Moose&Beaver, Elan+Castor: What’s in a name?

Naming a clothing line can be a stressful process. There’s the desire to be unique and have the name be representative of the brand. What works at home may not work internationally.

Designer Lean Antoinette was told that her line, Moose&Beaver, was too Canadian by non-Canadians. The beaver, though, is part of Canadian fashion history ever since the French nearly hunted it to extinction all in the name of fancy hats.

So Antoinette, as part of her international expansion plans, decided to upgrade the name of her line. She looked to the other official language of Canada and renamed her line élan+castor. For those who don’t speak French, that’s Moose & Beaver.

“Yes, it’s the French version of Moose & Beaver but it adds a level of luxury and class to the whole event,” says Antoinette. “It’s still cheeky but people don’t know it.”

Antoinette recently had this conversation with friends in the United States. While the name was quirky and went over well in Canada, it caused some confusion for international buyers and clients.

“I had gone to a couple trade shows in the States and I found that the response to the clothing was very positive but the response to the name was, they didn’t know how to take it. It was limiting me to what I could do and how I could expand my business.”
Her collection saw growth in her luxe comfort aesthetic (Antoinette describes the aesthetic as urban luxurious. ) with her third collection inspired by Jane Birkin, Francoise Hardy and Ernest Hemingway. Think women meets man and raid his closet of chunky ribbed knits and trousers and mixing them with tailored dresses with a bit of leather and sequins.

“As a designer, I’d rather have a collection that is super tight rather than diluting it with more volume.” Her favourite piece from the collection was the sequinned top with the lounge pants.

The next step for Antoinette is to continue her international push. For now, you can buy her line at elancastor.com.