Designing the World’s Best Tuque
A tuque, for any non-Canadian, is a wool knit hat.
So: The World’s Best Tuque. Is it like The World’s Best Coffee? The World’s Best Donut? Does it sound like a recipe for disaster? An impossible task? Full of hubris? Destined to fail? Yes. It’s all of these things, and more.
It’s also a destination. It’s a goal. It’s an uncompromising ambition for performance and quality. And it’s backed up by a process that is geared towards excellence. When we start any project our goal is always to make ‘the world’s best’. And here’s what we mean by that: We mean a thoughtful investigation of the possibilities. We mean an understanding of the history and culture of a thing. We mean a substantial engagement with those people that we believe will benefit. We ask questions. We make models. We refine and we prototype. We test in the real world. We doubt. We panic. We spin in circles. And then we reground ourselves around a brutally clear goal: to design The World’s Best Tuque. Why would we bother to design the world’s second best tuque? It does not mean that we’ll succeed. But it does mean that we’ll try everything we know in pursuit of that goal.
Our process began by asking a series of questions of experts and we found the following:
“Tuques are distinctly Canadian. For a country where much of the culture is adopted from south of the border, having a word that’s native is unique. The term is borrowed from French. “Canadian French is a very important donor language in Canadian English.”
Stefan Dollinger
Stefan is the editor-in-chief of the second edition of A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles and a professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and The University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His perspective taught us that the word tuque is uniquely Canadian. But it is also a part of Canadian history. It is a symbol of rebellion and the founding of this nation. It is a mainstay and staple across all of Canada during our often frigid wintertime. We have embraced this iconic piece of headgear as a symbol of a nation.
Our goal is to have fun really thinking about what the best possible tuque should be. We have found a distinctly Canadian material that will serve as the basis for this claim. We’re excited about that. But we are also asking people what makes a good tuque for them? We’re learning from the collective experience of bonafide tuque lovers. We’ll test our prototypes in the wild to get feedback. If it can survive out there, surely it works anywhere. But we’re also after a balanced approach. The reality is that the best tuque is different to different people, climates, activities. We have to, by necessity, aim for versatility.
But that doesn’t mean mediocrity.
The World’s Best Tuque is the product of thoughtful research, continual improvement, and expert technique. It may not turn out to be The Best for everybody, but we’re certain that it will be the best for many. Whether it becomes a symbol of national pride, a demonstration of a commitment to design process, or a beloved companion, we’re confident that it will stake its claim and place with conviction in the grand history of Canadian tuques.
For those of you who want to join us in our quest, please take a few minutes to fill out this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DV8K377
If you want to keep abreast of our developments, you can do so here. We’re aiming to let our tuque loose on the world this coming fall. In the meantime in these last few cool days, may your head stay warm and toasty.
