Canadian suppliers have been dwindling, so the company has had to look to Italy and France to source leather and even farther afield for zippers.Rifling through the Roots Corp. product archives on a recent morning, CEO Meghan Roach is surrounded by the kind of heritage “most consumer brands would die to have.”In every direction she turns are racks of leather jackets spanning the company’s 52 years. Some are replicas of custom pieces gifted to Toronto Raptors players for their 2019 championship win, the cast of Saturday Night Live for its fiftieth anniversary or the Jamaican bobsled team that inspired the “Cool Runnings” film.Others are even more rare: a forest green jacket stitched with a floral and friendship bracelet motif for pop star Taylor Swift, and one adorned with snazzy sunglasses and piano key pockets that marked Elton John’s retirement from touring, the lining of which features 56 years of albums.What they have in common is an origin story that began with the building Roach is standing in — the Roots leather factory in north Toronto.AdvertisementChances are, if you bought a leather bag or jacket from the retailer, they came from the Caledonia Road site, which has given Roots bragging rights in an era where everyone wants to buy Canadian.“Every time I bring someone through the factory, they kind of look at me and say, ‘I just didn’t realize you did this here,’” Roach said of the facility where dozens of workers cut leather, stitch it together, emboss it and ultimately, handcraft up to 8,000 pieces monthly.The Canadian operation is a rarity these days, after clothing manufacturing largely migrated overseas in the sixties, when brands wanted to reduce costs and offload repetitive and sometimes time-consuming tasks.Roots has not been entirely immune to the allure of international production. It sources some of its clothing in Asia and Europe, but designs everything in Canada, which remains the heart of its leather business.AdvertisementDomestic production has been “very challenging,” Roach said. Canadian suppliers have been dwindling, so the company has had to look to Italy and France to source leather and even farther afield for zippers.For a time, it had a Canadian company helping it with piping on bags, but they went out of business, so Roots bought its machinery and trained staff to use it.The decision was a point of pride long before shoppers started letting patriotism rule their pocketbooks this year in hopes of countering U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariff whims.The moment has shoppers rallying around any company with a shred of Canadiana so Roach is determined not to let it slip away without customers learning more about the brand’s, well, roots.AdvertisementFounders Michael Budman and Don Green were raised in Michigan but met at Camp Tamakwa in Ontario’s Algonquin Park in 1963 and 10 years later, decided to head north of the border to start Roots.Initially, they specialized in negative-heel shoes, which reduced pressure on backs, but when the footwear sold out in less than a month and spawned a waiting list, Budman and Green dreamt bigger. They started pumping out varsity jackets, leather bags ideal for weekend getaways and salt-and-pepper sweats. (ICE TORONTO)

Fonte notizia: https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/