In 2009, an outerwear brand with an interesting name was founded in Montreal: Moose Knuckles. Over the years, it has built its reputation on unapologetically bold outerwear, expertly engineered for extreme climates. Rooted in the idea of being born “in the tundra,” the brand quickly distinguished itself with high-performance puffers, sleek silhouettes, and its unmistakable metal logo, cultivating a loyal following of cold-weather dressers.
Today, the label enters a new chapter under Creative Director Ludovico Bruno, who joined the company after a decade at Moncler, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the boundary-pushing Moncler “Genius” project. Bringing a global perspective to the brand, Bruno is focused on elevating Moose Knuckles from outerwear specialist to full-fledged lifestyle brand—lightening its construction, refining its silhouettes, and expanding its material vocabulary with cashmere blends, washed nylons, and supple leathers.
Courtesy of Moose Knuckles.
“I’m very proud of this opportunity—and I feel like it’s part of a process of renovating the brand without changing its DNA,” Bruno shared with Whitewall while in New York for its recent preview. “It’s an honor and a great possibility to modernize and update the beat of the brand. Everyone’s really involved at Moose Knuckles, looking at the same objective.”
For it latest Fall/Winter collection, he looked back to the tundra through a cinematic lens, drawing loose inspiration from The Revenant, while introducing packable iceberg quilting, layered denim parkas, and a softened womenswear shoulder. The result is a collection that balances animal instinct with metropolitan ease, designed for a life lived everywhere—from Aspen weekends to city streets. In addition, at the preview, we took a look at its latest NHL collaboration, and its partnership with EVISU, which launched late last year.
Bruno shared with Whitewall details on his new role and the brand’s latest collection, and he’s pushing Moose Knuckles into the future as a full-fledged lifestyle brand.
Making Moose Knuckles a Lifestyle Brand
Courtesy of Moose Knuckles.
Ludovico Bruno, portrait courtesy of Moose Knuckles.
WHITEWALL: What about Moose Knuckles were you drawn to? What made you want to step into this role and join the company?
LUDOVICO BRUNO: I started to work with them almost two years ago—as a consultant first, then creative director. Now, I’m the creative director globally. I was a fan of Moose Knuckles. What brings me here is this outcast, revolutionary, don’t-belong vibe that the brand has always had.
When everyone was toned down, they were the loudest. You have to get that vibe and modernize it. Being loud became bold, and we tried to elevate the codes without losing that thinking—having a different vibe, which I love about the brand. And I’ve always been working with outerwear brands. I was at Moncler for 10 years and was at the helm of its Montclair Genius project. This allowed me to explore not only the creative part, but really get into the product and see what is possible with a brand like Moose Knuckles. It has great, great potential. What I feel is that there’s a blank space that we can fulfill—becoming a lifestyle brand.
It’s more difficult for other competitors because they’re into outerwear as après-ski or technical stuff. With Moose Knuckles, we have the idea of being born in the tundra. It means we have a very animal instinct vibe. Very nature, but we live in the city. We’re an urban brand. That’s very connected to what lifestyle is to me. Lifestyle brings experience. I really relate to that in my designs. If you’re able to create puffers, products, and outerwear that give you the vibe of a very active life—an “everywhere” kind of vibe—that’s where you’re able to succeed. As a consumer, I want something that gives me the truth I want to tell, but also a vibe that says, “I was in Aspen, now I’m in Europe skiing, and I’m going back in the city.” You can still be urban, but the DNA of the brand belongs to something that you have an active life and a lot of experience in your day-to-day. These are the codes that brought me in.
Renovating Outerwear for Today
Courtesy of Moose Knuckles.
Courtesy of Moose Knuckles.
WW: How do you plan on renovating that DNA? Colors, silhouettes, materials?
LB: As a designer, I start with the product itself. The most important thing is how we can elevate the brand, making it part of the conversation today. The first thing is the volume, the weight. Winters aren’t that long anymore. I wanted to make our pieces lighter and more approachable. Not bulky or heavy. So, the construction of the clothes is super important to me. And to make the pieces light, the silhouette is affected. Moose Knuckles has always been true to size—very sleek, almost slim. It will never be an oversized brand, but to make it lighter, that also means the silhouette drops a bit, especially in womenswear. The shoulder drops; there’s more freedom of movement. It’s loose, not oversized, because there’s still control. We want to renovate womenswear a lot.
