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January 29, 2026
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January 29, 2026
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ORAGE draws inspiration from rugged geography and the people who roam it, crafting garments as distinctive as the journey they share.
Some brands are born of an idea. Others are born of a climate. The Québec brand ORAGE is one of those who were forged in the stubborn harshness of winter. Winters harden, bring together, inspire entire ways of life. Anchored in the golden age of freeski, ORAGE not only helped shape a culture, but also a way to live on the territory and to dress the movement through apparel that breaks conventions. Because beyond the sport itself, it is its essence that matters: moments shared before and after turns, mornings met at -25°C, friendships born in a chairlift, cars pushed out of a snowbank, and the conversations that follow.
The transitory nature of our seasons has soaked into the brand and shaped its history.
On the morning of March 13, 1989, a strong coronal mass ejection hits the Earth. Hydro-Québec’s electric grid crashes, plunging nearly six million homes into darkness and bitter winter cold. These power outages are no strangers to the Québec territory; they are written into its collective identity. And sometimes, they create sparks—or ideas. So, during this particular winter, a movement takes shape. In a garage on the South Shore of Montréal, Eric and Evelyn, two passionate skiers, design the first ORAGE pieces. This apparel breaks established codes to answer for winters that break from the norm. Pants with plaid patches on the knees are created for the University of Quebec ski team, and the tree-shaped logo would soon become a recognizable emblem to ski enthusiasts in the ’90s. They unknowingly launch a small creative revolution that connects with the emergence of freeski. This is the beginning of ORAGE: a brand born of heavy snowfalls, power outages, neighbours who help shovel snow—and, maybe, a geomagnetic storm.
In March 1993, squalls surpassing 80 km/h sweep through Montréal and surpass 140 km/h elsewhere in Canada. More than 50 cm of snow accumulates, schools close, and the entire country comes to a standstill, buried. Meanwhile, ORAGE trudges onward. Fabric is improved, cuts are refined, and the team grows. Every storm becomes a lab used to understand how to better understand and harness the territory.
In January 1998, the North American ice storm hits the province. Trees bend beneath the weight of the ice, windows become frost gardens, and people gather around purring generators. Over days or weeks, depending on the region, Quebecers come together to weather a storm that spares no one, but that teaches everyone resilience. The extreme cold, the ice, and the fragility of our infrastructures act as reminders: the rigour of the climate here requires being ready for any eventuality. At ORAGE, the collections keep getting more technical, with coats that keep us warm and dry in the face of the extreme conditions to which the product is exposed.
The 2000s mark a turn. ORAGE dominates the universe of freeski, defying the current of skiing’s traditional image and coming closer to the culture of snowboarding. The style becomes its own language and embodies a new form of liberty in movement through more ample cuts and materials that defy standards.
ORAGE’s “Anti-Competition” Masters seals the brand’s identity. During these events—the first taking place in Whistler in 2002, followed by Retallack and Sun Valley iterations in Idaho—the rules no longer apply. Creativity overtakes technical performance and rivalry gives way to a sense of community. Then comes the era of legends: JP Auclair, Michelle Parker, and Phil Casabon join the ORAGE team. Each athlete embodies the rebellious, free, innovative spirit of the brand in their own way.
The collaboration with Retallack Lodge pushes the notion of adventure even further. Catski bear the ORAGE colours and the powder welds together an ever-evolving community. The movement happens naturally: youngsters who lived for the parks are all grown up, but never stopped playing outside. They now find themselves on tall mountains, where natural topography brings opportunity to reinvent themselves. It’s the age of freeride: the back country becomes a terrain of expression, and the apparel is both homage and manifesto. Over the years, style and performance cease to be opposites—they converge. The collections are thought out for the vicissitudes of the weather and are inspired by the lines traced like a testimony of our passage in the back country. The ORAGE team talks of cuts, fabrics, and functionality like some talk of the trajectory of a storm and its impact on the terrain. The team is always carried by the same intention: to make winter an experience and every mountain a canvas.
On March 14 and 15, 2017, the Eastern Townships are buried under 119 cm of snow. The roads are closed due to blizzard-like conditions. Across the province, snowfalls break records. In fact, no storm has ever broken so many records at once. Climate is changing, dysregulating, and unleashing. ORAGE claps back by innovating through clothing made for meteorological transitions. The apparel becomes an ecosystem built to protect those who brave the backroads to get to the mountain or who build jumps in their backyards.
ORAGE celebrates its 30th birthday, and the world crawls to a standstill. As the pandemic disturbs everyone’s habits and confines them to their living rooms, Quebecers turn to nature. Trails, parks, and mountains become havens to ground yourself, find yourself, or spend yourself. Getting fresh air becomes a synonym of freedom: ski days become occasions to trade masks for balaclavas, and the hype for outdoor sports reaches new heights. There’s a sense of collective understanding: the landscape and our way of inhabiting it are integral to the identity of Québec. ORAGE answers the call of this effervescence by doubling production and optimizing the apparel to serve this new way of living outdoors.
After traversing these upheavals large and small, these turnarounds and these storms, ORAGE now advances with the wind at its back, carried by constant passion inspired by the mountains and by a philosophy that lives well beyond the slopes. The Québec brand’s orange suspenders have become a recognizable signature in ski cottages around the world. In 2023, a flagship store opened in Chamonix, embodying this evolution: a place where heritage reaches further afield.
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Between February 12 and 16, 2025, two successive storms hit Montréal, accumulating nearly 75 cm of snow—the heaviest five-days accumulation since we started keeping records in 1941. The snow removal trucks pass from dawn to dusk, and people shovel, help one another, and dig out buried cars—while others ski in the city streets themselves.
From Saint-Sauveur to Murdochville, from Sutton to Valinouët, Quebecers have learned to tame the cold and build a culture out of doing so—by skiing at -40°C, by dressing warmly to play outside, by sledding on a lunch tray after the ski station closes, by freezing to the bone, and by marvelling at the trees folding under the weight of the snow. This intimacy with the elements is written into the brand’s DNA. ORAGE is an homage to people who go outside when everyone else goes in—to those who salute the beauty of a changing territory and find comfort in the transience of winter.
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