A little Trimark History...

Trimark was established in 1975 by three partners from Markham and was acquired in 1995 by Derrick Milne and his father, David Milne, one of the original partners.

David and Derrick Milne have been residents of Markham since 1970. Derrick attended Markham District High School and was the valedictorian of his graduating class in 1978. Derrick spent 15 years outside of Canada, receiving an MBA from Harvard University and working 10 years in investment banking in New York and London for Morgan Stanley (Vice President) and Regency Capital (Director).

"When the opportunity arose to acquire Trimark, I sold my shares to my partner and moved back to Markham after 15 years in the United States and Europe. The attraction of Trimark was its excellent reputation for service and delivery, which took my father 20 years to build. I knew that upon this strong platform, we could build an even more successful service-orientated company."

Trimark Athletic Supplies was honoured in December 1998 by being chosen as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Private Companies and re-qualified for this distinction again in 1999 and 2000. Again, in 2001, Trimark was chosen as one of Canada's 50 Best and requalified in 2002. Derrick was personally honoured in 2000 with the highly distinguished award of Top 40 Under 40.

In 1999, Derrick Milne created the parent company Trimark Sportswear Group Inc. This new company completed three acquisitions in the United States. Rivers End Trading Company was acquired in August 1999, LA Loving in November 1999 and Loving-Kayman in January 2001.  Shortly after, Stuart Campbell was hired as Chief Operating Officer of TSG.

As 2002 began Trimark amalgamated all of its companies under the umbrella of the Trimark Sportswear Group with both a Canadian and U.S. Division, thus accomplishing a large portion of its corporate mission statement.  In September 2004, TSG accepted an unsolicited offer and sold all of its U.S. operations.  TSG reinvested the proceeds in the business with a sole focus on growing the operations in Canada.

In January 2005, Will Andrew was hired as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.  In September, 2005 “A Brand New Generation” was launched.  In October, 2006 Trimark Sportswear Group Inc. was selected as the activewear licensee for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and ParaOlympic Winter Games. A new subsidiary, Elevate Sport Ltd., was created shortly thereafter to design and market products for this exciting market with Will Andrew as President.

Did You Know...

The company name 'Trimark' was not created randomly or by accident. There is meaning behind the name. The manner in which it was created was quite simple for the original founders of the company. They created the name based on themselves and what they had in common. There were 3 original founders of Trimark Sportswear Group, and the trio resided in the township of Markham. And so, through a combination of the number of founders and the township they lived in, the company name 'Trimark' was born.