Canada Goose Inc.

In 1957, Polish-Jewish immigrant Sam Tick founded Metro Sportswear, the company that would later become Canada Goose. The company's first products were wool vests, raincoats, and snowsuits. Tick's son-in-law David Reiss joined Metro Sportswear in 1972 and introduced a down-filling machine that allowed the company to more efficiently produce winter jackets.

By the late 1970s, the company was supplying parkas to police, corrections officers, park rangers, and other public sector workers under the Snow Goose brand name. It also sold designs to larger apparel manufacturers such as L.L.Bean and Eddie Bauer. In 1982, Reiss succeeded Tick as the company's CEO. In 1985, Reiss acquired a majority stake in the company and changed its name to Snow Goose.

In 1997, David's son Dani Reiss joined the company, initially working in sales. In 2000, at Dani Reiss's urging, the company changed its name from Snow Goose to Canada Goose. The following year, Dani Reiss took over from his father as CEO of the company. Under Dani Reiss' leadership, the company discontinued its private label operations to focus mainly on consumer products. The business saw rapid growth around the turn of the millennium and revenues increased from roughly $3 million in 1991 to roughly $17.5 million in 2008.

21st century

In 2010 Canada Goose opened an office in Stockholm, Sweden, for its European operations. In 2011, Canada Goose acquired a new plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As global growth continued, Canada Goose moved its Winnipeg operations into a larger facility in 2013. This growth occurred when the luxury parka market grew significantly, with Canadian luxury apparel brands, including Canada Goose, aggressively marketing their parkas to young Canadians.

In January 2012, Canada Goose launched a lawsuit against International Clothiers in the Federal Court of Canada for trademark infringement. Canada Goose alleged International Clothiers of intentionally designing a logo and positioning it on jackets to mimic the Canada Goose Arctic Program trademark. The International Clothiers product lines in question were the foreign-manufactured Canada Weather Gear and Super Triple Goose. Canada Goose claimed that unfair business practices were used including publishing print advertisements to promote the jackets as Canada Goose products. A settlement was reached in November 2012.

In December 2013, US private equity firm Bain Capital acquired a 70 per cent equity stake in Canada Goose at a $250 million valuation. The deal included a commitment to keep manufacturing in Canada. At the time, the company had grown to approximately 1,000 employees and had recently opened new manufacturing plants in Toronto and Winnipeg. In December 2014, Canada Goose opened a showroom and sales office in New York City. From 2001 to 2014, the company's sales revenue had grown from $3 million to $200 million.

In January 2015, Canada Goose acquired a second manufacturing facility in Scarborough and opened a second factory in Winnipeg that November. In late 2016, Canada Goose opened a store in Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

The company announced preparations in November 2016 for an initial public offering, reporting that it generated $291 million in revenue and $27 million in profit in 2016 and had $278 million in debt. On March 16, 2017, shares of the company began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GOOS. The IPO was composed of 20 million shares selling for around $13 per share, and raised approximately $255 million in new revenue.

Canada Goose manufactures outerwear and apparel, including coats, parkas, knitwear, hats, gloves and footwear. Its longest-running products are its parkas, which are meant to keep the wearer warm in freezing temperatures. These coats have been worn by researchers in the United States Antarctic Program and in dogsledding events such as the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest In November 2018, the company acquired the bootmaker Baffin. In November 2021, Canada Goose launched its first-ever footwear collection. In August 2026, the company announced the sale of its Baffin footwear brand to Royer, a manufacturer specializing in work and military footwear.

The brand is known for its distinctive logo, which resembles an arctic map of the North Pole encircled by red text that reads "CANADA GOOSE" on top and "ARCTIC PROGRAM" along the bottom. This badge is usually placed on the upper arm of a coat or jacket. The company does not outsource its manufacturing or license its brand to other manufacturers, and brands its products as "Made in Canada". Its manufacturing facilities are based in Canada.

Counterfeiting

To combat counterfeiting, Canada Goose has set up a web page that verifies whether Canada Goose goods sold by a particular vendor are authentic or not. Fake Canada Goose Jackets are one of the many counterfeit items being handled by Project Chargeback, a collaboration between the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, credit-card companies, and banks, to scrutinize online merchant accounts. In 2011, as an anti-counterfeiting measure, Canada Goose began sewing hologram trademarks into its jackets as proof of authenticity.

In October 2012, Canada Goose won a legal battle against counterfeiters in Sweden. The District Court of Stockholm found five individuals guilty of felony fraud, trademark infringement and customs offences. The Court sentenced two of the defendants to prison sentences and awarded Canada Goose damages of 701,000 SEK (approximately CAD$105,000).