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Clinton Hussey

Corry Flader suffers from reverse seasonal-effective disorder. When the skies over Vancouver darken, her demeanour brightens. "It's overcast today, so I'm in a very good mood," she says, from the home base of her family-run business, The Umbrella Shop, the last company making umbrellas in Canada.

The incentive to offshore has proven irresistible among umbrella builders. While Flader constructs around two-thirds of her products outside Canada, the remainder are manufactured in-house by one of her 12 employees using Singer sewing machines that have been in the family for 70 years. "Our products are $4 or $5 more than anything that would be competitive," says Flader, "but ours don't rust and don't go inside out in the wind."

In the past, financial advisers have asked why she bothers staying open given her low returns, but the business is in the blood. Her grandfather, Isadore Flader, first opened The Umbrella Shop on Pender Street in 1935.

Recently, her obstinate devotion to costly, local manufacturing has begun reaping rewards. Thirteen years ago, the company was moving about 2,400 units a year. Today, they hit that milestone every two months. "I'm seeing this new consumer who wants to buy things once, not 300 times," she says. "People are tired of things that break."

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