Posted by MIN Administration on behalf of Steve Singer

SALUS MARINE WEAR ISN'T JUST TREADING WATER

     Homegrown Salus Marine Wear has thrived by exploiting a sizeable market niche for stylish, comfortable, innovative Personal Flotation Devices(P.F.D's or Life Vests) sold through independent sport and boating retailers throughout Canada.  Its obvious from talking with Steve Wagner, the founder of Salus(which means safety in Latin), that from the outset he wanted to use his design and marketing talents(Steve had been a Product Designer and Product Manager for both Bauer/Nike Footwear in Cambridge and Buoy-o-Buoy lifejackets in Guelph) to turn the mundane lifejacket industry on its head by producing safety vests people actually wanted to wear rather than throw in the bottom of the boat. 

     Eight years later, Steve has built a thriving company centered around his patented rounded edge vest design and currently employs about 35 people in downtown Kitchener.  Salus vests feature the use of bold colours, high performance fabrics, and special accessories built into each vest model customized for individual sports including sailing, kayaking, paddling, waterskiiing etc.  Each model has a catchy product name; Abacus, Nimbus, Adrenaline, Torrent, and Jazz.  Their newest product, the very popular, patented Bijoux Infant Vest, uses an innovative design to flip babies onto their back and safely cradle their head should they fall into the water.  In addition, in 2008 Salus introduced three models of water safety survival suits(Endurance, Formula 16, and Odyssey) each once again customized for their particular application. 

     As in the Greb Shoe story, Salus has always invested  significantly in designing, branding, and marketing their high performance products.  They employ a full time industrial designer, attend numerous industry trade shows, sponsor national sports teams,  and create very effective full

colour product catalogues seasonally. These catalogues and product sheets describe in great detail for the consumer the technical and durability features that make the purchase of a Salus vest a smart, long term, "value proposition".  Here is a short excerpt taken from their SAR Rescue Vest Model.

     "The convenient-pull forward-adjustment straps allow you to don your vest

       quickly and easily both in summer and winter(while wearing gloves) therefore

       allowing you to give your rescue the fullest attention.  The large arm holes,

       narrow shoulders and high waist allow the entire design to reach and bend with you

       providing a standard of performance never seen before in a rescue style PFG."

Fundamentally, Salus(like Greb Shoe with the Hush Puppy) took a commoditized product, the orange P.F.D.'s that we are all familiar with and created a BRAND that emphasizes Form as well as Function,  Style as well as Performance.  This Market Driven approach has allowed Steve Wagner to sidestep low cost, offshore competition, and sell the Salus line at significantly higher retail prices through a loyal legion of independent marine outfitters, adventure stores, who appreciate that his product line is not sold to Big Box retailers.  In turn, Salus' premium product pricing affords them the wholesale margins to continue to manufacture much of their product in Canada.