Our Story
Nomads: Tribes of people who live in harmony with the seasons. The oldest method of human existence. People who travel to follow the generous gifts of the earth, rather than tailoring the earth to their needs.
It might sound cliché, but the dream of creating our sustainable styles began in the year 2000, out of the back of a small VW van, with just a few rolls of fabric and a sewing machine. We relied almost entirely on the kindness of our friends, who would let us use their living rooms as sewing studios, and encumber their bathrooms with dye baths. Gotta love your own tribe.
Through our nomadic lifestyle, we grew to appreciate living sustainably, in harmony with our community and our surroundings. It only made sense to find and use fabrics that fit this mandate.
At that time, Hemp was just starting to emerge in the clothing industry as a viable fabric source. Even though our ancestors had used it for thousands of years around the world, hemp had a slow entry into the mainstream clothing industry. This was partly due to the oppression of its sister plant, Cannabis, but also because the process used to weave the plant into fabric was pretty rudimentary at that time. Remember all those early hemp styles? Shapeless, wrinkled, cardboard-looking clothes. Going green is one thing, but looking as if you just put on a potato bag is another. We wanted to use this amazing fabric, but knew that it needed to be moved towards something softer that we could use for our cross-over urban/tribal styles.
After some searching, we found our “partners in crime”: fabric manufacturers who were willing to develop products that would suit our styles, and help take hemp into the mainstream. Now, 20 years later, we have worked together to develop a variety of stretch textiles ranging from soft, durable hemp fabrics to organic cotton, soy and bamboo that are truly unique to our brand.
Even though Nomads is now an international company with retailers stretching to almost all continents, we still value our grass-roots feel, and take pride in our one-on-one service. There is no automated phone system here. When you call, you will reach us directly, and will get the information you need within seconds. Along with a devotion for eco-textiles and an environmentally sustainable lifestyle, we also take pride in employing fair labor in the construction of all our garments. While we do manufacture in China, we spent the time and energy to source out the most environmentally friendly, fair-trade factory we could find, so that we were sure we were passing guilt-free, planet-friendly savings on to you.
Now in our 20th year, we offer two highly sought after collections of stylish and funky clothes per year in the most comfortable and tough natural fibers available to mankind. Green fibers are the way of the future. Using the natural products provided by Gaia there is no need for the earth to suffer for fashion. We are dedicated to the idea of not only sustainable clothing, but also a way of life, and will keep pushing the quality of our clothing and fabrics forward with innovative and modern designs that perfectly reflect our place and time on this wonderful planet.
Welcome to our tribe,
Louis and Anik (the Nomads)
Our Story Part 1
We’re getting up close and personal! 😉
Let’s talk about me, Anik!
People often ask me, “Where did you learn how to sew and design clothes?”
And the answer is simple. I’m a professional winger!
Well, not entirely. I do have some sort of seamstress gene, since my sweet Mamie was an incredible seamstress. She sewed clothes for the whole family, even my dolls, and always matched her dress with a hat she made!
But the idea of becoming a seamstress didn’t really start with her.
Once upon a time when I was 19 years old, I was travelling in Mexico & Guatemala with my bestie, Caro, and we ran out of money. So she had the brilliant idea to buy Guatemalan fabric, rent an old sewing machine and make some hippie backless tops.
So, just like that, a seed was planted.
After a long winter of adventure, we came back to Canada and kept going with that idea. We bought some white cotton fabric and got into tie-dying in my mom’s bathtub! (She’s such a good mom, she actually tolerated us.)
We used my mom’s old sewing machine and we went around markets in New Brunswick, selling some subpar tie-dye hippie shirts and wrap-around pants!
After a couple of months of that, I realized I was really missing the mountains and the west coast vibes. So I took my old 1973 VW van and drove back out west in search of new adventures…
To be continued…
P.S I wish I had more pictures to go with this post. But there was no cell phone back in my days. 😉
Our Story Part 2
After an especially long crossing across our gigantic country, due to mechanical issues (things that tend to happen when you own a 1973 VW van 😉 ).
My friends and I made it to the Okanagan valley!
So that summer, my sewing career got side-tracked and like all good French “Canadian kid,” I became a fruit picker! 🍎🍒🍇
So not much to report as far as the beginning of Nomads that year.
Other than at the end of that summer, I re-fell in love with one of my high school best friends, my now lover and business partner, Louis!
