Quebec Knitwear Brand Belacaro Takes It Easy
The made-to-order line of superfine alpaca garments and accessories has been a slow burn—and it’s by design.
Caroline Bélanger is a natural multitasker. And it has served her well as she ping pongs between roles: mother of three, real estate portfolio manager, entrepreneur of the burgeoning knitwear brand Belacaro. That’s not to say it’s not tiring switching hats—or balaclavas—so frequently. “It’s exhausting at some point, but I just love the diversity of all those spectrums.”
Bélanger’s creative work energizes her—and fuels her business-oriented responsibilities. “Belacaro is like my heaven, my happy zone, and where I’m able to really explore my creativity,” she says. “When I’m working on the brand, it’s like I’m fresh. And when that juice of creativity is squeezed out, then I can jump back into the more administrative stuff in my real estate world.”
She spent the earlier years of her career in sales and marketing in Toronto and Montreal before joining the family real estate business in Quebec City about five years ago. And while she sometimes craves the urban lifestyle of those larger metropolises, she says Belacaro probably wouldn’t have come to fruition if she hadn’t made the move: “Quebec City gave me the time and the slow pace to be able to actually nurture such a project.”
As with so many creative endeavours that naturally evolve from a hobby to a side hustle to a business, Bélanger gradually ramped up her knitting when people started asking where they could purchase her pieces. In this case, it was her eldest daughter’s friends who asked if they could buy the handknit clothing she was wearing. Bélanger started by photographing the items she made for her three young daughters—a cardigan here, a turtleneck there—and posting them on a basic website. “When I started, I had maybe 15 pieces on the website, all custom-made, unique, one of a kind,” says Bélanger, who is self-taught, or “100 per cent autodidact.” as.
Belacaro officially launched last fall after Bélanger found a business partner. Or perhaps more accurately, after she and Maude Grondin found each other. “Strangely enough, we had our kids at the same daycare and would chat in the elevator. One day, I listed a knitting machine on Facebook Marketplace. Maude’s husband found my listing, flipped it to her, and he’s like, ‘Hey, this girl is selling the kind of machine you’re looking for,’” Bélanger says. Grondin, a textile engineer, reached out, and the two quickly realized they knew each other. “From that moment, we have texted or talked every single day.” This was in 2023. By October 2024, the duo had officially introduced Belacaro to the world. “The stars aligned for us,” Bélanger says. “And when we create something together, it really is pure magic.”
A slow and steady approach—whether that’s letting a kismet meeting guide her toward a business partner or working tirelessly with Grondin to perfect the fit of new item like, say, the pareo skirt that’s part of their summer 2025 collection—is central to the Belacaro ethos.
“We produce everything on demand, so we don’t have an inventory,” Bélanger says. They don’t buy fabric either. Instead, they make their own from scratch using baby alpaca wool from Peru.
Bélanger grew up in Haiti, then Angola, “surrounded by alpaca wool” courtesy of her Bolivian mother. Since moving to Canada from warmer climes as a child, she has been drawn to the soft natural fibre. “It was just natural for me to gravitate there,” she says.
Belacaro isn’t obsessed with trends. Bélanger says that’s at least in part because of her own dressing philosophy, which is “80 per cent about finding the perfect uniform.” She concedes that the other 20 per cent of what she wears is often influenced by what she sees. “If everybody is wearing purple, it’s going to affect me, and I’m going to be like, ‘Wow, this is cool,’” she says. “I call it to be connected to your community. And if the community is showing you something, and that inspires you, why not?”
A commitment to slow, intentional fashion and production is non-negotiable, even as the brand, and its community, grows. “Our objective is not to decrease prices and increase quantity, but it’s to keep our quality. We really want to emphasize the fact that this is knowledge that is from here, from Canada,” Bélanger says.
And grow, Belacaro does—slowly, steadily. Now, the Quebec department store Simon carries a selection of items, including the beloved balaclava, which are available via the retailer’s online assortment called Fabrique 1840 that focuses on independent, artisanal Canadian businesses.
It’s this precise point of pride—that all Belacaro pieces are made by hand, in Canada, using techniques Bélanger fears have all but disappeared in this country—that keeps her going. “We’re trying to bring it back—made in Canada, beautiful, high quality.”
