Canadian water sports brand Level Six is celebrating 25 years in business with the release of a new logo as a stand-alone symbol of the company. What began from selling board shorts and simple paddling gear from the back of a van at local river events, Level Six has evolved into a river-culture movement and has become known as a key brand for experiencing life on the water.
Over the last 25 years, Level Six has demonstrated their commitment to create a respectful, inclusive, and supportive culture both internal to the company and across the watersports community. The transformation from a small, naive company to their current status as a positive model of social and environmental responsibility led to the realization that it was time for a logo that better represented what the company has become.
“We want our community to believe in us as a modern innovator of watersports products that is equally appealing to all genders and all levels of enthusiasm,” says CEO and Founder Stig Larsson. “This new logo represents the river that flows through everyone, encouraging us to do our best for our communities and our planet.”
In speaking about the company’s social and environmental actions, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Cook highlights their efforts to reduce waste and use more recycled materials throughout the product line, while also investing in diversity and inclusiveness in paddlesports through the company’s Youth Scholarship Program. “From our in-house repair facilities that keep useful items out of landfills to opening up new doors to underprivileged youth who wouldn’t normally have a chance to experience the sport of kayaking, I’m proud of the brand Level Six has become and I look forward to initiating even more change in our community going forward.”
Level Six has a 25-year history of grassroots innovation and out-of-the-box thinking that has contributed to their positioning as a leader in the watersports community. From design and development to product life cycle management and community support, Level Six has worked tirelessly to embrace river culture and create a brand paddlers can believe in and trust. Their new logo is sure to carry on and expand this narrative for years to come.
25 YEARS OF EVOLUTION
Level Six was formed during a winter training camp in Costa Rica by two Canadian World Cup paddlers who were frustrated with the lack of a unified culture around paddlesports and unsatisfied with the designs on the market at that time. The foundation of Level Six grew from bold design ideas that made sense without compromising quality, function and style from those two relatively immature paddlers. They felt the current industry leaders were not embracing the river culture that was forming, and realized paddlers needed a brand to believe in.
What began from selling board shorts and simple paddling gear from the back of a van at local river events, Level Six has grown over the last 25 years, gaining shelf space at local and then national and international retailers. Over these years the brand has evolved into a river culture movement and, as new ways to experience the water evolved, it has become known as a key brand for experiencing life on the water.
As Level Six matured and grew, so did our understanding of our impact as a global company on the community that we belong to. Commitment to our ethics and values has led Level Six to create a respectful, inclusive and supportive culture both internal to our company and across the watersports community. We operate through a positive model of social and environmental responsibility and undertake commitments to support these values.
On the environmental front, we have committed 1% of our sales toward Watershed Conservation, while also mitigating our environmental impact by increasingly using recycled materials in our products and packaging, eliminating poly bags from 95% of our products, and significantly reducing the use of materials made from petroleum sources. More recently, we have invested in a fully operational repair facility to ensure we can repair and up-cycle all of our products, including complicated latex gasket repair and seam tape replacement. We see this as a major milestone in our sustainability initiatives, as well as a commitment to our customers who support and believe in our vision.
We have also renewed our social commitment by establishing a Youth Scholarship Program allowing underprivileged youth to experience paddlesports. We then expanded our social leadership initiatives to become one of the first paddlesport brands to support programs like Project Canoe and Hudson River Riders to help bring diversity and inclusiveness into the outdoors.
Looking back at the past 25 years, our history of grassroots innovation and out-of-the-box thinking has contributed to our brand development. The transformation from a small, naive company to our current and future trajectory has led to the realization that it was time for our logo to catch up with the company we have become.
We want our community to believe in us as a modern innovator of water sports products that is equally appealing to all genders and all levels of enthusiasm. We want a logo that can stand alone and visually represent the river that flows through us to encourage us to do our best for our communities and our planet. We are extremely proud of the brand we have become and look forward to initiating even more change in our community in the years to come.
