Canada Goose, a high end manufacturer of extreme winter apparel, is doing some really good things to help the people and wildlife in Northern Canada. Instead of focusing solely on their business profits, Canada Goose has made it part of their corporate culture to be a socially responsible company.
With several socially conscious initiatives that Canada Goose is currently taking part in, the two that stand out the most are the Canada Goose Resource Centres in Northern Canada and their support for the conservation of polar bear habitats through their PBI collection.
Canada Goose Resource Centres
Senior Vice President of Marketing, Kevin Spreekmeester and CEO Dani Reiss got inspired to open up the Canada Goose Resource Centres on one of their trips to Canada’s far north. Seeing the troubles that traditional northern sewers often face to gather enough material for making clothing to withstand the harsh arctic climate, Reiss and Spreekmeester knew they had to do something to help.
As a result of this trip, Canada Goose decided to donate high quality recycled fabrics, zippers, buttons, velcro and other discontinued premium materials to northern communities so that the local sewers have more supplies to work with, free of charge, when designing clothing for local communities. In total, there are eight resource centres in Canada’s far north, where sewers can go once a month to access these high end materials that would otherwise be too costly for them to purchase on their own.
To make all of this possible, Canada Goose partnered with First Air, the largest northern airline in Canada, and The North West Company, a provider of food, products and services to rural Canadian communities. They have also recently begun seeking the help of their own staff by putting on “cutting parties” where employees can volunteer after hours, in exchange for pizza and pop to help cut the fabrics into pieces that can be folded more efficiently for shipping.
When asked why they are doing this, Spreekmeester replied “Canada Goose counts on the iconic imagery of the Canadian North when we sell our brand around the world, and this is our way to say thank you.”
Conserving Polar Bear Habitats
Aside from helping rural communities in Canada’s far north, Canada Goose is also determined to help the conservation of polar bear habitats which are in great danger due to climate change. Known to be the warmest parkas in the world, Canada Goose has long been a supporter of Polar Bears International (PBI), the world’s leading polar bear conservation organization, supplying it’s arctic researchers with outerwear products.
In 2010, Canada Goose went one step further by creating a collection of outerwear called the PBI collection which consists of 11 pieces in total. With every sale of a PBI product, $25 dollars is donated to PBI, the organization. To date Canada Goose has contributed close to a million dollars to PBI through this initiative.
Dani Reiss, who is also the chairman of the board for PBI, was quoted as saying “In my travels over the years, I’ve seen first-hand the drastic effects that global warming and other environmental activities have had on the polar bear population.” Realizing this, Reiss is constantly looking for new ways to help support the conservation of polar bear habitats.
