.

The project caught the interest of the school’s alumni organization, which offered funding to help grow the extracurricular program.

Elmwood Supply has scaled up significantly over the past six years. The company is now a credited course with a client list that includes the Winnipeg Sea Bears basketball team and other nearby schools. Proceeds from merch sales have been donated to community organizations and reinvested in student bursaries and school programs.

Teachers Reis and Gadsby act as advisers, while Elmwood Supply’s 25 student staff members run the show.

Many of the designs available in the company’s online store (elmwoodsupplycompany.com) came from the brain of Grade 12 student and graphic designer Ashlyn Anderson-Williams.

“I found my style through (Elmwood Supply),” says Anderson-Williams, who specializes in Indigenous art.

She’s drawn intricate designs that honour residential school survivors and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and, in 2024, she created a Pride shirt for the Sea Bears.

Anderson-Williams has always loved making art, but never imagined seeing her work worn by other people.

“It still catches me off guard,” she says. “It’s nice knowing somebody would wear something I made just because they like how it looks. That feels really special.”

Finished designs are digitized in the graphics lab, where students track inventory and manufacture products.

Social media content co-ordinator Audrina Moore is in charge of promoting the brand and boosting school pride on Facebook and Instagram. The Grade 12 student often appears in videos in which she interviews classmates and shares school news with the confidence of a seasoned broadcaster.

It’s a far cry from the shy teen who used to struggle with public speaking.

“It has definitely shaped who I am today,” Moore says about her involvement in Elmwood Supply. “I don’t think I’d be as confident and I don’t think I’d know myself as well as I know myself right now.”

“I don’t think I’d be as confident and I don’t think I’d know myself as well as I know myself right now.”

Tobi Famisa, who’s in Grade 11, can relate. Today he handles sales, marketing and public relations, but he used to dread cold-calling customers.

“I didn’t really like it, but after some time I was like, you know what, I might as well just do it and learn this skill because you never know when you’re gonna use it,” says Famisa, who has perfected his sales pitch at local craft markets.

“At a market, you have someone right in front of you and it’s gonna force you to speak. You keep doing it over and over again and then you get used to it.”

For the students, challenging preconceived ideas — about themselves and their neighbourhood — is a big part of the job.

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Leilani Villarba owns many pieces of Elmwood Supply swag and reaches for them often.

“We are wearing Elmwood with pride,” says the executive director of the Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corp.

Pride is an important commodity for the neighbourhood, whose reputation has often been defined by crime and negative media coverage.

“Those things stick and people don’t remember the good things; they tend to remember what was in the news,” says Villarba.

Similar stereotypes exist at the high school level.

“From my experience, people from other schools perceive Elmwood as ghetto,” Moore says.

Inspired by those cynical opinions, Elmwood Supply recently launched a new line of sweatshirts and tees bearing the words “Changing the Narrative” in bright, expressive lettering. The launch is paired with a campaign that highlights stories from new and longtime residents.

“We just want everyone outside of the community to see it and understand it and really know the truth about Elmwood,” Famisa says.

The truth, say the students, is that of a community where it’s safe to walk home alone at night, where neighbours invite each other over for Christmas dinner and where the local ice-cream shop owner remembers your order.

That’s not to say things are perfect.

“Bad things happen — that’s just how the world works — but it’s a really nice place,” Anderson-Williams says.

Originally part of the rural municipality of Kildonan, Elmwood joined Winnipeg in 1906 as a working-class suburb. Today, the lower-income area is home to a large population of newcomers and Indigenous residents.

That diversity is one of its strengths, says Villarba, who’s been involved with the Chalmers renewal corporation since it was founded in 2013.

“I’ve seen this community grow in so many different ways … there’s more diversity and acceptance of other cultures and other beliefs,” she says. “People are looking out for each other, which is not something that was happening so much in the past.”

The organization’s current five-year action plan aims to increase neighbourhood safety, housing supports, wellness, equity and community connection through a raft of grassroots programming.

The organization has provided Elmwood Supply with grant funding and invited the students to sell their wares at local events, such as the Elmwood Night Market.

Villarba sees the company as an integral part of the neighbourhood’s future.

“It gives me goosebumps,” she says with a laugh. “They’re building their love for the community and creating inspiring work.”

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