COLUMN: Olympic attire: a few loose threads
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Updated: October 23, 2009 3:35 PM
Here's an ironic side note as we prepare to celebrate Small Business Week in Canada.
Last week, the Hudson's Bay Company – the official outfitter of the 2010 Winter Games – unveiled the official team apparel for Canadian Olympic athletes.
Among the items was a hand knitted sweater the average West Coast denizen might fondly describe as a traditional Cowichan Indian sweater.
Despite a chorus of protests from opposition MLAs, Vancouver Island regional political leaders and others who wondered why they would use a fake rather than the real thing, HBC officials steadfastly insisted it's not a knock off.
That didn't stop Cowichan Tribes Chief Lydia Hwitsum from demanding answers about the sweaters, which will retail for about $350. It turns out the First Nation had been approached by the company about supplying hand knit sweaters but talks eventually broke off.
“They had some concerns about how much it would cost for Cowichan knitters to make them and now they came out with this sweater,” Hwitsum told the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial.
“It’s frustrating that we won’t be able to create opportunities for Cowichan knitters.”
Little wonder NDP MLA Doug Routley called the uniform unveiling a "huge windfall for huge corporations but a disappointment for small companies."
