Embracing warmth of ‘global love’

People are often surprised when Elaine Prettie tells them about the manufacturing plant in Winnipeg where she works.

“A lot of people don’t know that the factory’s here,” Prettie says. “They think it’s all in Toronto.”

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. may be headquartered in the Ontario capital, but three of the luxury clothing and outerwear brand’s manufacturing facilities are in Winnipeg.

CGW-1 (Canada Goose Winnipeg 1) is on Bannatyne Avenue and CGW-2 and CGW-3 are across the street from each other on Mountain Avenue.

Prettie is among the roughly 900 Manitobans employed at the trio of plants. The Beausejour resident is a supervisor and trainer at CGW-3, which opened in November 2015. At around 100,000 square feet, it’s the largest of the three.

“I live so far away and I never miss a day, even in a snowstorm, because I want to be here,” Prettie says. “I really, really want to be here.”

Canada Goose works hard to engender that loyalty among its manufacturing workforce. The company wants its workers to feel comfortable, appreciated and empowered. It’s part of what drew president and COO Beth Clymer to the company in 2024.

“I saw how we put the people at the core of what we do and how that has allowed us to make such impeccable products,” the Princeton and Harvard educated executive says, while visiting Winnipeg in September. “That’s what ultimately made me decide to officially join the team.”

Sam Tick started the company in Toronto in 1957, under the name Metro Sportswear Ltd., producing wool vests, raincoats and snowsuits.

Tick’s son-in-law, David Reiss, joined the company in the 1970s and launched a new era for the business when he invented a volume-based down filling machine that allowed the company to more efficiently produce winter jackets. Reiss also established the label Snow Goose, which later became Canada Goose.

In the decades that followed, the company became known for those winter jackets. Most people who think of the brand likely think of a black parka with a circular patch on it featuring the company’s red, white and blue logo: an arctic map of the North Pole encircled by text that reads “Canada Goose” and “arctic program.”

While parkas are key to the company’s success, Canada Goose has come to offer a diverse range of clothing that includes hoodies, fleece jackets, T-shirts and pants. In addition to Winnipeg, there are three production facilities in the Greater Toronto Area and one in Montreal. The company also works with partners in Canada and overseas, Clymer says.

Today, Canada Goose’s annual revenue is $1.35 billion. The company employs 4,000 people, more than 2,200 of whom are in manufacturing, and operates 75 retail stores around the globe.

A label in each product indicates which factory it came from, so whether you’re buying a Canada Goose item in Tokyo, London or Los Angeles, you’ll be able to tell where it was manufactured.

“That’s a real (source) of pride for employees here,” Clymer says. “They love the products (and) they know that there’s such a global love for the products.”

A large majority of the company’s products are manufactured in Canada, Clymer says. The company’s fleece items, including the popular Chilliwack Bomber, are manufactured in the Bannatyne plant.

“‘Made in Canada’ is an incredibly important part of our company DNA and philosophy,” Clymer says.

Most of the company’s Manitoba employees work at CGW-3 on Mountain Avenue. Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement are the name of the game, and employees who suggest a better way of doing things the company implements are added to the factory’s wall of fame.

The facility has 13 sewing lines; no experience is necessary to start.

New employees go through a six-week training program that teaches them how to sew and allows supervisors to assess where on the line they should be placed.

Elaine Prettie has trained more than 200 new employees this year alone.

The 64-year-old has worked in the garment industry her entire adult life, including almost 16 years with the Canada Goose company.

“I love being busy,” she says. “If I’m not very busy, I’m not very happy.”

When Prettie was young, her mother made clothes for her and her older sister. At 16, Prettie asked her mother to teach her how to sew, which kicked off a lifelong love for the trade.

“When I come to Canada Goose and I’m sewing samples, I’m always proud of the work that I’m doing,” Prettie says. “I felt the same way when my mom made a dress for me. It just made me happy.”

For Andres Quiroz, Winnipeg director of manufacturing, it’s hard to pick just one thing he most enjoys about his work. Teaching new employees, taking on everyday challenges and seeing people wearing Canada Goose items in public all make him proud.

“It fills my heart to see our product in the streets,” he says.

Born and raised in Colombia, Quiroz earned a bachelor’s degree in textile sciences and engineering before moving to Florida, where he spent a year making costumes for performers at a marine mammal park.

He moved to Toronto in 2008, joined Canada Goose there four years later, and moved to Winnipeg almost 18 months ago to start his current role.

“(I’m) loving it,” Quiroz says of living in Winnipeg. “I’m fascinated with the city, I’m fascinated by the pace and the vibe. ‘Friendly Manitoba’ — everyone is a good ambassador of that phrase.”

One of the 49-year-old’s career highlights was meeting David Reiss. The down filling machine Reiss had invented almost 40 years earlier was still operating.

“When they built that machine, the technology didn’t exist … so I was impacted by the innovation,” Quiroz says. “We’re actually a company that has been built from scratch.”

Canada Goose embeds quality in every step of the process to deliver on its luxury proposition for customers, Clymer says, and it couldn’t happen without the company’s manufacturing workforce.

“Our business is fuelled by our wonderful products, and our wonderful products are made by all of those amazing, hardworking people.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca