Remembering where you are from is a source of integrity. So for the first entry of our Ports Journal, we would like to give tribute to where we are from. We are from Canada, a nation who’s branding has been misrepresented by our one bordering neighbor to the south. For the most part, the world sees our country as a cold inhospitable place, largely barren, covered in a blanket of snow for half the year. To some extent, there is some truth to that. Yes, the country is vast. Yes, it is pretty uncrowded. And yes, it does get cold - freezing cold - for a good part of the year. Those are facts that we cannot dispute. But there is more to Canada than the portrayal by our neighbor to the south. Throughout this great land of our country, from coast to coast, between the mountains and the plains and the rocky coves are actual settlements of people - in fact, great cities where culture thrives. However, there is no denying that despite all our achievements in the arts and sciences, the defining part of Canada is our interaction with the outdoors. Having been away from Canada for so very long, it is the great outdoors that I miss the most. The clean crisp air that fills your lungs; the still of the early hours that grants you the peace to reflect; and the dramatic landscapes that inspires our imagination. Canada is a beautiful place. So when it came time for us to redesign our new flagship store, we knew we had to pay homage to where we came from, largely because we’ve ventured afar for so very long. To that end, we drew inspiration from the landscape of this great vast land - finding it from the palette of the Canadian Arctic - then stylizing it through a contemporary reinterpretation. Having done this, it made us feel less homesick for being gone so long. But more importantly, it helped us reaffirm who we are, that at our very core, we are from Canada.