Retired nurse doesn’t mind doing laundry to help raise money for Children’s Hospital Foundation

Donna Askew has been doing other people’s laundry for more than 20 years, but she doesn’t mind. It’s all for a good cause.

It’s fair to say Askew has washed, dried, mended and hung up thousands of shirts, blouses, dresses, T-shirts and trousers during her tenure as volunteer laundress at the Nearly New Shop at 961 Portage Ave.

“You name it, I’ve washed it… underwear and socks and lots of bedding and tablecloths and runners… if you’ve washed it at home in your washer, I’ve washed it in mine,” she says, laughing.

The shop attracts more than 50 customers daily, many who have come to rely on it.

Exhibit connects traditional and contemporary Métis beadwork artists

Suspended from the ceiling in Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg is an octopus bag, created by Métis visual artist Claire Johnston.

Métis leaders unveil 1920s model dog sled repatriated from Vatican

OTTAWA - Métis leaders on Wednesday unveiled a model dog sled repatriated to their communities after more than a century in the Vatican collection.

The sled, made in the 1920s of leather, wood and glass beads, was one of 62 items repatriated to Indigenous Peoples from the Vatican last year after decades of calls for their return.

“We’re not simply opening a box. We’re welcoming something very special home. We’re beginning a new chapter, a chapter that’s grounded in relationship, kinship and connection,” Métis National Council president Victoria Pruden said during the ceremony.

“These are not artifacts in the Western sense. These are carriers of memory – that Kiyas Kiskiowin Oma – remembering who we are, our memories returning. They hold the imprint of the hands that made them, and the communities who once knew them.”

The surprising complexity behind the squeak of basketball shoes on hardwood floors

NEW YORK (AP) — As he watched the Boston Celtics play from the stands of TD Garden, one noise kept catching Adel Djellouli's ear.

“This squeaking sound when players are sliding on the floor is omnipresent,” he said. “It’s always there, right?”

Squeaky shoes are part of the symphony of a basketball game, when rubber soles rasp against the hardwood floors as players jab step, cut and pivot and defenders move their feet to stay in front of their assignment.

Returning home from the game, Djellouli wondered how that sound was produced. And as a materials scientist at Harvard University, he had a way to find out.

Main Street Project basement becoming donation-based ‘store’

Soon, Winnipeg’s homeless population will have their own store to shop for clothing and hygiene products, free of charge.

The basement of Main Street Project’s Main Street shelter is being transformed into a donation-based “store” where homeless people can pick out the clothes they want, instead of just accepting the donations they are given.

“A lot of the time we like to buy clothes that fit us well and look good and make us feel good. And I think it will be great to be able to offer that same experience to people in the community who may not otherwise have that opportunity,” said Cindy Titus, interim director of development at Main Street Project.

Part of the store will be named Ashley’s Closet, in memory of former Winnipegger Ashley Tokaruk.

Elmwood students’ clothing venture instils pride, breaks down stereotypes in blue-collar neighbourhood

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.

Canada Goose says diversification efforts working but Q3 profit fell from year ago

TORONTO - Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says its efforts to convince customers to turn to the company for more than a down-filled parka as winter hits are paying off — but investors may not be convinced.

While customer demand for the retailer's star product — down-filled outwear — remained strong in its most recent quarter, Canada Goose said Thursday that its non-down-filled outwear grew even faster and was accompanied by gains in lightweight and year-round apparel.

"That shift is intentional," said Carrie Baker, Canada Goose's president of brand and commercial, on a call with analysts.

"We want to be able to bring newness to the floor. We want to be able to drive repeat visitors, bring people back to see something new."

‘Clear passion’: Manitoba pet accessories company Crash Safe Dog dedicated to local materials, manufacturing

GRANDE POINTE — To say that Kirsten Booth loves Freya, her four-year-old Great Dane mix, might be an understatement.

“My partner would say (Freya’s) the centre of my world, even if it’s supposed to be him,” Booth says. “I guess I’ve always viewed any of my pets as members of my family, so she’s kind of like my child.”

Keeping Freya safe is a top priority for Booth, so she’s thankful for Crash Safe Dog. The Manitoba company manufactured the harness Booth uses so Freya can safely travel in her car.

Booth, who lives in Brantford, Ont., has a two-hour round trip commute to work, and Freya joins her every day.

