How Canada Goose Thrived in 2020

The lifestyle icon used Shop Floor Control to pivot and adapt

As the historic disruption of 2020 begins to fade in the rearview mirror, the retail industry is reflecting on how some of its leading lights found themselves challenged like never before. Brand and retail organizations of all shapes and sizes are looking to borrow lessons and best practices from the businesses that not only survived, but also found new strength in a time of stress.

One of those brands is long-time CGS customer Canada Goose, the luxury parka brand of choice for serious adventurers—and a lifestyle icon off-mountain. Within a week of the first shutdown, Canada Goose had comprehensively pivoted to making and shipping personal protective equipment (PPE) under government license. They also orchestrated a socially distanced, COVID-secure workforce return to nine manufacturing sites across multiple provinces.

Eight months on, Canada Goose had manufactured more than 3 million units of PPE and had experienced a level of compressed change that had tested the company to its core. But with smart pre-pandemic technology investments in solutions like BlueCherry Shop Floor Control, the brand had successfully brought more than 80 percent of its production back in-house, giving it a level of visibility, agility and resilience that allowed Canada Goose to adapt to rapidly-changing circumstances and answer the call of PPE production at the same time as expanding into new seasons and product lines.

“This gave us the assurance that we were strong,” said Andres Quiroz, Canada Goose’s Production Director. “Now we feel more adventurous—less afraid of starting something new.”

Canada Goose tells the full story of how it withstood the weather and invested in change both before and during the pandemic in the 2021 CGS Annual Supply Chain Trends and Technology report, which also includes other brand stories, insights from leading influencers and analysis, and the findings of our survey of more than 100 leading brand and retail businesses.

You can get your free copy of the report today.