Foreign Rider Co. founder Ralph Dunning knows clothing. A 20+ year apparel industry veteran, Dunning’s design and manufacturing expertise is vast, varied, and evident in every single Foreign Rider garment. It may sound trite or cliche, but when you put on a FR sweat or tee for the first time, you really can feel the difference. The fit, the fabrics, the construction – these are goods of the utmost quality. As the owner of several FR pieces, I can honestly say this stuff is above and beyond 99% of everything else that’s out there, and that Dunning’s decades of experience are palpable in all of it.

Dunning recently took some time out to answer a few questions through email. Here’s what he had to say.

Well Spent: Give us the Foreign Rider origin story.
Ralph Dunning: I started developing Foreign Rider back in 2008 as a personal project. I first got into the apparel industry in 1993, when I started a company that manufactured technical apparel for cyclists and triathletes. I had no formal design training at the time, and actually came from a senior management position at a major record company. I was a huge fan of Shawn Stussy and marveled at how he had taken his love for surf and music and was able to merge the two – that inspired me to go from one industry to the other.

Over the next 20 years I learned a lot about the importance of sewing, proper construction and developing really great fabrics. When I first started back in 1993, I manufactured everything in Toronto and was very hands on with every step of the process. But as the companies I built grew, I had to start manufacturing in different parts of the world in order to produce at a higher volume. While I developed a very strong understanding of how the process works on both a small scale and mass scale, around 2008 I started to really miss the hands on approach.

It was at that time that my teenage son began asking me a lot of questions about what happened to Stussy – he’s very into clothing. So I started to show him all the brands I used to really respect, as well as the current brands that were impressive to me; ones that were taking a handcrafted / artisanal approach to their goods like S/Double and Red Wing. My son was also listening to a lot of my old records, playing stuff from A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Souls of Mischief. Hearing those albums again reminded me of why I got into the clothing industry in the first place.

That’s when I got the idea to start a new company. After 20 years in the apparel industry, and 10 years in the music business, I wanted to build a small company for all the right reasons. One that favors quality long-lasting products over quantity and volume. And one where I can personally oversee the entire process.

So I spent five years selecting fabrics and fits that appealed to me, and then I brought them to a local factory in Toronto, and we built up a group of prototypes. It took us close to a year to get them dialed in, and then we went into production. Last December we put the products online and the response has really been something special.

The entire Foreign Rider Co. collection is manufactured in Toronto. Why did you decide to make there? Pros and cons?
I work with a factory in Toronto called WS & Company, which is run by a very smart business woman named Kathy Cheng. They used to make all the Club Monaco, Polo and Roots stuff back in the ’80s and ’90s, and they understand sewing and cotton materials better than anyone else in the world, in my opinion. I told Kathy that I wanted to build a very small company focused on basics that are built to last and that will get better with time. We started working on fabrics first and then I designed a very small collection.

Kathy gave me full access to the factory floor. I’m literally involved in every step of the manufacturing and when the products are finished, I measure and inspect each and every piece. Once inspected, I circle the size on each label by hand. Then they go into the final washing process, and then pressing and trimming. Once that is done, each product is packed up and taken to my small studio in Toronto.

You produce all of your garments in batches of 100. Why such small runs?
This is a very important question. There is a ridiculous amount of “Made in USA” or “Made in Canada” marketing hype out there. I went to see my buddy Colin Brickley at the liberty show in New York. He runs the sales and marketing division for Asics’ lifestyle division. As I walked the show, I noticed that almost every company had a “Made in USA” banner front and centre in their booth.

I think domestic manufacturing is important for a number of reasons, but if you ask most of those companies how they monitor their manufacturing process it becomes a different conversation. A lot of companies who are producing domestically are still running production numbers in the thousands, which means they place a purchase order with a factory, see a sample, and then the product is shipped directly to their warehouse. They can’t look at each piece with those types of quantities and measure them or catch problems. Even companies who own their own factories still manufacture in big runs, so they don’t see each and every finished garment.

By manufacturing in batches of 100, I can physically inspect each piece. This is something I am going to continue to do as an owner-operated company. Each circle on the label is a signature of inspection. I also pack each and every order that goes out the door. I re-inspect each piece and they are hand wrapped in old school brown paper to give it a very personal feel. You can’t do this with mass produced goods, regardless of whether you’re in North America or overseas.

You do a great job mixing old and new – vintage construction details with a sleek and modern fit. Tell us about your design process: do you start with existing items and rework, or do you prefer to design from scratch? How many iterations does each piece typically go through before being released to the public?
We design everything from scratch. First we start with the fabrics, as that has a huge impact on the fit. An old school 80/20 blend fleece will have a very different drape than terry, for instance. Then we sketch everything by hand and start developing fit specs. After that we start to build a technical cad spec package, and then we go and see Kathy at our factory and work with her team to get production started. It’s about a year from the time we have the idea until the final goods are delivered to our studio.

Our fit is very clean and based on my background in athletics. I ride every single day and want FR Products to fit an athletic build but still be very comfortable. That is why we use stretch rib side panels in all our sweats. You’ll notice we use all flatlock stitching on our garments too. This type of stitching was something I had always used in technical performance apparel because it offers next to skin comfort without any seam irritation. It also offers greater durability.

Of all of our products, I think I’m most proud of the FR t-shirt, which took me a very long time to develop. The cotton is vintage washed which means it has a very soft hand but also a nice amount of natural stretch in it. The fit is perfect; not too tight and not baggy. The stitching is all flatlock, of course. And the collar is a self fabric collar so it will hold its shape and not fray over time.

The current collection is very tightly edited – less than ten styles and only four colors. Why keep it so limited?
I am a minimalist and always have been. I really don’t ever want this to be a big company and hope our customers look at every piece as an investment.

I also built this around what I think most guys wear every day, and that to me is a really well made t-shirt and a great crew neck. Our hoody is perfect for post-ride comfort, and has become my go-to piece when I’m traveling for business or a cycling trip. I like to think of FR pieces as basic essentials. When I pack for one of those trips it’s 3 cotton t-shirts, a merino t-shirt, a crew neck and a hoody. That’s all I need.

Are there any new products you can tell us about?
We are working on adding a very minimal long sleeve t-shirt and also sweatpants and shorts. We also have a headphone chair in the works that is made from wool. I designed one for my studio and it’s set right beside my turntable where I listen to all my old vinyl.

What would you say to someone who’s still on the fence about buying from Foreign Rider Co.?
Invest in quality – not quantity.


For price and purchase info, visit Foreign Rider Co.