Where it Began
In 2017 Julie and her business partner purchased a promotional products company in Fort St John. As customers kept coming in with their own ideas and leaving satisfied with them having come to life, there may have been just a wee bit of jealousy taking root. LOL! One year later Julie and her hubby Mike, were headed out on a long-miles-few-days kinda road trip. She decided it was finally time to use this perfect opportunity to buckle down. She started sketching her own designs for an apparel and hard goods line. Ideas were bounced around for a business name and researched online to see if they had been used. All of the little bits and pieces - design concepts, name ideas, taglines, messaging – started to come together into a cohesive brand.
The project was exciting, and Julie let her friend Noella in on the secret. This friend also happened to epitomize the fun loving and adventurous, humorous, yet sensible, quirky Canadian gal that would be one of LATTITUDE 56
’s ideal customers. They looked over the concept designs together and talked about the whole vision. Noella carried on about her day and then later called, all excited. “Stay grounded!” she hollered; “It’s perfect! The ground is connected to everything we do. Every industry, every form of recreation, mental health, being kind and connected, being a good human, it fits everything!” How can you argue with that kind of epiphany and enthusiasm? You don’t. You use it. LATTITUDE 56: Stay Grounded.
LATTITUDE 56 is all about enjoying the outdoors, but respecting our natural environment is also important. We’ve added a bit to the old saying of “Pack it in, pack it out” by adding “Pick it up” This is needed in case you encounter someone whose momma perhaps forgot to teach them this basic courtesy (although we all may have the occasional whoopsie when something escapes our grasp and is blown away). When we see that granola bar wrapper or stray beverage container, we want to encourage our fellow adventurers to “pick it up” and do our back yard a favour.
Our Brand
Like any logo, there is meaning embedded, and LATTITUDE 56 is no different. Fort St John is located just above the 56th parallel (or latitude) which gives our northerly location a more precise geographic space than just saying “north”. People in our region work hard and play hard, and it’s not uncommon for both of those activities to take place in the outdoors. It’s our lifeblood, it’s Canadian, and it’s super-awesome! We have a can-do attitude, an attitude of helpfulness and caring, an attitude that we need to share with those in need, an attitude of collecting adventures etc. so the spelling of LATTITUDE 56 is no mistake ;) We added an aspen leaf to signify our boreal forest, while also emulating the degree sign after the number 56. Our leaf dances in the wind and is Canada red. Our Brandmark is equally distinctive: L56