June 2018

70 71 PREFERRED VENDOR n Entreprise P. Boucher www.epboucher.com The Boucher family has been involved in the leather business since 1891 and the current owner, Dominique Boucher, is the fifth generation to pursue his passion for leather. It all started 115 year ago, with a small family tannery in Saint-Pascal, Que- bec, Canada. As the industry has evolved to Asian-based manufacturing, the business model has changed to serve the market. The company now offers leather made in South America and Thailand and has sales offices in North America and Asia. on wet ice, and we have customers in multiple industries who want that sole on a boot that is extremely light and flexible. So we’re able to do that.” The company is also coming out with a brand new women’s collection, this fall, in a market that LeBlond says is underserved in North America. “We have three women ambassadors who use our products –one is in construction, one is in landscaping and hardscaping, and one’s a stunt- woman in Hollywood,” he reports. “We got them to give us what they’re looking for in a boot; they went on their social media, and talked to the peo- ple they work with, and gave us more feedback. There’s a woman in our innovation team that had the project from beginning to end. So, the collec- tion is built by women, for women, with the input of women.” Unlike many businesses, these days, Royer does not sell its products online. “We have a two- pronged approach,” LeBlond emphasizes. “The products are sold through distribution, usually through a specialized safety distributor. Our sales team knocks on the door of the industrial end user. If there’s a mine, a factory, a smelter, a distri- bution company that has trucks and needs safety footwear, we present the product, we explain to them what we do, and we set up wear tests for some of the employees. The best ambassador of our brand is the boot – as soon as they start test- ing them, and they ask where they can get them, we back end them into a dealer.” In early 2019, there will be a brand new, LEED-certified factory opening in Sherbrooke, QC, with the addition of another 20 or more workers. “Our new factory is going to be highly automated and capable of a lot of customization, not just changing the color of the laces, but customization in the actual performance and functional charac- teristics of the boot, itself,” says LeBlond. “There’s a tendency for the large manufacturers to off- shore their material to Asia or Eastern Europe and run it like a fashion industry, like you’re buying shirts or coats.We’re not a fashion company.We’re boot manufacturers.We’re staying within our boot manufacturing DNA to respect the way they’re designed and built and what the end user does with it.” “The objective is to double sales in three years,” he adds. “In the history of the company, we’ve always been doing with limited capacity. So, L.P. ROYER, INC. now that we have the new factory, we’re good to go.We have the product line, we have the brand, we have strategic partners in Vibram and W.L. Gore that are top-shelf companies, and we’re starting to get known.We’re doing a lot of events and making a lot of noise.We want to become the #1 safety footwear manufacturer in Canada and to disrupt the U.S. and international markets with innovations. You’re going to soon hear about us; we’ll become a known entity.”