Official Olympic Clothing Line Launch at The Bay

I was working at my studio the other day, trying to catch up on a bunch of my retail orders when I heard on the radio that Dan Mangan and Sam Roberts were giving a free concert at the Bay downtown. Gah! At first, I wasn't going to go. Being your own boss is great, but if you do play hooky, you just don't get paid. I finally caved at the last minute and hurtled down there just in time to see the last 3 songs by Mangan. He ended with the robot song and a nice sing along with the crowd.

There was a ridiculously long sound check before Roberts came on. During which I felt my heart rip out of my chest upon hearing that I had missed the COWBOY JUNKIES play at 12:15!!! WTF?! How was anyone supposed to know about this? Was it a surprise? And how can I get on the mailing list for these events! I would have played hooky all day to see the Cowboy Junkies. Sheesh.

Anyway, the concert was in support of the launch of the official Olympic clothing line by The Bay. I have been a lover/coveter of vintage Canadiana for years and I was hopelessly drawn to the vintage Hudson's Bay Co. imagery. They also kind of lucked out because the look is very hot right now (lumberjack plaids, antlers/deer, toques).



Yes, The Bay (Hudson's Bay Company) is drawing heavily on their heritage logos, and it's a smart move. I was of two thoughts seeing the "Cowichan" sweater in the official Olympic merch line up. My first, emotional thought was, eff yeah! My immediate second thought was; wait - where are those sweaters made? My guess is China.

As it turned out, I checked a bunch of the labels on the official Olympic merch and a lot of it was indeed made overseas. But I was also pleasantly surprised to see several pieces that were indeed made in Canada. Like these hockey pucks, thank goodness! In fact, I asked one of the sales assistants if she could point out a few pieces that were made in Canada. She had no idea what I meant and I explained to her I wanted to buy pieces that were actually manufactured in Canada. She had to ask her supervisor. Her super listened to my question then graciously ran to check with his supervisor. He came back and pointed out one particular sweater that boasted a 'made in canada' hand tag directly on the garment.But, while I was waiting, I also found several chatchkas that were made in Canada (key rings, lanyards) sitting right next to he till.

The official word is the the collection is 25% made in Canada, and rest made offshore.

Politics aside, I have to thank The Bay for giving me a chance to get (this) close to wee little Sam Roberts in such a intimate crowd.

I knew he was not a tall man, but I'm sure most people's first thoughts when he graced the stage were; "wow - he's tiny". Yes, yes he is. And packed with so much charismatic talent - he's amazing to watch.