18 Female-Founded Canadian Brands That You Should Know About

(Jenny Bird/Everist/Hettas)

Canada has become an exciting place to watch female entrepreneurship unfold. From skincare and wellness to fashion and accessories, women across the country are building brands that feel both purposeful and well-made, designed to solve a real problem or rethink something familiar in a way that works more practically for everyday life.

Many of these companies started small, born out of a gap in the market or a frustration that turned into a good idea. Today, a growing number of these businesses have earned devoted followings at home and abroad, proving that some of the most innovative products on the market are being made right here. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to refresh your routine or fill a few gaps in your wardrobe, these 18 brands, all founded by Canadian women, are a great place to start.

Lolë

Founded in Montreal in 2002 by Evelyn Trempe, Lolë was born from a simple observation: women’s technical outerwear was functional but rarely stylish. Trempe set out to change that, building a brand that bridges the gap between performance and fashion. Today, Lolë makes activewear, outerwear, and lifestyle pieces designed to take you from the trails to the street without skipping a beat. The brand also has a strong sustainability ethos, focusing on durable, versatile pieces built to last rather than be replaced season after season.

LIXR Beauty

When LIXR founder Susanne Langmuir’s son was recommended Accutane for cystic acne, and she received her own autoimmune diagnosis affecting her skin, she started digging into why so many skincare and makeup products claim to help skin while actually undermining it. A formulator and farmer with over 20 years of experience, Susanne spent three years developing a solution: waterless, weightless makeup that actively supports skin health instead of masking it. By removing water from every formula, the newly launched LIXR eliminates the need for harsh preservatives, replacing them with concentrated, skin-supportive ingredients such as squalane, jojoba, and omega-rich fatty acids. The result is a lineup of products that wear like makeup but work like skincare, designed for anyone who wants their complexion to look real, not covered up.

Hettas

Hettas was founded by Vancouver-based Lindsay Housman after she identified a long-standing problem in the running world: most performance footwear is still designed using male foot models and simply scaled down for women. That design gap has real consequences, including discomfort, inefficient movement, and higher rates of injury among female athletes. Every Hettas shoe is developed using female-specific research, with features like smart heel fit and impact reduction built around how women actually move.

Vasanti Cosmetics

Vasanti Cosmetics was founded by four women, three sisters and a childhood friend who had spent years struggling to find makeup that actually worked for their skin tones. That shared frustration turned into a mission to create products that enhance natural beauty without feeling heavy or looking off on deeper complexions. After years of research and testing, the Toronto-based brand launched with inclusivity at its core, long before the beauty industry started treating shade diversity as a priority.

Organic Traditions

Organic Traditions has its roots in a personal health journey: more than 30 years ago, Jerry Zeifman discovered the power of enzymes while dealing with digestive issues, and built a brand around the idea that real food could be a strategy for wellness. Today, his daughter Ally Mamalider serves as President and second-generation founder to carry the brand’s beliefs into a new era. Under her leadership, Organic Traditions has developed 20+ unique products and expanded internationally, while staying true to its mission of making superfoods super simple. Products range from smoothie powders, mushroom coffees, and functional blends designed to make it easier to incorporate nutrient-rich ingredients into everyday routines.

Left on Friday

Left on Friday was founded by Shannon and Laura, two product veterans who spent over a decade each on the design team at Lululemon before striking out on their own. The idea came from a familiar frustration: between them, they had a surf suit, a lap suit, and a hot tub suit, but not a single one they actually loved or that could hold up across all of their activities and adventures. Left on Friday makes swimwear designed for women who are active in the water, with a focus on fit, durability, and fabric that feels good whether you’re paddling out or relaxing poolside.

Poppy & Peonies

Natalie Dusome, a Métis entrepreneur and mom, wanted accessories that could keep up with a full life without sacrificing her own style. She founded Poppy & Peonies to make bags and accessories that are designed around the reality of busy days, whether that means a board meeting, a school run, or both. Every piece is cruelty-free and built to be genuinely functional with the philosophy that practicality and fashion should never be a trade-off.

Everist

Jayme Jenkins and Jessica Stevenson founded Everist with the simple but ambitious premise that the most sustainable beauty products should also be the best-performing ones. The Toronto-based brand makes concentrated, waterless haircare and skincare powered by their patent-pending Evercare Delivery System, which swaps water for moisturizers to deliver active ingredients that hydrate deeply and support the skin and scalp microbiome. For Everist, sustainability is not a selling point bolted onto the brand; it is the starting point for every decision they make. The packaging is minimal, the formulas are concentrated, and the results are designed to speak for themselves.

