Made in Canada.
Designed in Canada.
Canadian brand.
You've probably seen all three and they sound pretty similar. They aren't!
And lately, with tariffs, trade tensions, and a renewed interest in buying Canadian, people are paying a little more attention to where their stuff actually comes from. So, let's talk about it.
What does "Made in Canada" actually mean?
"Made in Canada" isn't just a maple leaf slapped on a product or a website.
There are actual guidelines around the claim. In general, a product can be described as "Made in Canada" when the last substantial transformation happens here and at least 51% of the total direct product costs of production are Canadian.
That's different from "Product of Canada", which has a much higher threshold. That claim generally means at least 98% of the total direct costs are Canadian. So yes, a product can be made in Canada while still containing some materials or components from somewhere else. Which honestly, just makes sense!
We live in Canada. We don't grow every species of hardwood here, manufacture every tool or piece of hardware here or make every finish here. Canadian manufacturing doesn't happen in a vacuum. What matters is where the actual making happens.
And what about "Designed in Canada"?
This one is a little different.
"Designed in Canada" isn't a manufacturing claim. It tells you something about where the product was thought up or designed, but not necessarily where it was built.
A product can be designed in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver, or anywhere else in Canada and then manufactured somewhere completely different. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But it's worth knowing the difference.
Designed in Canada tells you where the idea came from. Made in Canada tells you where the making happened. We think that's a pretty important distinction!
Why are people talking about this more now?
Tariffs have a funny way of making people suddenly very interested in supply chains. When costs change at the border, everyone starts asking questions:
Where was this made?
Where did the materials come from?
Who actually built it?
Why does it cost what it costs?
And that's not a bad thing!
For Canadian shoppers, buying something made here means more than just avoiding a tariff. It means some combination of the labour, manufacturing, skills, equipment, and overhead involved in making that thing are happening here too.
That's especially true for something like furniture and home goods, where the actual manufacturing process is a pretty substantial part of the product.
So what does "Made in Canada" mean at Biglow?
For us, it means the work actually happens here!
We're a small woodworking shop in Winnipeg. Our products start here as ideas, drawings, and pieces of lumber, and they leave here as finished products.
We do the milling, cutting, joinery, assembly, sanding, and finishing here in our shop. Our team builds the things we sell.
Some materials and components come from outside Canada. That's just the reality of making things in Canada in 2026. We aren't going to pretend otherwise. But when we say something is Made in Canada, we're talking about where the substantial work of turning those materials into a finished Biglow product happens.
It's not a Canadian logo stuck onto something made somewhere else. It's made here.
Why does that matter?
You might care because you want to support Canadian manufacturing.
You might care because you like knowing who made the thing sitting in your home.
You might care because you'd rather your money support local jobs and skills.
Or maybe you just want to know what you're actually paying for.
We think all of those are pretty good reasons!
There's also something nice about knowing that if you have a question about something we made, you're not trying to track down a factory on the other side of the world. You can just talk to us!
A quick cheat sheet:
Product of Canada
Almost entirely Canadian production, with a very high threshold for Canadian costs.
Made in Canada
The substantial transformation happens in Canada, with at least 51% of direct production costs incurred here.
Designed in Canada
The product was designed here. It doesn't necessarily tell you where it was manufactured.
Canadian brand
This tells you that the company is Canadian. It tells you considerably less about where the product was made.
None of these labels are automatically better or worse, they just tell you different things. If where something comes from matters to you, it's worth looking past the maple leaf and asking a slightly more useful question:
Where was this actually made?
For us, the answer is pretty simple. Winnipeg. That's where we make things.