Again, I got sidetracked and spent the fall picking mushrooms in Nakusp and living in a tarp tipi with friends and my new amazing boyfriend! 🥰
So fast forward eight months, Louis and I got back on the road in my old VW van. The van was now filled to the brim with my sewing machine, a serger, and a massive roll of hemp fabric. Fortunately, we had some wonderful friends along the way who allowed us to use their bathtub to dye the fabric and their living room to sew up more wrap-around pants and patchwork tops. (you know who you are, and for you, I am forever grateful) 🫶
That summer we toured a lot of small markets in BC and did the fringe festival in Edmonton. An excruciating 11 days of standing in the hot sun, on a street corner, and living in a van (without a shower). It was tough times, but to us at the time, the money was awesome!
And just like that, another seed was planted.We realized that we could live freely and travel around making money, while being our own boss.
But the inevitable winter season in Canada was right around the corner and put a huge damper on our gypsy lifestyle.
So we had to come up with a new plan.
Our Story Part 3
Knock, knock, knock, housekeeping!!!!
Yes, that’s right. Our master plan was to move back to the Rockies!
And just like that, we became housekeepers at a hotel called the Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge in Canmore, Alberta!
Of course, that’s not a very high-paying and exciting job, but it provided us with free accommodation and some money to invest in our business.
So during the days, we would clean rooms and at night we would work on Nomads (Which wasn’t even called Nomads yet).
I remember clearly some of the people working there thinking that we were nuts for working as many hours as we could at the hotel and on top of it sewing at night, all of this while they were crushing beers. But we had a dream, and that dream did not involve cleaning rooms for the rest of our lives.
So for a few years, that’s what we did. Work in Canmore in the spring and fall, travel for a few months in the winter, and go back on the road in BC selling our goods during the summer months.
So slowly but surely, our clothing quality got a little better. Enough that a couple stores approached us: Hemp & Company, Still Eagle, and Miss Daisy Aesthetic. So now that we were adulting with our craft, we needed a name and a tag.
So we did what a good hippie couple would do in this situation. We sat down and picked a tarot card!
And the card we picked that day was called “We Are the World” from the Osho tarot deck. And that card became our hand tag for years.
And guess where the name Nomads Hemp Wear come from?
You know it… our love for traveling and hemp fabric. 😉
So around 2004, Nomads Hemp Wear was born!
Our Story Part 4
So eventually cleaning rooms got pretty old. So, we decided to hit the road in search of a new place to call home.
After years of exploring BC & Alberta, there was this one place that won our 💚.
A small town nestled in the mountains: Nelson!
We’d tried moving there before, but it was near impossible to find a job or a place to stay. However, this time we were self-employed (or attempting to be) and ready to take that risk.
We still couldn’t afford Nelson, so we set our roots in an even smaller town 45 minutes away, called Winlaw.
We rented a little cabin. It was rough around the edges, but we were smitten.
Except for a few hippie neighbours, we were completely alone in the best way possible.
We had fresh water, clean air, and a beautiful nearby lake and river.
Both me and Louis are from the suburbs of Montreal, so we had no idea how to garden and be homesteaders but our enthusiasm for our new lifestyle made up for the lack of experiences.
So The Nomads became a little more sedentary!
But Nomads the company started booming at a pretty rapid rate.
We were still doing festivals and markets, but more and more retail stores wanted our goods.
Things were still hand dyed by Louis and sewn by me, and, for some reason, we thought it was essential that every single piece of clothing we produced had an embroidery on it!
We spent so many late nights running our two embroidery machines.
At this point in time, all we did was work.
My back was killing me and we had NO time to go jump in the river or pick huckleberry with the neighbouring witches!
And I will never, EVER forget the one day of that summer, where we finally made it to the beach. We cracked open a cold one, and the phone rang. It was our distributor wanting all the shirts and pants we had on hand.
I should have been happy in that moment, right? But nope, tears were streaming down my face, cause all the stock we had was to mean to go to the Calgary folk fest.
So just like that, my one day at the beach was over, it was time to head back to my sewing machine.
Our Story Part 5
So those tears were a catalyst for a major change. It was time to take Nomads to the next level and get our goods manufactured. And honesty, that thought felt so scary to me.
Firstly cause I didn’t want Nomads to loose its soul.
Second, we had to invest all the money we had, and borrow some more, just to get started.
And thirdly, I never went to fashion school, so I had NO idea how to make patterns to send to the factory.
The whole idea, felt like a giant leap of faith!
So we started small in a factory based out of Vancouver, BC. But since Canada doesn’t produce hemp fabric, we had to import it from China. And honestly that combination was a bit of a mess. We were always running out of fabric.Or getting stuck with way too much of certain colours.
And the stuff we were getting back was often way off.
I’ll never forget receiving some men’s long sleeve that came out 2″ too short.
