Is It Offensive to Wear the Hudson's Bay Point Coat? | The Walrus

"Known for their signature multi-stripe design, point blankets were first turned into coats by a group of Indigenous women who were hired by British captain Charles Roberts to create new winter outerwear for soldiers at the fort that he commanded near Sault Ste. Marie in 1811."

"The point coat was first sold commercially in 1922, eventually becoming such an important Canadian symbol that they were proudly worn by the Canadian national team in both the 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympic parades."

"The point blankets were "immediately popular" when HBC started selling them in the late eighteenth century, "sometimes amounting to half the trade goods passing through some Company outposts.""

A vintage clothing entrepreneur discovered a Hudson's Bay point blanket coat at a rag house, a garment recycling facility where donated clothes are sorted before being destroyed or shipped internationally. This discovery highlights how vintage clothing stores source their inventory from these facilities. The Hudson's Bay point blanket coat, recognizable by its signature multi-stripe design, ranks among Canada's most iconic garments. Indigenous women first created point coats in 1811 for soldiers, and commercial production began in 1922. The coats gained further prominence when worn by the Canadian national team during the 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympic parades. Point blankets became extremely popular trade goods in the late eighteenth century, sometimes comprising half of the trade goods at Hudson's Bay Company outposts.

Read at The Walrus