Like the names of Hall of Fame players in an NHL arena, dozens of retired SP Apparel Inc. employees’ names hang from the rafters of the company’s factory.
The number on the back represents how many years that employee dedicated to making jerseys for the NHL. They go all the way up to 42.
The NHL and the people of Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., have a long-running relationship. Every authentic NHL hockey jersey that has hit the ice or been purchased by fans since 1975 has come from Quebec.
But now, U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war is threatening the long tradition of Canadian-made NHL jerseys, and the jobs of the 250 SP Apparel employees that make them.
“We are vulnerable because the price is kind of like an elastic,” said SP Apparel Inc. CEO Steve Berard. “How long can you stretch that elastic before [it snaps] and crashes into your face?”
With 25 of the NHL’s 32 teams based in the U.S., nearly 80 per cent of everything made for the league in Saint-Hyacinthe could be hit with tariffs, raising the price of a jersey that already sits at a high price point.
An authentic pro jersey on the NHL Shop website, which is run by the American company Fanatics and has a licensing deal for all NHL official merchandise, starts at $499.99 Cdn. For a custom authentic pro jersey that includes a name and number, they start at $579.99 Cdn.
The jerseys are composed of about 100 individual pieces that are stitched together by hand in Saint-Hyacinthe. The yarn for the fabric is sourced from the U.S., and the NHL team logos come pre-made from China. The rest is entirely made on site.
“We call it haute couture, it’s not a mass production line,” said vice-president of sales for SP Apparel, Mike Quinn. “The labour is the big component because you’re paying Canadian dollars, you’re paying Canadian labour rates and these people have 20, 30 years of experience.”
The cheaper authentic replica jerseys available on NHL Shop are not made in Canada.
Every NHL jersey is made in Canada, but U.S. tariffs could change that
Berard worries the NHL’s supplier, Fanatics, will consider moving production out of Quebec to avoid paying any tariffs.
“We don’t have the capacity to absorb that 25 per cent and the customer doesn’t have the capacity [for] that 25 per cent increase either,” Berard said.
Last year, the contract through Fanatics to produce the authentic pro NHL jerseys and socks accounted for 70 per cent of SP Apparel’s business.
Economists say the tariffs are designed to put the squeeze on companies like SP Apparel.
“Trump all along said, ‘we want those jobs to come back to the U.S., like they were in the 1970s and 1980s,’ and this is one of those [industries] that’s easily mobile,” said Moshe Lander, economics professor at Concordia University.
Lander is not convinced that the NHL would stand in the way if Fanatics decided to relocate its production, even if Canadian fans objected or even boycotted buying American-made jerseys.
“It might be something where they leave a reduced footprint in Canada, maybe only to do licensing for the seven NHL teams up here and the other 25 move to the U.S. side of the border, but I don’t know that this is the type of thing that is going to really make the NHL pause beyond that this is a business decision,” Lander said.
SP Apparel says once the NHL picks its supplier, it’s not up to the league to decide where the jerseys get made — it’s up to its partner, Fanatics. SP Apparel says Fanatics has yet to indicate any plans to make a change and emphasizes that it maintains a great relationship with the NHL.
“They really appreciate the fact that [the jerseys] are made in Canada,” Berard said.
Neither the NHL nor Fanatics responded to CBC’s request for comment.
“I’ve lost a lot of sleep,” Berard said, adding his employees are on edge and worried about their jobs.
“I feel like I’m driving a car, but I don’t have my hands on the wheel.”
