When the Winter Olympics begin next week, the American team will be dressed once again in uniforms created by the Canadian clothing company Roots. The Toronto-based sportswear company is one of Canada’s most popular and recognizable sartorial exports.

But when it comes to fashion, our neighbors to the north are producing much more than we realize. While New York designers strive to catch urban trends, and Los Angeles brands churn out mountains of T-shirts and jeans, Canadians are steadfast in producing clothing marked by quality and good design.

This is true of Roots, but it especially the case for two higher-end women’s labels based in Canada: Pink Tartan and Teenflo. These brands are not necessarily the darlings of magazine editors, and they don’t do much in the way of advertising. But if you shop with an eye for affordable, stylish clothes, you will come across their names frequently. What’s their secret? It may sound like corporate jargon, but the answer is brand identity.

Consider the Montreal-based Teenflo, which is a reliable source for feminine, attractive suits and dresses. The parent company is based in Paris, but a Canadian couple, Charles Le Pierres and Judy Richardson, bought the North American rights in 1990. Roughly half of the collection is imported from Paris, and half is made in Canada to suit the needs of the market by offering different sizes, dresses, or broader collections. But what Teenflo does not do is change its focal point to suit the shifting sands of fashion.

“It’s extremely trendy in the U.S.The designers don’t stick to what they do best. If suit sales drop off, then everybody is making peasant skirts,” the owner and design director, Ms. Richardson, said. “We don’t try to do everything. We stick to what we’re good at.”

In Teenflo’s case, that means affordable pieces in elegant shapes and uncommon fabrics – with a focus on what is fashion forward, without pushing the envelope. One look for winter features a suit with a white v-neck shirt underneath.The shirt has two long but delicate strands of fabric crisscrossing at the waist. It’s enough to register with co-workers as “interesting,” but not distracting enough to be the talk of the water cooler. Prices range from $200 to $300 for skirts and pants. Suits are priced from $600 to $800.

Deborah Koenigsberger, owner and buyer of the well-edited shop Noir et Blanc Bis (19 W. 23rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-627-1750), was the first to bring Teenflo to America and remains a devotee of the brand. “It’s classic with a twist.You can wear those pieces for years,” she said. “Yout don’t get tired of them. Yousay, ‘I’ve worn that 30 times to everything and everyone’s seen me in it!’ “

At the multilabel boutique the New York Look (551 Fifth Ave., at 45th Street, 212-557-0909 and multiple locations), buyer and owner Saeed Arabian stocks Teenflo because it’s a dependable winner with the ladies. “Women who live in New York somehow go to work every day. So they need to dress well,” he said. “These are very chic clothes to go to work in.”

Brand identity is also a major factor in the success of Toronto-based Pink Tartan, a line that is well described as “junior couture.” Designer Kimberley Newport Mimran, who was a senior designer at Club Monaco in the 1990s, launched Pink Tartan in 2002.What sets her brand apart from the rest is simple: the fit.

You can take it from her – “Pink Tartan is a combination of great fit with feminine touches,” she told me – or take it from her retailers. Pink Tartan receives high praise for tailoring from An Vu, buyer and owner of the NoLiTa shop Bio (29 Prince St. at Elizabeth Street, 212-334-3006).”The fit is how you can tell the difference. They’ve done their research. They really understand how to fit a woman, not a mannequin,” she said.

That unswerving commitment to tailoring also comes with a healthy dose of sexy glamour. For spring, wrap dresses and blouses come in printed silk. Skirts have low waists and bold floral prints. Prices start around $300 for pants, $350 for dresses, and $1,000 for coats. “It’s for a sophisticated woman. It has a nod to Hollywood and the ’50s,” the senior vice president of Searle stores (635 Madison Ave. at 60th Street, 212-750-5153 and multiple locations) Michael Skidmore, said. “It’s a really cohesive brand. They have a strong identity.”

When you add Roots into the equation (let’s say for weekend togs), the picture of current Canadian design looks particularly clever. Launched originally as a footwear brand, Roots expanded into activewear and has been contributing to the wardrobes of Olympians since the 1976 games in Innsbruck. In 2002, Roots was commissioned for the first time to design several outfits for the American team. This year, it is the team’s official outfitter.

What is it about Roots that works? Co-founder Michael Budman says it has to do with having a clear creative vision. “We have one of the most powerful words in the language as our brand,”he said.”And we have the beaver, the unofficial symbol of Canada -hardworking and industrious.”

Which is at odds with some dominant strands of current popular culture. “We’re not into bling and materialism.The [company] culture has a lot to do with athletics and health,” he said.

To find the look for the 2006 Olympic garments, a team of seven Roots designers went to Italy last year to soak up Turin and get a sense of what the weather would be like in February. Inspiration came from the looks of Italian Alpine skiers and auto racers of the 1970s. “For this year, the USA theme is ‘retro futurism,'” Mr. Budman said. “We went back to move forward.”

Of course, there are plenty of other Canadian fashion brands out there doing their thing at a variety of price points. At the mass-market level, the shoe brand Aldo has made headway in New York, as has Le Chateux, which sells trendy, inexpensive clothing for men and women.

At Bio, Ms.Vu stocks jeans by 1921, the high-end denim line created by Silver, headquartered in Winnipeg.With the massive proliferation of denim labels, Ms.Vu could sell denim from anywhere in the world. She chose the Canadian line based craftsmanship and creativity. “They team up with artists in Japan to bead and paint the jeans without getting too ostentatious. When I wear them, people always ask about them,” she said. “They don’t have an insignia on the pocket.”

Also on her shelves are belts by Canadienne Suzi Roher.”Some belts are not contoured to your body. These are great because she puts elastic into the belts,” said Ms.Vu. “I started carrying them a year ago and I’m always upping my buys.You can wear these high on your waist or low.”

Though Canadian designers may not be gearing up to take over the fashion world, there is something quietly noteworthy in their work. Is there an overall Canadian design sensibility?

Mr. Budman, of Roots, doubts it, but guesses that there’s something in the broader base of his county’s style centers. Whereas America is polarized – New York, L.A., and all that mass in the middle – Canada has smaller cities that allow Canada Chic to be more democratic, he argues. “Canadians are more progressive in style than middle Americans,” said Mr. Budman.

Whether that’s true or not, there is an aesthetic comes from the quirks of history. It’s a mix of French and British influences, plus the practical reality of the Canadian winter, plus the urge to differentiate from America.There’s a sense of verve – a down-to-earth, nononsense sort of verve.