Local Brand Highlight: Avendre Boutique
Local Brand Highlight: Avendre Boutique
The Avendre brand initially started in Granby in 2012 as a way for Canadian snowboarder Alex Beauregard to put his ideas into t-shirts and other types of garments. Little did he know his brand would later become a fully-fledged boutique that sells only the dopest brands, a print shop as well as a local trademark that will soon become a true Quebec household name.
The brand really became what it is today a few years after its birth, when Alex started to print on gear himself. After getting more and more interested in the printing process, he decided to buy his own printing machines and to start doing impressions for Avendre as well as other local brands, like our own Empire Private Label!
With all that in mind, it only made sense that our good friends at Agence NBP are now the official distributors of this soon to be iconic Granby Brand.
To learn more about this unique Quebec brand, we decided to get in touch with its creator for a quick chat. Keep scrolling to dive into what’s going on behind the scenes at Avendre with Alex Beauregard.
Hi Alex! First off, tell us a bit about yourself? My name is Alexandre Beauregard, I am 29 years old, I have 2 beautiful children and an incredible girlfriend who supports me. I've been snowboarding since I was 12. Over time I connected with people who were driven by the same flame as me through many competitions / jams / parties. I've been lucky enough to be involved in 2 of many NOWAMEAN snowboard film projects, which has changed my life. I never got to film a full part, but I met my second family who would later help me in all aspects of my brand and projects.
Why the name Avendre? We sell products so it seemed easy to name it : Avendre. (Avendre means “for sale” in French). What were your motivations to start a business in the garment/printing industry? I started Avendre in 2012. At first, I just wanted to put my ideas on clothes for fun, but over time, I discovered a passion for screen printing and design and also realized that I could potentially work the brand from A to Z right here in Quebec. I had my knee operated in 2016, so I took the time off to develop my knowledge and skills for clothing decoration. That’s basically what brought me here. We just recently opened a shop attached to our workshop to be able to organize and sell our products and other products.
Who did you start this project with? Do you have business partners / employees? I started solo and now I'm lucky to have Anthony Côté who is our graphic designer, the architect and master of clients follow-ups. Christophe Boisseau Dion is our printer assistant, he takes care of all the details being respected during production, inspection and shipping. What is your biggest challenge and biggest pride? The biggest challenge would be to make a 100% made in Quebec production. That said, we’re proud to be able to do business with artists that are all from here.
How do you manage your time between printing, designing your brand and managing your Boutique, sales, etc.? I was lucky enough to be able to build a dream team very quickly, both internally and externally. So it's a team effort. As for me, I will usually print in the day and design in the evening. What does the printing process look like and how hard is it to print on garment? We print everything by hand, we have a manual 6 color heat press machine to allow us to decorate almost anything we want to. To obtain the best result, screen printing requires a lot of attention and important steps that should not be overlooked. There are the documents that we have to work on on the computer, the creation of the films, the development of the screens, mix the colors, align the different designs, print, press the necessary, make sure to deliver without surprises. It takes a strong team, a lot of patience and passion to complete all of these steps to perfection.
What makes your business blend so well with the skate and snowboard industry? Because the people involved in the project come from that universe. When I was younger, I did not know anything else and wasn’t interested in anything other than skating and snowboarding. So do a lot of my friends. Over time, there are many interests that have risen to surface like music and visual arts, but it all came from the same source: Skateboarding and Snowboarding. What does Avendre have in store for us in 2022? Big things! I am not even allowed to tell you right now, but we are on the verge of being able to talk about it. Stay tuned! Special thanks to Empire for believing in our project.