So I had to take them all in and make woman long sleeves out of them.
And back then, every mistakes felt like a tragedy, because we couldn’t afford to take losses. So we got a few grey hair out of it and ate beans and rice for a while, but overall it was such a nice change not have to hand dye and hand sew EVERYTHING! But we kept the tradition of embroidering every piece! 🤪
Also with this major upgrade, came our first catalog. So we had to suddenly become photographer and graphic designer. (Good thing were professional winger)
And I also had to turn my bestie into a model, along with other friends!
We might even had made a few hidden appearances 😉
Ill never forget the excitement, when our first shipment of clothes showed up on our little cabin’s door steps. All of my designed tagged and folded, ready to hit the stores and festivals.
Just like that.. sorta! 😉
Our Story Part 6
So in the last Nomads episode, we were producing our designs in Vancouver.
But like I mentioned, it was very complicated to import the fabric, then to have to outsourced all the hardware, printed labels and tags.
Honestly it was messy and stressful!
So we begged our middle man, to let us in on where our hemp fabric came from. So with that new very valuable info we switched our production overseas.
l know, what you’re thinking…
But let me tell you, if you want to compete in the fashion industry. You need to have consistency, quick turn around and a good quality product.
So the factory Im talking about with whom we’ve been doing business with since 2008 could provide us with just that. They only work with eco friendly fabrics and are dedicated to low impact manufacturing. And they are committed to create a sustainable future for their local environment and their staff. But, of course, we couldn’t just take their words for it.
So in 2008, Louis and I took a little trip to China to visit the facility and meet the owner of the factory and his employees.
And whoa, what an adventure that was.
First off, in the town we were in, NOBODY spoke any English. So we had to get around with notes our handler wrote for us, so that we could find our way back to our hotel.
Secondly, the food.. we were vegetarian at the time, and to them bugs aren’t considered meat. So they fed us some worms and bugs. I personally couldn’t do it, so I filled up on rice. But Louis took one for the team and ate some very “interesting” Chinese cuisine.
But other than that, our trip was a total success.
The factory and their ideology truly lined up with ours. It was clean, high ceiling, huge windows, surrounded by gardens where the employees communally grew some food. The main floor is where they spun the yarn, then weaved it into fabric. And upstairs they iron, cut, sew and fold.
A one stop shop!
And let me tell you the simplicity and quality of it all, made our lives a lot easier.
And for all of their hard work and professionalism over the years, I am beyond grateful.. 🙏
Our Story Part 7
In this episode of Nomads, let’s travel to Thailand!
Southeast Asia was one of our favorite spots, and we spent four consecutive winters traveling there. And, of course, the entrepreneur in us couldn’t resist the temptation of bringing back some goodies. But we didn’t want to import the usual trinkets; we had to come up with something more original.
After exploring Chiang Mai for days, we found this store run by a “sweet lady” who was selling clothing made out of this very natural-looking fabric. That caught our attention. After talking to her, we found out that the fabric she was selling was made of cotton, which was handwoven and naturally dyed in a little village outside the city. It doesn’t get much more natural than that, so we were extremely thrilled. And that was the beginning of our sideline called Nomads Natural Wear.
We had the chance to go and check out the “production,” which consisted of some ladies in the back of some bamboo hut dyeing some fabric with leaves and fruits and some other ladies sewing the clothes on some old sewing machine. This whole venture was so aligned with our values.
For three years, we went to Chiang Mai at the beginning of our adventure, brought her some patterns, and she would organize the villagers and create a bunch of clothes for us. We would pick them up before flying back home.
So it all sounds dreamy, right? But unfortunately, this adventure has a sad ending. The last time we were there, we had dinner at her house (which was actually very nice, by the way). The “sweet lady” asked us for an advance because her mom was sick. And then another and another. We really liked her, so of course, we wanted to help her out. But guess what? For the first time, our clothes weren’t ready when it was time to fly back home. So we just had to trust her words and hope that she would ship our order to Canada. But that never happened!
And that was one of our biggest losses ever, and a very tough one to swallow. Firstly because that was a lot of money, especially back then, secondly that meant the end of Nomads Natural Wear, but the hardest was the fact that we trusted her and our trust got broken.
Our Story Part 8
Not sure if you’ve been following our humble beginning from the start.But if you did, I’m sure that you grasp the idea that we started from scratch.We went from a backpack, to the 1973 VW bus, then moved to our tiny cabin in the woods to our final destination: Our mountain temple!
At the age of 28 years old, after years of working our bum off and taking big risks investing into Nomads, little by little we managed to save enough money for a down payment on our dream home.