Knix

Joanna Griffiths founded Knix in 2013 after she grew frustrated with how little innovation existed in the intimates space, particularly when it came to products that actually addressed leaks. She invented leakproof underwear, and in doing so, created an entirely new product category. Knix has grown into one of Canada’s most recognized brands, expanding into swimwear and activewear with the same core philosophy: make products that work for real bodies and real life. The brand has built a loyal following by tackling topics the industry had long avoided and centring inclusivity in everything from its size range to its marketing.

Blume

Blume was founded by Karen Danudjaja with the idea that wellness should feel accessible and kind, not restrictive or intimidating. The Vancouver-based brand makes drink blends and wellness products built around the concept of small, sustainable habits that add up over time. Everything Blume makes sits at the intersection of function and flavour, designed to work for a wide range of bodies and lifestyles.

HORSES Atelier

HORSES is the Toronto-based fashion label from novelists and lifelong friends Claudia Dey and Heidi Sopinka, who launched the brand in the summer of 2012. Named after the Patti Smith album, the label has a storied aesthetic that celebrates female strength and intellect through elevated and timeless dressing. Their first design, an iconic slipdress, landed in Vogue within months of launch, and the brand has maintained that kind of cultural cachet ever since. Every piece is cut from luxe textiles sourced from family-owned mills in Italy and Japan, and consciously designed and sewn in downtown Toronto.

Graydon Skincare

Graydon Moffatt, a former vegan chef and yoga instructor, spent years watching women struggle with how the beauty industry talked about aging skin. Frustrated by the fear-based messaging around “anti-aging,” she set out to build something different. Graydon Skincare is a face and body care brand rooted in health, transparency, and age-positivity rather than insecurity. Her background in whole foods and nutrition shapes each formulation, blending superfood ingredients with biotech innovation to create products focused on long-term skin health.

Cheekbone Beauty

Anishinaabe entrepreneur Jenn Harper founded Cheekbone Beauty with core values that follow the Indigenous Seven Grandfather teachings: Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom. The St. Catharines-based brand makes clean, vegan, and cruelty-free cosmetics, with a sustainability approach that goes far beyond industry norms. Drawing on the Indigenous Two-Eyed Seeing concept and the Iroquois 7th Generation Principle, Cheekbone thinks about the impact of its business not just on today’s customers, but on the next seven generations to come.

Mini Mioche

Mini Mioche was founded in 2008 by Alyssa Kerbel after she had her first child and couldn’t find baby basics she actually loved: soft, neutral, well-made, and free of the loud graphics that dominate most kids’ clothing. Since 2024, the brand has been owned by Jacquelyn Corbett, a mom and stepmom of five who has stayed true to that original vision while expanding it to the whole family. Almost everything Mini Mioche makes is knit, dyed, cut, and sewn in Canada using GOTS-certified organic textiles and AZO-free dyes, with a level of manufacturing transparency that is rare to see in the fashion space.

Elizabeth Grant Skin Care

Elizabeth Grant’s remarkable brand origin story began in 1948 London after she found a natural substance typically used to treat war wounds, which helped restore her own skin following a bomb blast during the Second World War. That ingredient, a proprietary blend called Torricelumn, is the foundation of what would become the Elizabeth Grant Skin Care line. Today, the brand is a three-generation family business: Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law, Marion Witz, has served as President since 1997, while Marion’s daughter Margot serves as Vice President and on-air spokesperson. Everything is developed and manufactured in-house in Canada, which keeps quality tight and prices more reasonable than you might expect from a brand with this kind of history.

Lambert

When Mélissa Lambert was pregnant with her second child in 2017, she went looking for a bag that was stylish, practical, and versatile enough for everyday life but came up empty-handed. She founded Lambert to combine the comfort and practicality of a backpack with a more fashion-forward aesthetic. Today, the Montreal-based brand makes backpacks, bags, suitcases, and accessories from vegan leather and recycled materials, designed around the idea that you should never have to choose between looking good and staying organized.

Jenny Bird

Jenny Bird is a Toronto-based jewelry brand founded by self-taught designer Jenny Bird, who has spent over a decade creating lightweight statement pieces that manage to feel both trend-forward and wearable. Her designs have a knack for capturing the cultural moment without tipping into anything too fleeting, which has earned the brand a following that runs from everyday fashion lovers to global icons like Michelle Obama, Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomez.

Basma Beauty

After suffering third-degree facial burns as an infant, Basma Hameed spent decades studying skin tone, undertone, and texture before going on to pioneer paramedical micropigmentation, a breakthrough procedure that helped establish her as a global authority on colour and complexion correction. That depth of expertise is the foundation for the Basma Beauty cosmetics line, which is built around the idea that makeup should work with your skin rather than sit on top of it. The formulas are designed to melt in, blend easily, and give you exactly the coverage you want, whether that’s barely-there or something more substantial.