Ribbon Skirt Day leader reflects on changes since her cultural attire was shamed

In Isabella Kulak's home is a box of about a few hundred letters, notes and hand-drawn pictures of ribbon skirts sent to her from across Canada and beyond — fan mail from those who consider her story and the origins of "Ribbon Skirt Day" as inspirational.

"I have like a whole notebook of letters, a whole stack of drawings from all these schools and it makes me feel so happy and it warms my heart," said Isabella, a shy 15-year-old, on a phone call from her home in Kamsack, Sask., located about 270 kilometres east of Regina.

"I do want to eventually write back to them, but I am really busy with school."

After all, the Anishinaabe girl is still a teenager. This past week, she had a volleyball tournament. These next few months, she will be completing Grade 10 and the next big step is on the path to medical school, she said.

‘Canada is not for sale’ hat makers want to share domestic manufacturing tips

OTTAWA - One of the people behind the viral "Canada is not for sale" hat says he wants to help other companies get on board the made-in-Canada train.

Liam Mooney told The Canadian Press he and his fiancée and business partner Emma Cochrane felt distraught watching Ontario Premier Doug Ford tell U.S. President Donald Trump and American media in early January that — the president's musings about annexation notwithstanding — Canada would never be for sale.

A few days later the Ottawa-based pair, now married, stitched together a hat bearing the premier's message. Mooney called it a "creative rebuttal" in a form familiar to Trump.

But after a year of learning the ins and outs of domestic manufacturing — and seeing the lengths Canadian firms have to go just to get their products on local store shelves — Mooney said his goal in 2026 is to spread the "Canada is not for sale" ethos.

Winnipeg elementary school shoots for moon with stuffie design

A stuffed animal designed by elementary schoolers in Winnipeg could be launched into outer space on NASA’s Artemis II mission.

Jeans ad is regressive as can be

American Eagle thought it would be a good idea to have a woman who embodies western beauty standards talk about inherited traits in a commercial and then seemed surprised when people online were like “hmm, this seems like an ad for eugenics.”

Runway show focuses on treasures, not trash

Some of Manitoba’s best-known public figures — including radio host Ace Burpee, activist Mitch Bourbonniere and politician Nahanni Fontaine — walk the catwalk in a fashion show at 109 Higgins Ave. tonight.

Slow fashion houses embrace made-to-order to reduce waste

TORONTO - On occasion, fashion designer and clothier Katelyn Woodburn is accused of running a scam.

When a customer makes a purchase without reading the "about" section on her website or following her on social media, they might send an email a week or two later saying something like: "Where's my order? It hasn't even shipped yet? What's going on?" Woodburn recounted from her Vancouver studio.

"Which is a totally reasonable response," she added. Consumers are conditioned to expect instant gratification when it comes to clothes shopping, but that's not really how Woodburn does things.

"I'll say, 'Oh, your shirt is being cut out. We're going to sew it tomorrow.' I tell them the whole process of what's happening. And 100 per cent of the time, I get a response going, 'Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize. This is so cool, no rush at all.'"

The gift of hijab: Fashion designer found empowerment in modesty

As a Muslim woman living in Canada, Hafsa Altaf faced countless challenges on multiple fronts when navigating the fashion industry as a woman in a hijab.

Rejected by local trade shows and craft markets and criticized by detractors in the South Asian community who disapproved of her sartorial ambitions, the 27-year-old artist and designer remained undaunted.

Undeterred by naysayers, she relentlessly called and emailed event organizers, determined to convey the values and mission of her label, Fashion by Hafsa.

Facing down the conservatism of her community was an altogether different struggle, but it was also one of the “greatest things” she has ever done, says the Pakistani-born Canadian, who moved to Saskatchewan with her family when she was four.

Pride and passion stitched right in

Surrounded by vibrant textiles, Oluwayemisi Josephine Ogunwale, or Yemz, as she likes to be referred to, sits at her sewing machine, brow furrowed in concentration as she stitches the hem of a dress.

The tools of her trade within easy reach — fabric scissors, measuring tapes, cottons of various shades — Ogunwale is in her happy place: creating beautiful and wearable works of art for her loyal clientele.

