Roots Canada

Roots Corporation
Company typePublic
TSXROOT
IndustryRetail
FoundedToronto, Ontario, Canada (August 15,1973 (August 15,1973))
FoundersMichael Budman and Don Green
Headquarters,
Number of locations
114 Canadian stores, 7 American stores and 150 + partner-operated locations in Asia [1]
Areas served
Canada, United States, Asia
Key people
Meghan Roach, Chief executive officer
ProductsApparel, leather goods, active athletic wear, yoga wear, accessories, home furnishings
RevenueIncrease C$ 329.865 million (2019) [2]
Decrease -C$56.918 million (2019)[2]
Decrease -C$62.029 million (2019)[2]
Total assetsIncrease C$ 440. 774 million (2019)[2]
Total equityDecrease C$ 150.506 million (2019)[2]
OwnerSearchlight Capital Partners (majority stake)
Budman & Green (minority stake)
Number of employees
2,000 in Canada[3]
Websiteroots.com

Roots Corporation (doing business as Roots) is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, small leather goods, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, by Michael Budman and Don Green. In 2015, Roots was sold to Searchlight Capital Partners LP, an American investment firm.[4]

The company's design centre and leather factory are in Toronto, Ontario. Roots reportedly has approximately 2,000 employees in Canada.[5] Roots factories exist globally, however, details of these factories are not disclosed by the parent company.

Roots started using the beaver logo in 1985 with the launch of their athletic brand. The logo was designed in the 1970s by graphic artists Heather Cooper and Robert Burns.[6] The logo features a beaver, the national animal of Canada, on top of tree branches. The typography of the company name below is set in the Cooper font created by Oswald Cooper in 1919.

  1. ^ "Roots Launches Multi-Channel Retail Presence in Hong Kong". Investors Roots (Apr 3, 2019). Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Roots Canada FY 2019 Annual Report" (PDF). Roots Canada. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  3. ^ Company Fact Sheet
  4. ^ Friend, David (26 October 2015). "Roots co-founders sell majority stake to Searchlight Capital investment firm". Canadian Business. St. Joseph Communications. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  5. ^ Shaw, Hollie (2011-06-10). "Sinking Roots in Canada". Financial Post. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  6. ^ Trip, Culture (January 4, 2017). "A History Of Roots, Canada's Iconic Store". The Culture Trip. Retrieved January 7, 2023.