Why people are breaking the law to get their hands on a Canada Goose luxury parka

Toronto-based Canada Goose is suffering against the backdrop of a wider US-China trade dispute as its share price has fallen from C$90 (US$67.7) in December to C$65 soon after the luxury Canadian retailer opened its first Chinese store in Beijing.

Here are four facts about a retailer known for its down jackets.

1. Ontario’s police used to be its best clients

In 1957, Polish emigrant Sam Tick founded Metro Sportswear, the precursor to Canada Goose, after working at garment factories as a cutter. His speciality was winter gear such as snowmobile suits, and he outfitted Canadian rangers and Ontario’s provincial police with heavy duty parkas.

Although Boston-based Bain Capital became majority shareholder in 2013, Canada Goose remains committed to garments made exclusively in its Toronto and Winnipeg plants.

2. People are breaking the commandments for these jackets

During Chicago’s coldest winter in decades, six people were robbed at gunpoint of their Canada Goose parkas in the past two weeks in a city with a 1,000 square-metre flagship shop in North Michigan.

London saw a smash and grab raid of its Regent Street store soon after it opened, as 10 thieves on five mopeds broke the shop front glass and sped off with parkas in November 2017.

Counterfeit suits such as its 2012 settlement in Sweden and fake coats have led to hologram trademarks becoming the norm.

3. The fluff keeps you warm – but controversy abounds

Canada Goose’s parkas are filled with hypoallergenic down from geese reared by rural Canadian Hutterites. Considered a fantastic natural insulator, each gramme of down contains more than 70,500 fluffy filaments to trap pockets of air to buffer against the cold – yielding lightweight apparel that is easy to move in. Fur trim around hoods sourced from coyotes helps protect people’s faces from frostbite.

Yet Canada Goose’s animal sourcing has spawned naysayers. PETA has been all over the brand for its leg hold traps to capture coyotes for their fur. In 2017, the animal rights group released an undercover video of Canada Goose staff allegedly stuffing geese into crates to be slaughtered for ease of feather plucking.

4. The brand does its bit for polar bears

The brand honours intrepid adventurers with the title Goose People: unofficial brand ambassadors that include polar explorer Ben Saunders and Olympic soccer star Karina LeBlanc.

Laurie Skreslet, the first Canadian to climb Mount Everest in 1982, was one of them. His custom Canada Goose garment was reintroduced in 2011 as the Skreslet Parka.

It supports scientists who study polar bears in the Canadian arctic. For every Canada Goose PBI branded garment sold, C$25 goes toward the conserving the habitats of polar bears.

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