TORONTO – When Canadian Tire learned that it had come out on top of a bidding war to own the Hudson’s Bay stripes this summer, one of its marketing executives said the feeling was comparable only to the most magical time of year.
“It was like Christmas, quite honestly,” Eva Salem recalled of the June moment when her company got court permission to buy a treasure trove of HBC’s intellectual property, including the multicoloured motif, the HBC name and other slogans and trademarks from the defunct retailer for $30 million.
“We were so excited.”
But the joy quickly evolved into a reminder that owning one of the oldest and most venerable symbols of Canadiana comes with enormous weight. The motif hearkens back to a painful past when the fur trade colonialized Indigenous land, but is also revered by some shoppers, who see it as a patriotic design they expect to festoon their homes with or have under their Christmas trees every year.
Canadian Tire only had five months to make the latter happen — well short of the year-long timeline products often take to design and manufacture before they make it into customers’ hands.
“We knew there was going to be a lot of work ahead of us … and we knew we wanted to do it in a way that was really respectful to the brand, so it was all hands on deck but a passion project for most” said Salem, Canadian Tire’s senior vice-president of marketing and brand.
That work will reach an important milestone on Dec. 5, when 26 products adorned with HBC stripes will hit the shelves of Canadian Tire. The array will include several versions of its iconic blankets, kitchenware such as espresso sets and tumblers, pillows and tote bags, as well as holiday stockings, ornaments and teddy bear nutcrackers.
The items will be familiar to customers because they’re beloved designs from HBC’s past, but the collection will nonetheless be important because it will mark the first time Canadian Tire has used the stripes since it bought the rights to the pattern.
The retailer made a play for the stripes after HBC, Canada’s oldest company, crumbled under the weight of $1.1 billion in debt earlier this year. Canadian Tire wanted the motif because it “seemed like a patriotic match” and a strategic fit, said CEO Greg Hicks in a statement.
After all, his company is 103 years old and already manages several of the country’s biggest brands — Canadian Tire, SportChek, Mark’s and PartyCity.
Many Canadians were relieved when they found out the stripes were set to land in the hands of a domestic household name, but they wondered how discerning Canadian Tire would be with its new treasure, especially as it started teasing products by the holidays.
Would Canadian Tire slap the stripes on auto parts and any other merchandise it could think of?
So far, the answer is no.
“We’re keeping all of our options open, but … it needs to be done with the right quality, the right vendors, and something that Canadians want,” Salem said. “It’s not just about striping everything.”
Hicks reiterated that thought. “The launch was about stewardship, not speed,” he said.
To strike the right balance, Canadian Tire began to research. It studied HBC bestsellers, solicited feedback from shoppers and turned to vendors who had been “thrown a curveball” when HBC faltered.
“One of our first phone calls was with the blanket manufacturer (because there was) just so much nostalgia and love and history there,” Salem said of AW Hainsworth, the British company that has long made HBC blankets and is behind two of the variations out this holiday.
“We really felt if there was anything we could do, we felt like we were willing to do.”
HBC’s manufacturers were on board and to make the first collection easy on them, Canadian Tire opted to run with a group of items the shuttered department store had made in the past that were relevant to customers today.
“There was no net new design that was required and to be perfectly honest, we couldn’t have done net new design in time,” Salem said.
The star of the collection — the blankets — will have three versions. The most-high end is a traditional point blanket, which will retail for $450. Striped caribou blankets and a fleece throw will have lower price tags.
Net proceeds from blanket sales will continue to be donated to Oshki Wupoowane, a fund started by HBC in 2022 as part of its efforts to atone for its participation in colonialism.
Oshki Wupoowane, also known as the Blanket Fund, is stewarded by the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund and supports Indigenous-led initiatives. Canadian Tire has guaranteed it will donate at least $1 million per year to the fund.
When the first collection of products sells out, the items will disappear from stores until Canadian Tire releases a more “evergreen” iteration of the stripes brand later next year, Salem said.
The retailer hasn’t shared what will make it into future collections, but Salem said social media polls have revealed consumers are interested in striped towels and umbrellas.
Whatever gets produced will likely “live together” in their own department within stores but the company is still considering several options for how to present the items long-term.
Eventually, it hopes to introduce the stripes to SportChek and Mark’s.
“So, in many ways, it will be easier for Canadians to find and see and experience the stripes than it was before actually,” Salem said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.
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