The story in the footprints

The footprints in the freshly fallen snow once said Canadian footwear of high quality construction made by a small, successful Canadian company.

The company was Kaufman Rubber Co. of Kitchener, the Southwestern Ontario city an hour east of London.

And the boots were Sorels. They were big, clunky, warm and oh-so-protective. My favourite winter boots remain my Sorels purchased two decades ago. A tag, still visible inside, reads Made in Canada. Those original Sorels would last almost forever.

And that was one of the problems. The damn boots would last and last. Two decades ago the Kaufman company closed.

But that's not the end of the story. The name and trademark were picked up by the American company Columbia Sportswear. The line was expanded and in 2017 the Sorel brand had a net income of $228.8 million.

Needing a pair of less well-worn boots, something suitable for more than digging out the drive and trudging about the local ski hill, I bought some new Sorels last fall. The boots are big, bulky, well-made and good to -40 degrees. And oh, these boots have a tag inside too. It reads Made in Veitnam.