The dressmaker has always been interested in fashion. As a child she would sew doll clothing from scraps of material her mother discarded. This progressed to altering her own clothes: modifying hems, adjusting frills, loosening or tightening waistlines.

“Sometimes I would destroy the clothes because of how many changes I made to it,” she laughs.

Raber Gloves’ Garbage Mitts the must-have Winnipeg winter accessory

‘I am the wrong person to complain to about the weather,” Howard Raber says jubilantly midway through a Winnipeg January, wearing a golf shirt as he opens the door to his family’s factory on McDermot Avenue.

Raber does not mind the cold. It’s the reason he is in business.

Had his grandparents immigrated in 1925 to a warmer place, their grandson’s opinion on the windchill might differ. But the ancestors chose Winnipeg — not such a bad place to be in the business of making gloves.

When it’s freezing outside, which in the wintertime is often, if not always, Howard Raber considers himself especially lucky. “When it’s cold out, we are everybody’s best friend.”

For vintage sewing-machine aficionado, it’s all about seeing them stitch again

Dave Johnson, a semi-retired snowplow operator who also worked as a homebuilder, collects, repairs and uses vintage sewing machines.

Fledgling clothing, jewelry pop-up retailer Anziety opens in-person store on Academy Road

A splash of pink highlights the northeastern corner of Academy Road and Lanark Street in Winnipeg.

Anziety is opening its first brick-and-mortar store at 545 Academy Rd. this weekend. Natalie Riccardo started the clothing and jewelry retailer as an online business, and then began appearing at markets and pop-up events in a rosy booth. Now, the 22-year-old entrepreneur has a brightly painted flagship store to call her own.

It’s meant to be a place where beauty meets women’s wellness, Riccardo said. “I want this space to make you feel empowered, confident and just at home. (I want to tie) confidence and inner beauty together into a magical experience.”

Selling intimate apparel at a pop-up event can be tricky, Riccardo added. While she believes she’s mastered the art of making customers feel comfortable as they look for lingerie in public, she’s thankful they’ll now have access to onsite change rooms.

Stars hit Paris runways, but fall’s real trend was dressing for hard times – and real life

PARIS (AP) — The celebrities came first, as they always do at the Paris runways.

After Oprah Winfrey stole the show in the opening stretch of the nine-day week, Naomi Watts and Kai Schreiber were at Balenciaga. Rooney Mara, Diane Kruger, Alexa Chung, Elizabeth Olsen and Yseult turned up at Givenchy.

Sarah Paulson and Tracee Ellis Ross watched Celine. Chappell Roan was at Vivienne Westwood and then at McQueen, where Myha’la and Sophie Thatcher were also there. Chanel was still to come Monday, and Louis Vuitton capping the season Tuesday.

But this week was about more than the front row.

Belated Lunar New Year party a feast of Korean culture

For the last month, Andrea Kitano has been spending her weekends hosting hanbok fashion shows at shopping centres across Winnipeg.

The Gordie Bell hockey sweater: Homecoming tale of former Portage Terriers netminder’s jersey

Strangely, the first thing I did after opening a much-anticipated Canada Post parcel was smell the contents, hoping to find a hint of my father’s scent.

It didn’t come as much of a surprise after almost 84 years there is none of my late father Gordie Bell’s DNA attached to his 1942 Portage Terriers Memorial Cup jersey I had been gifted. It wasn’t all bad though. More than eight decades have passed since that celebrated national championship and none of the foul odour often attached to used hockey sweaters is detectable either.

In contrast history and nostalgia almost drip from the woven wool jersey.

That ’42 Memorial Cup isn’t the only national title claimed by Junior Terriers. The club won the Centennial Cup in 1973 and the RBC Cup in 2015. But the Memorial Cup team holds special significance, especially if your last name is Bell.

Harlequin Costume seeks to sell building, ‘staggering’ collection; dancewear store to continue under same name

Looking to buy a building in downtown Winnipeg? Get in touch with the owners of Harlequin Costume.

If you’re interested in purchasing thousands upon thousands of costumes, you’ll want to talk to them, too.

Scott and Jan Malabar are selling their building at 375 Hargrave St., where the husband and wife have operated their costume, dance and formal wear business since the 1980s.

The asking price for the building, which sits a few blocks south of the Exchange District and a short walk from Central Park, is $995,000.