Kamik is repositioning its brand around bad-weather footwear as the Quebec-based bootmaker looks to strengthen its identity and develop new products for consumers and workers operating in challenging conditions.
The company, which has been making boots since 1898, launched its new brand positioning, “Bad Weather Boots,” on Oct. 1, alongside a campaign called Weather Reveals Character. The initiative marks a return to the company’s roots as a Canadian manufacturer of footwear designed for difficult weather conditions.
The relaunch includes a new product strategy, a campaign featuring stories from people working and spending time outdoors, and plans to organize its expanding product pipeline into four distinct categories.
Returning to its Canadian roots
Kamik says its history is closely connected to Canada’s industrial development, with its footwear worn by people working in the railway, lumber and hydroelectric sectors. The company has also supplied footwear to the defence sector and says its products have been used in extreme environments, including pipeline operations at temperatures as low as -70 C, on Mount Everest and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The company says it has sold well over one million pairs of several established footwear styles, including its Canuck, Workhorse and Nation Plus boots for adults, as well as its Waterbug5, Snowbug and Stomp styles for children.
Kamik describes itself as one of the last remaining North American boot manufacturers, with its products sold internationally. According to the company, 70 per cent of its boots continue to be made in Quebec.
The new positioning is intended to bring the company’s manufacturing history and product focus together under a more clearly defined brand identity.
“In comfort, we’re all the same,” says Fern Breslaw, vice-president of brand and creative at Kamik. “In extremes, character shows up. That’s the idea behind this campaign”.
Campaign invites consumers to share experiences
The Weather Reveals Character campaign centres on real people and their experiences in challenging weather conditions. Through what Kamik calls “reports from the field,” consumers are invited to submit photographs, videos and accounts of their experiences.
Selected submissions may be featured in the company’s marketing activities, including video, social media, influencer partnerships and out-of-home advertising campaigns in Canada, the United States and Europe.
The initiative is intended to give consumers a role in the campaign while highlighting the people who use the company’s footwear in demanding environments.
Kamik says its brand identity is rooted in Quebec but has developed a following in other regions around the world, reflecting the company’s history of producing footwear for people who work and spend time outdoors.
Four product categories planned
Alongside the brand repositioning, Kamik is developing a significant pipeline of new products that will be organized into four categories: Frontline, Industry, Woodland and Everyday Grind.
Frontline products will be developed in collaboration with defence, emergency response and public service personnel. Industry will focus on certified footwear for people who earn a living working outdoors, while Woodland will include boots designed for activities such as hunting and snowmobiling.
Everyday Grind will target consumers looking for footwear for everyday use.
“Kamik has been making boots for lousy conditions for more than 125 years. Somewhere along the line, we forgot what we were for,” says Conrad Tappert, CEO of Kamik. “This relaunch, both product and brand, is about owning who we’ve been all along”.
The company is also emphasizing its proprietary Ground-Ctrl Rubber compound, which it says was developed through generations of experience manufacturing footwear for Canadian winter conditions. Kamik describes the material as a key component of its traction technology and says it is exclusive to the company’s footwear.
Positioning around a new category
The relaunch is intended to establish Kamik more firmly in the bad-weather footwear category, with the company looking to build its brand around products designed for rain, snow, slush and other difficult conditions.
Tappert says the strategy reflects the company’s long-standing focus on producing boots for people who face challenging weather rather than avoid it.
“Owning bad weather. Period.”, says Tappert. “For over a century we’ve made boots for people who understand that how you meet the elements – rain, snow, muck, slush – reveals who you truly are.”
Founded in 1898, Kamik Canada Inc. manufactures footwear for consumers of all ages and people working in demanding conditions. Its products are sold worldwide, with the company continuing to manufacture a majority of its boots in Quebec.
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