École de Pensée

École de Pensée sits at the intersection of Montreal’s garment past and its design future. What began as three friends obsessed with fabrics—Marc-André Garand, William Lessard, and later Julien Gauthier—has become one of the city’s most respected menswear studios, built on a DIY streak learned at the skatepark and refined through years inside the local industry. Their Mile End flagship feels more like a thoughtful apartment than a boutique: art books, Japanese tea, and racks of tailoring cut with quiet precision.

They call their approach “new wave tailoring,” grounded in classic construction but loosened up for how people actually live—canvas suits, asymmetric overshirts, rich winter fabrics sourced from mills they know personally. Everything about the brand reflects long-term thinking: independence over investors, relationships over volume, and clothes that reward attention. In a city not known for formalwear, École de Pensée has carved out its own school of thought.