What
HCC clothes are designed and built for living life. You'll never find a garment here that requires Spanx, handwashing, or that you can't do jumping jacks in!
Every item is cut and sewn by me - with 18+ years of industrial experience making patterns and samples for a wide variety of Ontario-based designers, I know how to make beautiful clothes that are built to last.
I make stylish and great-fitting hoodies and tees, tanks with style, pants and shorts that go with any top, cute and practical comfy undies, and dresses that can be worn for anything from a wedding to a hike!
Fabrics are selected based on feel and performance for long-lasting comfort; I prefer the look and feel of natural fibers.
Who
I (Keli Schmidt) am the Haliburton Clothing Co.: designer, patternmaker, cutter, sewer, screen printer, CSR and everything in between. Every item is designed, made and shipped by me.
I'm a professional apparel developer - my workshop consists of five industrial sewing machines, a twelve-foot cutting table and an industrial pressing set-up. Making clothes is my career, not my hobby.
My mom handed me my first needle and thread at age three and I learned to use a machine at eight. After a disaster with a store-bought pattern at age eleven I came to the realization that for me, the real fun of fashion design is figuring out how to draft and assemble things.
At 22 I left my hometown Winnipeg to earn a two-year Fashion Techniques and Design diploma at George Brown College in Toronto. In my second year at GBC a teacher recommended me as assistant to a local designer. I was initiated in to the industry working alongside him and his contractor for three years, honing my drafting skills and learning from the sewers on the production line. I spent the next 15 years working freelance, creating patterns and samples for an array of small Ontario-based brands. I am really good at building fabulous clothes that are also practical. Now the time has finally come for me to make my own designs for you!
I take great delight in bringing ideas to life with my own hands. In most cases I don't even sketch, the concept goes brain-to-pattern and evolves in full-scale. And even after all these years, I still think the serger is fuuuuun! 🙂
Where
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The HCC studio-workshop is in our house at 1415 Old Donald Rd, a few minutes south of Haliburton village. All HCC production is done at this location, and it's where you can shop in-person.
HCC fabrics come from Canadian wholesalers Zinman (China), Fabtrends (Turkey) and Revolution (China), Dutch wholesalers Nooteboom (Turkey) and Verhees (Turkey), and South Korean wholesaler SwatchON (Korea and China). Very little fabric production is done in North America anymore, and I'm too small to meet the minimums anyway so my priority in choosing fabrics is quality, not origin. HCC labels are made in Markham by Laven, my thread is from Montreal wholesaler Kava, zippers made in Montreal by YKK, pattern and cutting papers come from Canpaco in Mississauga, and screen printing supplies from Green Galaxy.