The Record Article

…”You need something that people want to wear,” said Wagner, 38, who has been sailing ever since he was a little boy, growing up in Kingston. “If people don’t like their (life-jacket), they’ll toss it in the bow of their boat.”

Marine Manufacturers Award – Boats and Places 2004

This award goes to an individual or a company that has made a technological development improving boating safety or benefiting the environment. It’s tough – creating a product, going through the long process of research and development, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. Once again, it takes dedication.

Small Company with a Big Difference

Salus Marine Wear is a small manufacturing company with a BIG difference. “We make PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices) that deserve to be work,” says president Steve Wagner. All of the Salus projects – from our entry level children’s vest to high performance sail and kayak vests are consumer driven with comfort, style, fit and utility at […]

Roundtable – Boating Business Magazine

…”We have recently partnered with the Canadian Power Squadron as well as with the Canadian Kayaking and Paddling Association – so it’s a grass roots effort and that’s doing well for us right now.”

Article – Designing a Successful Future in Canadian Marine Manufacturing

Sitting in a comfortable leather chair in the new boardroom at Salus Marine Wear in Waterloo, ON, surrounded by displays of colourful and beautifully-made lifejackets and PFDs, you might pause to wonder how Steve Wagner originally got his company started. Did he foresee the market for high-end technical sporting goods in the marine industry? Or […]

Trip to Nunavik

On a recent trip to Nunavik, I had the opportunity to meet some warm and wonderful people from the villages of Kuujjuaq and Kangiqsualujjuaq. The Inuit, their culture and the rugged and beautiful mountain landscapes, created a lasting impression.

Choosing the Right PFD

PFD and lifejacket designs have become increasingly complex and specialized. The study of body movement and advanced material technology, combined with increased consumer demand for quality and choice, have inspired manufacturers to design and develop more choices than ever before.

Salus Marine Wear Inc.

When Steve Wagner of Kitchener, Ont., decided to build better flotation devices (PFD) a few years ago, he opted for asymmetrical designs with high hip clearance, rounded seams and no flotation on the shoulders. As a result, the vests are comfortable and allow a full range of motion…

Salus Marine Wear Inc.

[Excerpt] IBI TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT TWO CANADIAN PFD MANUFACTURERS REMAINING BUOYANT DESPITE FIERCE COMPETITION FROM ASIA “Salus Marine and Mustang have embraced quality as the way forward in a lifejacket market dominated by commodity thinking.” In the face of an ever-increasing tide of cheap Asian imports, two PFD makers have managed to create […]

Choosing the right PFD

The PFDs stuffed in the storage cubby in the console on your boat are not doing anyone any good. It is only worthwhile having them on board if you’re wearing them on board. Come on, we all know the drill. More often than not, powerboaters offer up the excuse that PFDs are bulky, uncomfortable and, […]