Sorel is coming into a brand new chapter. With a 62-year historical past, the Canadian footwear model is finest identified for its sturdy winter utility boots. Now underneath new management, the model is re-imagining its strategy, with a deal with its model heritage and year-round relevance.
Sorel has undergone vital transformation with the arrival of Cory Long 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 Shoes, Long has launched a strategic deal with inventive collaborations and cultural relevance — a imaginative and prescient mirrored in the model’s current 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. Meanwhile, 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 in the footwear panorama, broaden into new markets and have interaction a wider viewers.
After all, 2025 has been formed by fragile shopper confidence, with greater than 80 % of worldwide consumers planning to spend the identical or much less on clothes, footwear and equipment, in keeping with BoF and McKinsey & Co.’s The State of Fashion 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 life-style footwear, and deepening consciousness of its premium craftsmanship. At the identical time, the model is leveraging cultural credibility and natural movie star endorsements, with help from Meghan Markle to Victoria Beckham.
To higher perceive how Sorel is balancing heritage and reinvention — and the way its management is charting the model’s subsequent period — BoF sits down with Long to debate technique, collaborations and long-term ambitions.
Under new management, Sorel has begun a model evolution. How would you describe this new chapter for the firm?
This second represented a reimagined — and far more bold — imaginative and prescient for Sorel. Our aim 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 assume 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 usually feels drained and oversaturated. Heritage isn’t nostalgia however our differentiation, and it’s the inventive spark that enables 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. Consumers 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 objective.
Heritage isn’t nostalgia however our differentiation.
We need folks to think about Sorel not simply when it snows, however after they journey, discover and reside their on a regular basis lives. The identical integrity and design rules that construct our chilly climate repute at the moment are shaping merchandise for each local weather.
What function do collaborations play in increasing Sorel’s attain and relevance?
When you’re employed with the finest manufacturers and designers, you naturally drive innovation — which is central to who we’re. Collaborations introduce Sorel to new audiences and communities they usually enable us to inform a lot richer, extra sudden tales.
We have been very intentional about who we accomplice with. Every collaboration should be purpose-driven — a real win-win, grounded in shared values. Whether that’s vogue, like our partnership with Barbour, or streetwear, like with Aries — the finest 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 great thing about Sorel lives in the stress between opposites. The model goals to be sensible but poetic, romantic and rugged, sensible and horny. 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.
At the finish of the day, our merchandise are constructed to carry out in the harshest circumstances. That credibility — the sturdiness the merchandise have — permits us to raise the model with out shedding authenticity. After all, the corporations that final are the ones that transcend efficiency and life-style, and Sorel has that distinctive duality.
Sorel has lengthy been identified for its female-focused strains. How are you excited about increasing the model’s attraction to male customers?
We’re extremely happy 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. But, we’re opening the aperture. It’s time to ask our male prospects again to the model.
You can see that in our new “Horizon” product line and our newest advertising and marketing marketing campaign, each of which mirror a extra inclusive, genderless strategy. The aim is to construct a year-round, globally related model that speaks to everybody.
What are the key priorities for progress as you broaden internationally?
We are 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 vital parts of our progress technique, alongside the continued enlargement of our males’s line and our push into “warm weather” 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 new Sorel feels related in every single place.
What is your hope for Sorel in the world vogue and footwear panorama?
I need Sorel to be the sudden challenger model. We work alongside the trade’s greatest names and have all the substances to disrupt, to convey one thing contemporary and completely different to the desk.
The aim 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 name for one thing new, and make sure that Sorel turns into an enduring pressure in the class.
What excites you most about the model?
I’ve spent the final month in Japan, Korea, Europe and North America — and you’ll really feel the vitality round Sorel proper now. There’s no denying that the market is hard — gross sales are down throughout the trade, whereas inventories are up — however we’re bucking that development.
From Dover Street Market to Nordstrom, the response has been unbelievable. We’re seeing momentum in every single place and that’s energising. The new Sorel is right here and that is solely the starting.