Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Waterloo Region Museum |
Object ID |
2010.001.049 |
Object Name |
Folder, File |
Title |
Canada's Best |
Description |
Heavy paper folder with additional pages in the interior. Sepia tone image of workers in a factory on the cover. Kodiak shoe box in lower left corner; "Canada's Best" in black lettering beside it. Interior contains archival and modern photographs of the company and its products. Information on the company and a brief history is also included. |
Date |
1990 |
Date |
1991 |
History |
Greb Industries Limited was a shoe and boot manufacturing company based in Kitchener, ON. Charles Erwin Greb (1859-1934) became the secretary-treasurer of the Berlin Shoe Manufacturing Company when it was incorporated in 1910. His son, Erwin Greb, joined the company as bookkeeper. In 1912, Charles and Erwin acquired the company and, in 1916, it received a new charter of incorporation under the name Greb Shoe Company Limited, with Charles as president and Erwin as secretary-treasurer. In 1918, Erwin bought the controlling interest in the company from his father, who remained involved with the business in an advisory capacity. The Greb Shoe Company had plants on Queen Street and at the corner of Mansion and Chestnut Streets in Kitchener. It was again reorganized and received a new charter in 1930. In 1938, it acquired Valentine and Martin Limited, a Waterloo manufacturer of work boots and shoes, which continued to operate as a separate business until it was merged with the Greb Shoe Company in 1951. Operations by that time were consolidated at a plant on Breithaupt Street in Kitchener. When Erwin Greb died in 1954, his sons - Harry, Arthur, and Charles (Chuck) - took on executive roles within the company. In 1959, the company purchased the Canada West Shoe Manufacturing Company of Winnipeg, including its popular Kodiak brand boots. The expansion into Western Canada began a period of tremendous growth for the company. The company made several other acquisitions, including Bauer Canadian Skate, Tebbutt Shoe and Leather Company, and Collins Safety Shoes. The most significant factor in the company's growth through the 1960s was the popularity of Hush Puppies brand of casual shoes, which Greb began manufacturing under license from Wolverine World Wide of Rockford, Michigan. The mascot for this line of footwear, a basset hound named Velvet, was a popular symbol for the brand. By the early 1970s Greb had grown to become Canada's largest footwear manufacturer, employing 1200 people in Kitchener and another 1100 in Winnipeg, Trois-Rivieres, and Bangor. In 1974, the company was purchased by Warrington Products Limited of Mississauga. Greb Industries Limited continued to manufacture footwear under the new owners but several plants were closed and the head office was moved from Ardelt Avenue in Kitchener to Mississauga. In 1987, Warrington sold the Greb division to Taurus Footwear of Montreal. Production of Hush Puppies ended in 1989 when the license was surrendered to Wolverine. The Bauer skate division, operating as Canstar Sports, had been relocated to Cambridge and sold to Nike. The last Greb plant in Kitchener, a Kodiak boot plant on Hayward Avenue, closed in 1991. |
Search Terms |
Greb Industries Limited Kodiak |