Climate change lessens cold-weather gear demands, brands shift strategies [Video]

Bertrand Cesvet is feeling the heat — and not because of a late-summer hot spell.

The entrepreneur is part of an investment group that bought luxury parka maker Kanuk in May, and while he’s proud to have his hand in the company he calls the Canada Goose of Quebec, he admits that climate change weighs heavily on its future.

“The reality is that cold is not happening anymore,” Cesvet said.

“The group that had Kanuk had bought it eight years before and that was the last time it was -35 C in Quebec. Since then, basically the weather’s been getting warmer and warmer.”

The rising temperatures pose a threat to Kanuk’s flagship product — parkas that can withstand -25 C — and have Cesvet and other retail leaders thinking about how to weatherproof their businesses for a future where extreme heat, flooding and natural disasters could be the norm.

The …