Sunday, March 27, 2022. Lac-Drolet may be a municipality of just 1,200 people, but it is also home to the head office of a leading apparel manufacturer and decorator. We spoke with Attraction co-owners Julia Gagnon and Sébastien Jacques to learn more.
The company was founded in 1980 by two of Julia’s uncles. Two more Gagnon brothers later joined them, including Julia’s father. Travelling with him on business trips is what sparked her interest in the industry. When an opportunity to return to the region and join the family business came up in 2009, Julia jumped at it. Sébastien followed in 2014.
“My father worked in apparel and travelled across Canada. It looked like the coolest job in the world. I wanted to do what he did.”
Julia Gagnon
Setting Itself Apart
What sets Attraction apart is its ability to do everything under one roof. Product design, cutting, sewing, assembly, decoration and shipping all take place at its facilities in Lac-Drolet and Montreal, where a new workshop had opened the previous year. The company serves promotional products distributors and souvenir retailers across Canada.
Attraction offers two exclusive apparel brands. Initial is known for its excellent value, while Ethica offers apparel made locally from more sustainable fibres such as organic cotton, recycled polyester and reclaimed textiles. Products from both brands can be customized, giving businesses a local option for apparel bearing their own logo.
The co-owners explain that their environmental commitment goes well beyond Ethica: it shapes decisions throughout the company. In the summer of 2022, Attraction worked with the Université de Sherbrooke to inventory its carbon emissions. The company became carbon neutral for Scope 1 and 2 emissions and also began working toward B Corp certification—a major undertaking for a company that both manufactures and imports apparel.
Making Room for Everyone
Julia and Sébastien encourage their team to suggest ways to reduce waste, such as recovering offcuts from Attraction’s in-house production. The search for better ways of working brings everyone together, not just the leadership team. Julia believes that sense of involvement helps keep people motivated. At Attraction, that means listening, recognizing a job well done and creating a healthy workplace. “We want to add small moments of enjoyment to people’s days with our community garden, gym and bike-sharing station,” Sébastien explains.
For Julia, it was especially important to build a company where everyone feels welcome. Finding her own place as an entrepreneur had not always been easy. The passion was there from the start, but so was plenty of self-doubt. Was she truly ready to take over the family business? She soon realized she was not the only entrepreneur asking herself those questions—and that uncertainty was part of the journey. That experience inspired her to create the children’s book series Ben entreprend, which gives elementary-school students tools and confidence to consider starting a business one day.
“I think schools are placing more and more value on entrepreneurship.”
Julia Gagnon
A Promising Future, Despite Uncertainty
In the years ahead, Julia and Sébastien want Attraction to maintain its leadership position by continuing to modernize its factory equipment and stay at the forefront of technology.
Even so, the future is harder to predict than it once was. Julia would normally have a clear sense of what was coming and what the company needed to keep growing, but the uncertainty of recent years had blurred that picture. “When you can’t read the market, managing the business becomes more complicated,” Sébastien adds. The company must therefore stay nimble and maintain excellent communication with suppliers and customers.
The pair remains optimistic as travel across Canada picks up again and demand for souvenirs returns. The pandemic also strengthened consumers’ desire to buy local. Because Attraction apparel is designed in Canada, Julia and Sébastien are confident that the quality of their products will help the company remain competitive.