Canada Goose eyes opportunities in flourishing Chinese market at CIIE

Canada Goose, a global performance luxury lifestyle brand, is showcasing its latest products, market achievements and plans to seize new opportunities in the Chinese market at the ongoing fifth China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

An array of performance luxury products throughout the Canada Goose pavilion — from parkas and lightweight jackets to footwear and accessories — have caught the eyes of visitors at the CIIE where the brand has debuted this year.

There is also a dedicated section displaying collaborations with Chinese designers, including Chen Anqi — its first-ever guest designer in history — the recently launched designer Wang Fengchen and artist Xu Zhen.

The brand is promoting its sustainability commitments and progress it has made to the expo.

"Chinese consumers are leading trends worldwide and defining what a luxury brand is today. That is more focused on making quality products, standing for something bigger than themselves especially through sustainability and corporate citizenship, enabling their consumers to thrive, and aligning to their consumers' personal beliefs," said Larry Li, president of Canada Goose China.

The brand has long believed that performance pushed far enough is luxury in itself and has consciously ingrained sustainability into its business.

"We have always been transparent about our business, how and where we source materials and manufacture products, our product lifetime warranty, as well as our commitment to the environment and communities which we were born in, live in and serve," Li added.

Canada Goose's environmental, social and governance report said its goals include achieving carbon net zero by 2025, transitioning 90 percent of the company's materials to "preferred fibers and materials," which are recycled and organic fibers, by 2025 and integrating sustainable solutions into packaging across its business.

Since Canada Goose entered China in 2018, it has been well received by Chinese consumers. The company said China was one of the most important engines to propel the company to become a C$1 billion ($739 million) company in the fiscal year of 2021.

Canada Goose highlighted that its strategy in the Chinese market was unique from the first day it did business here.

"We built our direct-to-consumer business first, while in other regions, we had entered with distributors or wholesale partners. China has such an established consumer culture, and our brand strength was already significant there," Li said.

In 2021, the brand launched its footwear collection in China first through an e-commerce-based pre-sale. It also leveraged China's diversity and flexibility in digital ecosystems to illustrate itself in innovative ways. For instance, during Lunar New Year, it launched an animated filter that helped consumers share photos of joy and hope with paper-cut tigers jumping on their shoulders.

Instead of resting on its laurels, Canada Goose decided to enhance its performance in the coming years. China is home to its largest store network worldwide, but the company believes its current footprint in China is still relatively small.

The brand currently has 22 stores, opening three within the past few months and has plans to open another in November. It is also continuing to invest in e-commerce capabilities, with more exciting milestones to come.

The brand is working on category expansion, and its non-parka categories have performed strongly. Its collaborations with Chinese talents and culture continue to underscore the brand's authenticity, a purpose-driven brand that has remained true to itself through the past 65 years.

"Despite global headwinds, the Chinese consumer sector has been resilient, growing and upgrading," Li said.