So, fabrication and texture is importnat. For colors, I wanted to keep a utilitarian color palette, so we have natural colors like alabaster white, espresso, mocha, black, navy, and military green. Each season, we’ll add two or three colors in many different categories. It could be just for rib knits, the colors of the fur on the collar, or the internal lining. You can still have something wearable, mix it with everything else in your wardrobe, and still have colors that help to elevat the collection. Fabric is something we develop a lot too, because I feel that’s how you can elevate the brand—and the perception of the brand. When you get into materials like light wools, cashmere blends, leather, washed leather, and knits, this is where you create true dimensionality.
Moose Knuckles has always been famous for its metal logo on the nylon jacket, and from a customer’s perspective, even myself as a customer, it can feel a bit cold. Sometimes you want to wear something warm; something that feels like it’s already been in your wardrobe. Something that feels organic to the rest of your wardrobe. For this, we work with materials like washed nylon, washed cotton, and wools that create that sort of vibe.
Designing for Global Sensibilities
WW: You live in Milan, the brand is based in Montreal, and we’re here in New York now. How are you thinking about the global customer?
LB: Two years ago, when I started to consulting for them, it was interesting because it was the first time that a non-Canadian, non-American designer joined in the company. Our last CEO, Victor, told me that this was great because it’s the first time the brand has been seen through a lens of someone who is not Canadian or American. Sometimes, the perception that you have of yourself is completely different than the perception that the world has of you.
It’s very interesting as a person who’s lived and worked in New York, Paris, and Milan. I’m always around. I love this perspective of always being everywhere. And of course, sometimes when you design for a local market, like Canada, you almost end up in a circle, going back to the same environment. But if you open up the range of possibility, you see, “Oh! I’ve never thought of that.” This is something I got from working with so many different creative directors in my Moncler Genius days. You have to push the boundaries and challenge yourself. And from a brand perspective, cost really affects lifestyles.
I have to think about something performative for the snow, for instance. And some of our clients are jumping in and out of cabs, going to the department store. They’re not going from cold to cold, they’re going from hot to cold, cold to humid, etc. We’re thinking about shell jackets then. We’re thinking about how to translate our global customers into different Moose Knuckles products that can go from lightweight quilted liners to layered pieces to outerwear jackets. We’re looking for something more versatile to translate into that famous utilitarian vibe that was so great in the 90s. How we can translate it right now is exactly through this.
Details on the Latest Fall/Winter Line
Courtesy of Moose Knuckles.
WW: Can you tell us more about your last collection? How do we see that there?
LB: For the collection, we went back to the tundra. It was a little inspired by The Revenant, the movie, because of the battles between the animals and humans. We changed it a bit, because obviously, we don’t want to talk about war at this time, so we have a journey of discovering your inner self, your animal instinct, and then you’re bringing it to the city. The environment was created by AI to show four different backgrounds, so we’re also using this synthetic type of aspect for Moose Knuckles’ new approach of nature and city at the same time.
We’re elevating the coats, especially for women, so they’re a little more lost—balanced, but we offer many different styles. It’s about layering. And we’re trying to envision the persona. Who is she? Where is she living? What is she doing? Where is she going?
When you build up like a collection, from a design perspective, we talk about the codes and the moodboard. But we have to understand that it goes on a real person. I want every single character in our lookbook to be someone who exists somewhere in the world—from Courchevel to Tokyo. It’s nice to see it through a kaleidoscopic lens, and it makes it truly believable. We also introduced this denim jacket and a denim parka. And for jackets, we have a new iceberg quilt, which is inspired by an organic iceberg, three-dimensional, but you can pack it in your bag really easily. Packability for travel is really a part of the conversation. It’s also about where you’re wearing the jacket. If you’re wearing it for a weekend in Aspen, but then you’re back to the city, we need something that can carry you from work to off-duty. Packable, easy to approach. A concept of movement that continues, even into next season.