I will NEVER, EVER forget the day when we drove up this very steep 1km driveway, in our old van to this post and beam home with the most expansive view.
The realtor asked if we wanted to go in, but standing on the porch, we said: “We’ll take it!”
And just like that, a few months later we moved from a 700sq/ft cabin to this 2700sq/ft house.And the funny part is that we had no furniture and no money to buy some.So for a while it sounded like a gymnasium in here.
But we were so happy we didn’t care!
FYI, I’m not sharing this part of our story because I want to brag. But on the contrary, I hope that our story will inspire some of you. Because honestly, we don’t have a degree in fashion or business, we just made it up as we went.
All we had was a dream, dedication, and hard work.I know it’s tough out there. Even tougher now than it was 15 years ago!And starting your own business is scary and so stressful and I would even say painful at times. But trust me when I say that it does get easier as you iron out the kinks, get into a groove, and find allies along the way!
So with this big move we unfortunately had to sell our old Berry and buy a 4×4 van!
And we both got to upgrade our workspace.
Our Story Part 9
Selling clothes is an art. You’ve gotta have the coolest threads, top-notch quality, and a killer presentation to make it. Speaking of presentation, let’s talk about how we’ve evolved ours.As I mentioned in a previous fun fact.
We used to get some friends around Nelson to strike a pose for us. But the only problem with that, was that doing photoshoots in the snow sucks. Our friends are nice and tough, but who wants to model long sleeves in a snow bank. And we were very adamant that Nomads needed to be showcase in nature, not a studio.
So, we took our show on the road and hit up some warmer spots like Thailand and Hawaii. But lugging clothes, boots, accessories and equipment was a nightmare, so we got an old camper and headed south instead. First stop, we visited some old friends in California.
But we didn’t know that many people so I would go to yoga classes to recruit or we would spend hours in popular parks or street corners looking for future models.
But that got old and we needed up up our game. So we started hiring pro models. And boy did our lives get easier!
Not sure how they do it, but those models always hit the perfect pose, never blinked, and in comparison to most people out of 200 shots, 198 will be good.
For a whole decade, in January we hit the road! We’d pack up our camper, our pups, our bikes, and the latest fashion line for our epic photoshoot adventures. But let me tell you, photoshoots are no walk in the park! Wind, rain, or extreme heat could easily turn any shoot into a disaster.
Yet, seeing my designs come to life in a photo made all the challenges worth it!
Then came the curveball of all curveballs: Covid.
Our tradition came to a standstill, and we were left scrambling for a new solution. That’s when we decided to let go and let the experts do their thing. After a few trial and errors we finally found a talented photographer in L.A who totally got our vibe, and voila!
Delegating is hard at first, but on the up side now we get to travel without the stress of packing boxes of clothes and worrying about the weather.
Change can be a bummer, but it can also lead to progress and new adventures!
Our Story Part 10
Progress: forward or onward movement toward a destination.
When you own a business, I’m not sure that you ever fully reach a destination, unless you decide to entirely stop. But one thing is certain is, that the only way towards success is with adaptability and progress.
And unless you live in a cave in the Himalayas, I think that it’s impossible to hide the fact that the online world has been taking over, and that unfortunately, physical stores are struggling. Which I personally find quite sad.
As you know, by now, Nomads started small at markets. But over the years, we had gathered approximately 120 wholesale customers around the world.
Something I’ve always been so proud of. But unfortunately, those numbers are dwindling at a pretty rapid rate and Covid added a huge nail in that coffin. 😞
But thankfully, in 2015, we got on the evolutionary train and started our own online store so that we could keep up with the ever-changing world. And for that idea and the timing of it, I’m grateful! Without it, don’t think Nomads would still exist!
So at first, we were renting a space in Nelson and had our friend Heather run it.
But paying rent seemed stupid when we were living on 40 acres.
So the construction of the Nomads warehouse started.
First, it was one story where we dealt with the wholesale orders, and of course we had no power, water and heat. So it was a tad rough.
But a couple of years later, in the thick of winter, we added the second floor. It was quite an ordeal for the construction crew, but they managed.
Since 2015, the “ Nomads warehouse” is now nestled in the woods of the Slocan valley and our dear Victoria is now running the show!
So that pretty much sums up the story of our humble beginning till now.
What does the future hold? I have no idea but we will keep evolving with it and making sure that we provide you, with the best, most environmentally friendly fabric we can put our hands on.
Thanks for taking the time to read our story, I hope that it inspired some of you.
I certainly had a good time walking down memory lane.
If there’s anything else you guys want me to elaborate on, I’m happy to do so!
🫶🫶🫶
