How Canada Goose’s Archive Room Preserves the Past, Inspires its Future

Not too many people have laid eyes on the Canada Goose Archive Room in Toronto. Over 65 years of Canada Goose history lives in the space, and it tells the story of how one of the country’s most well-known clothing brands came to be. 

It also houses every collaboration they’ve ever done, from initial guest designer Angel Chen, to their NBA Collection with Salehe Bembury, and of course their longstanding partnership with fellow Torontonians OVO.

Complex Canada recently had the rare opportunity to get a glimpse into what’s inside the secretive archives, and meet with spokesperson Woody Blackford.

What is the origin of the Archives?

The Archive Room is located here in our head office in Toronto. It was created as a historical catalogue of product and is a point of inspiration for both the internal design team and guest designers. We recently restructured our Archive Room. Now it’s more of an experience and catalogued by year. It allows us as well as our partners to venture back to Canada Goose roots and pull inspiration from our heritage.

What can be found there? 

We have over 65 years’ worth of history and heritage in our Archive Room that brand partners can dig into. In the Archive Room, you can see: Heritage styles we produced when we were making products for park rangers in the North; Products that Sam Tick and David Reiss made prior to Dani Reiss taking over as President and CEO; Original paper patents; Every collaboration we’ve done at Canada Goose; Thousands of parkas and commercial product garments.

Who has access to it, normally? 

The Archive Room is available to our internal and partner or guest designers. It is also available to all Canada Goose employees by appointment. To get there, you go through a “secret” door. Once inside, you find a giant case holding over 3,600 products.

How do your designers use it for inspiration? 

When we work with collaborators, we’re looking to bring in a new perspective that will help us do something we couldn’t do on our own, reimagining how we would traditionally express the Canada Goose brand through core product offerings. Early collaborations can be seen within two of our most iconic products, the Expedition and Snow Mantra, when working with scientists based in the Arctic, working to ensure they would stay warm in the harshest, most extreme conditions. We’ve always found the Archives to be a really strong starting point for the creative design process and the collaborative design process. When we approach collaborations through the lens of staying true to our functional heritage, we participate in the cultural conversations of the moment while delivering against our brand promise simultaneously; when we surprise the consumer, we stay relevant and top of mind while staying true to our heritage.

How does Canada Goose choose collaborators? 

Our collaborations are partnerships. Our goal is to find brands that occupy a space different from ourselves. We believe that the perfect collaboration is achieved when two brands working together create products that neither partner could build independently – ‘the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.’ For Canada Goose, this often arrives when we push the boundaries between performance and fashion. Our collaborators are global tastemakers with unique perspectives that challenge us to re-interpret our core design DNA in new ways. While you might find these projects on the runways of New York, Paris, or Shanghai, we never sacrifice performance for style. By staying true to our functional heritage, we participate in the cultural conversations of the moment while delivering against our brand promise simultaneously. When we surprise the consumer, we stay relevant and top of mind while staying true to our heritage. Each partnership is new and exciting in its own unique way, challenging us as designers and in turn taking the Canada Goose brand to new territory.

How did the OVO collaboration come to be? 

OVO is our legacy partnership: We’ve been doing it for over a decade and it’s still resonating so strongly. For the latest OVO collection, we tapped into the archives to reimagine two heritage pieces and seek inspiration for a brand-new cap. Made from Loro Piana wool, the collection is available in a set of rich autumnal hues, which the capsule takes performance luxury and street style to a new level.

Why has the OVO collaboration been such a strong one over the years? 

Over the last decade, Canada Goose and OVO have developed a unique partnership that celebrates community. The Canada Goose OVO collection has become a staple for consumers, one they have come to expect year over year. The speed at which the product flies from stores is a reflection of its continued relevance: Within one weekend our units are usually gone. There is always buzz. The product does not sit in stores.