A tentative deal between Cowichan Tribes and the Hudson’s Bay Company could soon see the fabled hand-knitted sweater available for sale in time for Olympics and on the shelves of the department store giant long after the last medals have been handed out.

Cowichan Tribe’s Chief Lydia Hwitsum said she contacted HBC after the company rolled out its 2010 Winter Olympic wear that featured a sweater resembling the famed Cowichan product.

“I’d put in a call to HBC last Friday to flag the issue and to indicate there was a need to work with Cowichan,” Hwitsum said.

On Tuesday afternoon the chief, her council, a few local knitters and representatives from the HBC and the Vancouver Olympic Committee met in Tribes’ council chambers for a two-hour meeting.

“Out of that we basically negotiated an opportunity to introduce an authentic Cowichan knitted sweater into the Olympic experience,” said Hwitsum.

“There are still a bunch of details to be ironed out, but Cowichan Tribes is doing the work of assembling the knitters to get an idea what the productivity level could be in terms of how many sweaters we could get into the market, related to the 2010 Games.”

As well, the two sides are looking at a longer-term deal.

“HBC said it’s open to partnering with Cowichan knitters to having the Cowichan sweater, and other Cowichan knitted products, as part of their regular line of products offered in their stores.”

But for now, Hwitsum said everyone involved is concentrating on the short-term goals of 2010.

“We’re going to reach the highest level of productivity we can by assembling all our knitters,” said Hwitsum.

“Right now, in the course of a few days, we have a list of about 45 knitters and the interesting thing is Cowichan people who are living in other First Nations communities have been calling in to say, ‘Hey, I’d like to put my name on that list.’”

The chief said the tentative deal means much to Cowichan Tribes’ members.

“It will lift the people up to be able to see the demand and be part of meeting that demand,” she said.

“We’ve got some brilliant, talented knitters in our community that are prolific in their production and we see it as an opportunity for global exposure of the Cowichan sweater.”

Hwitsum said she expects to meet with HBC and VanOC within a month to hammer out the details of the deal.