The PWHL and clothing brand Peau De Loup’s partnership is rooted in authenticity

Peau De Loup is a queer-owned Canadian apparel brand reshaping inclusive fashion—and increasingly, women’s sports merchandise. The brand was founded by Adelle Renaud, who spent years working in fashion production, overseeing vast production runs that rarely reflected their own identity or lived experience.

In an industry long defined by binaries—menswear versus womenswear, straight sizing and plus sizing—Peau De Loup has spent more than a decade challenging convention. What began as a response to limited representation has evolved into a global brand rooted in authenticity, sustainability and community, with women’s sports emerging as a natural extension of that mission. The latest line from “PDL,” as many of its consumers know it, is the Peau De Loup × PWHL Unity Collection, which will be available in-venue at the league’s eight Pride Celebration Unity Games and online soon after in our Canadian and U.S. online stores.

“Our brand started in 2012. It hit me one night, actually I was watching Oprah’s Lifeclass, and one of the things people kept saying over and over was, ‘You’re never going to be truly happy until you’re being your authentic self,” Renaud recalled during a recent interview at the PDL Shop in East Vancouver. “That sort of threw me on this journey of just trying to be as true as I could be. Growing up as a tomboy and part of the Queer community, there was no clothing for people like me. And so I decided to change that and start this brand. And here we are today.

“I started with the button-up... From there we just kind of kept adding to our product assortment. Focusing more on body shape and how clothing feels and fits on you rather than how it’s ‘supposed to be,’” they added.

That first shirt became the foundation of Peau De Loup’s signature approach: designing garments based on body shape rather than gender. The shift—subtle but significant—resonated with an underserved community.

At its core, Peau De Loup remains defined by fit, with the brand’s clothing consistently addressing a long-standing gap by offering the structured aesthetic of traditional menswear while accommodating bodies with curves. The result was and is clothing that balances comfort, quality and style without compromise.

Authenticity has remained the throughline of the brand’s growth. From early experimentation with upcycled fabrics to its emergence as a player in women’s sports merchandise, sustainability has been embedded since the beginning. 

“People told me in 2012 we couldn’t build a business off of [upcycled materials] and here we are in 2026 and we’re still doing it,” Renaud said.

That same clarity of purpose guided Peau De Loup’s expansion into sports, where representation gaps have often mirrored those in fashion. The entry point came through co-founder Erin McLeod, the former Canadian National Team soccer goaltender who joined Renaud early in the brand’s history. McLeod proposed an ambitious idea ahead of a major international tournament: designing suits for the Canadian women’s national team.

Where others see merchandise, Renaud sees connection. “We'd had the brand for a couple of years when [Erin] asked me, in the lead up to the World Cup if there was a way we could build suits for the National Team. I was like, ‘Totally, we can do that, we can do anything,’” Renaud said.

At the time, women’s national teams were frequently outfitted in ill-fitting men’s suits, even as they outperformed their male counterparts. The project became both a design statement and a catalyst.

“I think that’s what put the fire of women’s sports inside of me and it’s stayed ever since,” Renaud added.

That fire now fuels Peau De Loup’s Leaguewear™ platform, which positions the brand at the forefront of inclusive, community-driven fan apparel designed for longevity and everyday wear. “I’m a retailer, a designer, a brand-builder, and I want to take all the things that I love, and I want to bring them into fan gear. And make it meaningful, and something that you’re going to wear beyond gameday,” Renaud said.

That philosophy has translated into official licensing partnerships, supported by the brand's Director of Partnerships Ashlie Grilz, with the WNBA, the Northern Super League and now, the PWHL.

According to Saroya Tinker, the PWHL’s Manager of Culture and Impact, “For us, this partnership was about more than just creating a collection. It was about working with a brand that genuinely reflects the communities we’re part of and want to show up for. Peau De Loup has built their work around authenticity, inclusion and thoughtful design, and that really aligned with how we approach our Pride initiatives at the PWHL. It felt like a natural fit.”

The partnership with the PWHL certainly feels aligned to Renaud. “I love what the PWHL is doing; I love what they stand for. Going to games, I saw, the minute I set foot in that arena, they embody unity. They are authentic in the way they speak to the fans,” they said.

That alignment extends beyond values to the audience. As the PWHL continues to build one of the most engaged fan bases in professional sports, Peau De Loup sees a community that mirrors its own.

“I think [PDL and the PWHL] both truly hold strong authenticity and inclusivity as values. The fan base and the consumer base are very aligned,” Renaud said. “Walking into a game feels like walking into a PDL store sometimes and it’s amazing and I love it.”

The brand’s latest PWHL collection reflects that shared ethos. Designed as a streetwear-forward line, it blends elements of hockey culture and history with broader themes of unity—bringing together all teams under a single, cohesive identity.

“I really wanted hockey and hockey culture and history to be at the forefront of the collection and then how to intertwine that with the overall theme, which was unity, bringing all the different teams together into one unified collection,” Renaud said.

One of the most deliberate design choices in the collection involves the use of the rainbow, a symbol that carries both personal weight for Renaud and cultural weight within the Queer community.

“It was an opportunity. I don’t use the rainbow lightly, and you will see that I used it quite heavily in this collection, and a lot of thought went into it,” Renaud said. “I think for a number of years, especially my generation, I grew up with the rainbow being, sort of taken advantage of a little bit. This is the first time where I thought, ‘We can take the rainbow back.’”

In many ways, the Peau De Loup × PWHL Unity Collection brings Renaud’s journey full circle, from a founder searching for clothing that reflected their own identity, to building apparel for a sports league doing the same on a much larger stage. And in arenas filled with fans who already understand the power of representation, the message lands clearly: Authenticity isn’t a trend, it’s a practice.