Terry Coffin, Sales Director for Palladium Boots (INTERVIEW)

For decades, Palladium's functional leather boots have provided comfort and warmth to everyone from hikers to fashionistas. Their vintage styles and waterproof qualities make them the perfect combination of both function and fashion.

Terry Coffin, the sales director for Palladium Canada, gave Trend Hunter a walk-through of their new Fall Collection, revealing which styles will be taking footwear by storm this fall.

1.Tell me a bit about the Palladium Fall/Winter collection. What was the inspiration behind it?

The inspiration was really based on successes we’ve had with products in the fall of 2012 and previous seasons. One of our big collections for Fall 2012 was one that was completely waterproof leather and seam-sealed. We took that and made a collection that’s just as value-oriented. The retail price of this collection is somewhere between $125 and $165, which is a pretty great retail value for a waterproof boot.

2.What’s different about the new fall collection?

For fall, there will be a lot of interesting colors beyond the basic black, which everyone has. We have some neat greens and navy…we’re giving a little more "pop," you might say, to our collection.

3.How does Palladium stay relevant and on the cutting edge without straying too far from its historic roots?

I think we spend a lot of time following what fashion trends are all about, whether it’s a color palette that happens to be important for a season, or a leather that we’re working with. We want to be able to speak to what’s current in fashion. We’re truly a heritage brand; vintage is very important. It’s also important that Palladium remains an excellent value. It’s a combination of understanding what’s current in fashion and staying true to our roots.

4.What are some of the fashion trends that you’re incorporating into the collection? Are there any colors or patterns that you’re really pushing for this fall?

If you take a look at some of our women’s boots, you’ll see that the colors are muted. They’re really designed to be wearable with a variety of different color palettes, so consequently that would be a vintage leather. Were also using lambskin, so the boots are very soft. The idea is to have these products come out of the box and look like your favorite shoes while having some fashion relevance.

5.What trends in footwear do you see taking off this fall?

I’d say the strongest trend I've seen lately is the return to vintage. It’s very good for Palladium, because that happens to be the heart and soul of what we’re all about.