Sorel is getting into a brand new chapter. With a 62-year historical past, the Canadian footwear model is greatest identified for its sturdy winter utility boots. Now underneath new management, the model is re-imagining its method, with a deal with its model heritage and year-round relevance.
Sorel has undergone important transformation with the arrival of Cory Lengthy as Sorel’s president and Michael Minter as vice chairman of brand name and advertising and marketing in 2023. Drawing from his expertise revitalising DC Footwear, Lengthy has launched a strategic deal with artistic collaborations and cultural relevance — a imaginative and prescient mirrored within the model’s latest partnerships.
This yr, the Sorel x Aries collaboration launched the model’s practical DNA to the streetwear house, and a partnership with Barbour blended the Canadian model’s technical efficiency with British heritage. In the meantime, the launch of its new Horizon assortment extends Sorel’s providing past chilly climate, with extra transitional items.
These collaborations, mixed with Sorel’s core pillars of authenticity and craftsmanship — each pair is hand made from real leather-based — are serving to the model refine its place within the footwear panorama, develop into new markets and have interaction a wider viewers.
In any case, 2025 has been formed by fragile shopper confidence, with greater than 80 p.c of world customers planning to spend the identical or much less on clothes, footwear and equipment, in response to BoF and McKinsey & Co.’s The State of Style 2025 report.
As Sorel works to turn out to be a fashion-forward model with an all-seasons providing, it faces each alternatives and challenges: re-engaging with the male shopper amid rising competitors in way of life footwear, and deepening consciousness of its premium craftsmanship. On the identical time, the model is leveraging cultural credibility and natural superstar endorsements, with help from Meghan Markle to Victoria Beckham.
To raised perceive how Sorel is balancing heritage and reinvention — and the way its management is charting the model’s subsequent period — BoF sits down with Lengthy to debate technique, collaborations and long-term ambitions.
Beneath new management, Sorel has begun a model evolution. How would you describe this new chapter for the corporate?
This second represented a reimagined — and rather more formidable — imaginative and prescient for Sorel. Our purpose is to construct a globally related model that reaches new customers by way of distinct storytelling and our wealthy heritage.
There’s just one Sorel — and I don’t suppose we’ve but come near realising its full potential. This new chapter is about unlocking that.
How has the model’s heritage fed into shaping Sorel’s new identification?
In a market crowded with social media-first manufacturers, standing for one thing actual issues now greater than ever. Our historical past is our compass :it grounds us in authenticity, whereas setting us aside. The tales we inform and the merchandise we design all come from that basis.
Our design DNA and craftsmanship — each pair of our sneakers is hand made — provides us a bonus in a panorama that always feels drained and oversaturated. Heritage isn’t nostalgia however our differentiation, and it’s the artistic spark that permits us to disrupt the class.
How are you positioning Sorel as a year-round, all-seasons model?
The qualities that make Sorel nice — versatility, sturdiness, craftsmanship — aren’t seasonal. Customers belief us as a result of our merchandise carry out and endure. That expectation applies year-round. At its core, Sorel isn’t outlined by climate; it’s outlined by goal.
Heritage isn’t nostalgia however our differentiation.
We would like folks to think about Sorel not simply when it snows, however once they journey, discover and stay their on a regular basis lives. The identical integrity and design ideas that construct our chilly climate popularity are actually shaping merchandise for each local weather.
What function do collaborations play in increasing Sorel’s attain and relevance?
If you work with one of the best manufacturers and designers, you naturally drive innovation — which is central to who we’re. Collaborations introduce Sorel to new audiences and communities they usually permit us to inform a lot richer, extra sudden tales.
We have now been very intentional about who we accomplice with. Each collaboration have to be purpose-driven — a real win-win, grounded in shared values. Whether or not that’s trend, like our partnership with Barbour, or streetwear, like with Aries — one of the best outcomes come when either side are aligned creatively and philosophically. That’s the place the magic occurs.
How do you preserve that steadiness between accessibility and aspiration?
The fantastic thing about Sorel lives within the stress between opposites. The model goals to be sensible but poetic, romantic and rugged, good and attractive. We consider that juxtaposition makes the model timeless and is what attracts ambassadors, influencers and celebrities to work with us — whereas nonetheless connecting deeply with on a regular basis customers.
On the finish of the day, our merchandise are constructed to carry out within the harshest circumstances. That credibility — the sturdiness the merchandise have — permits us to raise the model with out dropping authenticity. In any case, the businesses that final are those that transcend efficiency and way of life, and Sorel has that distinctive duality.
Sorel has lengthy been identified for its female-focused traces. How are you occupied with increasing the model’s enchantment to male customers?
We’re extremely pleased with our basis with our feminine shopper — she’s sturdy, she’s daring and well-styled. She has outlined Sorel for a lot of the previous decade. However, we’re opening the aperture. It’s time to ask our male prospects again to the model.
You possibly can see that in our new “Horizon” product line and our newest advertising and marketing marketing campaign, each of which replicate a extra inclusive, genderless method. The purpose is to construct a year-round, globally related model that speaks to everybody.
What are the important thing priorities for progress as you develop internationally?
We’re launching the model in Korea, constructing in Europe and redefining it in North America — all underneath one cohesive world imaginative and prescient. Europe and Asia are crucial parts of our progress technique, alongside the continued enlargement of our males’s line and our push into “heat climate” classes.
What’s thrilling is that the model’s transformation is occurring concurrently throughout areas. The world is smaller now, and our tales resonate throughout borders. From collaborations to heritage-driven storytelling, the brand new Sorel feels related in every single place.
What’s your hope for Sorel within the world trend and footwear panorama?
I would like Sorel to be the sudden challenger model. We work alongside the business’s largest names and have all of the elements to disrupt, to carry one thing contemporary and totally different to the desk.
The purpose is to construct a year-round, globally related model that speaks to everybody.
Our focus is to maintain lifting the model with best-in-class merchandise, visionary collaborations and head-turning advertising and marketing. That’s how we’ll proceed to reply the decision for one thing new, and make sure that Sorel turns into a long-lasting power within the class.
What excites you most in regards to the model?
I’ve spent the final month in Japan, Korea, Europe and North America — and you may really feel the vitality round Sorel proper now. There’s no denying that the market is hard — gross sales are down throughout the business, whereas inventories are up — however we’re bucking that development.
From Dover Avenue Market to Nordstrom, the response has been unimaginable. We’re seeing momentum in every single place and that’s energising. The brand new Sorel is right here and that is solely the start.
