ABOUT HD BROWN

It started in the 1970s in Waterloo, Ontario.

Hugh Douglas Brown owned a furniture manufacturing company that made, among other things, oak bars for automobile roof racks. When the contract was almost cancelled, Hugh turned the potential loss into an opportunity.

It was when the national retailer who sold the racks couldn’t find a supplier to make the cotton straps usedto fasten the racks to car roofs that Hugh realized with the right set-up it would be easy to make the straps.

The customer would be serviced, the contract would be saved, and the product - the only one of its kind at the time - would continue to reach the market.

In 1971 H.D. Brown Enterprises Ltd. began operations as a small cut and sew business with two staff working out of a factory in St. George, Ontario. Over the years the furniture business was sold and H.D. Brown began importing products on a subcontractor basis. The business grew, the building was expanded and by the 1980s H.D. Brown had earned exclusive rights as the Canadian distributor for big name U.S. based sports equipment manufacturers Easton, Mizuno and Voit. The move to import and distribute products gave the company’s sales agents a broader, easier-to-sell product line that made H.D. Brown stronger and more competitive.

In the 1990s Easton and Mizuno moved operations to Canada to start their own distribution network based on the solid foundation established throughout the ’80s. That’s when H.D. Brown landed a contract with Russell Athletic to distribute sports apparel.

Today H.D. Brown Enterprises Ltd. is a private company owned and managed by the founder’s son Douglas Brown. H.D. Brown employs over 150 people in its manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities. Operations run out of three divisions: Russell Athletic sports wear; Sporting Goods and Automotive; Original Equipment Manufacturing.

Products are sold across Canada through a network of independent sales brokers to all major retailers including The Bay, Zellers, WalMart, Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, SportMart and National Sports. H.D. Brown also exports to the U.S. and Europe.