Daniel Craig stands proudly on a snow-covered mountaintop, braving the cold in jeans, hiking boots and a $495 cobalt-blue puffer jacket. This Bond needs no gadgets or high-performance skis here.
Because emblazoned on his sleeve is the only status symbol for freezing fashionistas: A red, white and blue circle marking the brand Canada Goose.
If you live in New York and you haven’t had your head in the snow for the past year, you’ll know the label. Where in the past, a simple black sleeping bag coat was considered enough to protect stylish city folk from the chill, a status parka beloved by celebrities — Jimmy Fallon, Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper, among others — is now the only way to bundle up.
Who cares if the jackets range in price from $445 to $1,195?
Made with a water-resistant shell and coyote-trimmed hood, and filled with coveted Canadian down, the coat is cozy, while lending the owner the air of a badass Arctic adventurer.
“I haven’t taken it off since I got it,” says Dini von Mueffling, a 40-something founding partner of HvM Communications and co-founder of the nonprofit Love Heals. “The styling is so right for New York. It’s understated, there’s only one logo. And what it says is, ‘I want to be warm and I want to look good.’ ”
Von Mueffling originally bought a $595 “Constable” Canada Goose two years ago for her husband, Ted Sann, a retired BBDO ad-agency exec, but held off on making a purchase for herself until this season.
“I was really, really resistant to getting one because I don’t want to wear what everyone is wearing,” says von Mueffling, who lives on the Upper East Side. But after one too many bone-chilling dog walks in the park, she caved — and hasn’t looked back. “It’s life-changing.”
Canada Goose coats have been standard issue for US Antarctic Program researchers and for film crews in nippy locations for decades. In recent years, the jackets migrated to the US, where they are favored by everyone from bankers to babies.
This is the rare trend that appeals equally to guys and gals — after all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Ben Rosow, a 15-year-old sophomore at the United Nations International School, says he hasn’t shivered in 18 months — ever since his father bought him an $845 “Citadel” parka.
Rosow’s 18-year-old brother, Gabriel, also rocks a Goose, as do gaggles of their UNIS classmates. The brothers guesstimate more than 70 kids at the high school have them, including their 17-year-old buddy Markus Miranda, who went to more than five stores last month in his hunt for a $745 black “Langford.” His mom finally scored one on moosejaw.com.
“Last year I was skiing with Ben and Gabriel, and they were practically sweating while I was freezing, so I was like, all right, this could be a good investment,” says Miranda. “All I have to wear under it is a short-sleeved T-shirt.”
Founded in Toronto in 1957 under the name Metro Sportswear Ltd., by the 1970s the company had made its name producing private-label down parkas for Canadian park rangers, police officers and workers in the Canadian high Arctic. In 2000 the name was changed to Canada Goose, and in December 2013 the company sold a majority stake to private investment firm Bain Capital.
Canada Goose’s US sales have been on the upswing for the past 15 years, but they have spiked in the last three years or so, according to Dani Reiss, president and CEO of Canada Goose and the grandson of its founder, Sam Tick.
Indeed, US sales last year soared 30 percent over 2013 to top $50 million, Reiss says.
The craze picked up steam when Kate Upton went “polar bare” on the cover of the 2013 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, ditching her bikini top for a white Canada Goose bomber jacket, worn open over string-bikini bottoms. Her glam squad also sported Canada Goose parkas during the six-day shoot in Antarctica — but the lucky team was permitted clothes.
Now the jackets are roosting on every street corner.
“We’re the Land Rover of clothing,” says Reiss. “We’re built to be used in the harshest climates, but we’ve also transcended into the fashion world.”
Canada Goose is part of the booming “premium-down” category, along with its main competitor, Moncler, and a handful of outdoor brands like the North Face and Patagonia.
“The trend of these parkas continues to gain in momentum,” says Colleen Sherin, senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue. “Canada Goose is an important brand for us. It’s quality, it’s an investment piece, and it’s practical.”
Bob Gilman, COO of Paragon Sports, the company’s primary dealer in New York, added that Canada Goose is a “great seller.”
But the label is so ubiquitous that many trendsetters feel the Goose — as with Uggs, another former winter “must-have” — is finally cooked.
This fatigue was felt particularly keenly this week at Sundance, where Canada Goose is among the sponsors of the indie-film extravaganza/freebie fest for the third year running. The company has even set up a gifting suite where $550 limited-edition black “Hybridge Lite Hoody” jackets are being handed out for free to directors.
“I feel like a bit of a d - - khead,” admits director Matthew Bate of being part of such a raging trend after scooping up a free Goose at the suite. “But it’s warmer than my other jackets.”
“I would wear a Goose, but they’re definitely over,” adds 33-year-old entertainment personality Ben Lyons, who was hanging out on Sunday at Sundance’s Stella Artois Cafe. “You see them everywhere.”
Additional reporting by Dana Schuster