Biography


Adrienne Butikofer grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She began sewing at an early age and designing and making clothing in her teens. She studied fashion design at Fanshawe College in London, ON and graduated in 2003.

Adrienne moved to Toronto in late 2003 where she has been producing clothing and accessories independently and selling in small boutiques since. Her endeavours have included a winter accessory line called Caninja, aka the Canadian Climate Fighter, as well as small runs of clothing and reworked vintage. Her work has been featured in NOW magazine, Maclean's and The Toronto Star.

Highlights of her indie fashion career so far have been winning the NOW Designer Challenge in 2006 which involved creating a dress out of NOW newsprint, being declared "Toronto's Up and Coming Designer" in the fall of 2007 also from NOW, and being chosen as a finalist in TFI's New Labels Competition with her first full womenswear collection in January 2008. Her work has been sold in Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg.

Adrienne Butikofer clothing is a combination of Caninja's functionality and sense of humour, a huge regard for the past, respect for comfort and wearability, and a massive dose of prairie fire. Fall 2008 will be the first full collection of womenswear for the streetwear brand.

Adrienne lives and works in Toronto's west end, with her husband and two cats.