"Iron" for strength and reliability. "Leaf" for the maple leaf, and for being built here. The name is the whole pitch — the rest is about earning it.
We're working with Canadian manufacturers wherever it's genuinely achievable — we're in active discussion with Canadian cut-and-sew manufacturers for our vests. But we won't put a "Made in Canada" label on anything until it's actually earned that claim under Canada's own labelling rules. Some categories, like eyewear and hearing protection, may end up sourced internationally even as others are made domestically. We'd rather say that plainly than round up.
Ironleaf comes out of a background in software quality assurance — testing things properly before they ship, not after they fail in the field. We're applying the same instinct to physical PPE: checking product against its stated standard before it goes out the door, rather than trusting a spec sheet from a supplier we haven't verified ourselves.
We're not trying to be a one-stop PPE shop from day one. Three product lines, each certified to a specific standard, each sourced carefully — that's a deliberate choice over a sprawling catalog that's hard to stand behind at every SKU. More categories will come once these three are right.