Canada Goose takes step into footwear with $32.5M deal

JAKE EDMISTON

TORONTO Canada Goose Holdings Inc. is slowly expanding beyond its parka roots, entering the footwear realm Thursday with a $32.5-million acquisition as it continues to grow its roster of flagship stores around the world.

The deal to acquire Baffin Inc., which will see the Ontario-based winter boot maker continue to operate as a standalone entity, is part of a transition that CEO Dani Reiss says has seen the company — which found international renown with it’s extravagantly priced, Arctic-proof parkas — morph into a full-fledged “three-season lifestyle brand.”

“Lots of companies that have a little bit of brand velocity just start making all kinds of stuff and throwing their logos on it,” Reiss said. “Personally, I believe that’s the way to ruin a brand. We don’t do that…. We make best in class products and this is an opportunity to buy bestin-class technology and use it for our own footwear line.”

Footwear will eventually join a widening roster of offerings that already include a number of lighter weight products, such as rain gear and knitwear.

That means, as the company eyes new locations for expansion, it won’t be confined to desperately cold places, Reiss said.

That expansion will take its next step on Friday, when Canada Goose opens a flagship store in temperate Vancouver, to be followed by others in Montreal and Beijing before the holiday shopping season begins in earnest.

The Beijing store comes after the opening of a Canada Goose flagship in Hong Kong last month, and the opening of a Shanghai regional office and a China e-commerce sales partnership through the Alibaba Group.

Since its wildly successful initial public offering last year, Canada Goose has been focused on its entrance into China while continuing to grow its retail stores.

The push to open new stores started in 2016, with the goal of opening up to 20 locations by 2020 — a target Reiss said Canada Goose is on track to meet with stores currently in Toronto, New York, London, Chicago, Boston, Calgary, Tokyo and New Jersey.

Next, Reiss said, he sees more “geographic opportunities” in the U.S. and Europe, as well as more in China and Canada. But he wouldn’t say where.