Huckle made his comments Friday at a news conference at Kodiak where Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear announced the awarding of two contracts for new army boots.

The first went to Kodiak. The second, a $7.5-million contract for 52,000 pairs of a different version of the new boots, went to LP Royer of Lac Drolet, Que.

The contracts contain options for up to 70,000 additional pairs of boots, which would bring the total value to $22 million.

Goodyear likes the new approach to buying equipment for the armed forces. He said it has three objectives — providing the best gear, creating jobs in manufacturing and streamlining the process for buying new equipment.

"We are looking at the overall value of tax dollars, and encouraging businesses to innovate and be more globally competitive, at the same time providing best-in-class equipment," Goodyear said.

The material testing and design of the new Kodiak army boots took into account the feedback from soldiers who wore prototypes.

"Today, our soldiers are athletes," Huckle said.

The new summer-spring-fall army footwear designed by Kodiak is basically an athletic boot. It is very light, wicks away sweat and repels water using the latest materials.

The Kodiak Group was founded in 2000 when Huckle and a group of managers acquired the rights to the Kodiak brand after Greb International, the Kitchener-based company that used to make the boot, became insolvent.

At one time, Greb employed 1,200 people in shoe and boot plants in Kitchener. It made Kodiak boots in Kitchener until it closed a plant on Hayward Avenue in 1991.

The Kodiak name resonates with many in their early 50s — the boots were the pinnacle of counterculture cool in the mid-1970s.

Kodiak Group has three brands — Terra, Kodiak and Dickies — and owns Work Authority retail outlets (37 stores and 21 mobile units).

The company's factory in Harbour Grace, N.L., has 360 employees.

tpender@therecord.com