Like the names of the players of the Hall of Fame in a NHL arena, dozens of names of Spanparel Inc. employees hang from the beams of the company factory.
The number on the back represents how many years that employee dedicated to making NHL t -shirts. They go to 42.
The NHL and the people of Saint-Hyacinthhe, which., Have a long-lasting relationship. Each authentic NHL hockey shirt that has hit the ice or has been bought by fans since 1975 comes from Quebec.
But now, the commercial war of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, threatens the long tradition of the Canadian manufacturing NHL t -shirts and the work of the 250 SP -clothing employees that make them.
“We are vulnerable because the price is like an elastic,” said the CEO of SP Apparel Inc. Steve Berard. “How long can you stretch that elastic before? [it snaps] And is it blocked on the face? ”
With 25 of the 32 NHL teams based in the USA, almost 80 percent of everything done for the League in Saint-Hyacinthhe could be beaten with tariffs, increasing the price of a shirt that is already at a high price.
A real professional shirt on the NHL Shop website, led by US company fans and has a license agreement for all official NHL goods, starts at $ 499.99 CDN. For an authentic personalized professional shirt that includes a name and a number, they start at $ 579.99 CDN.
T-shirts are composed of about 100 individual pieces that bind by hand in Saint-Hyacinthhe. The fabric thread is obtained from the USA, and the logos of the NHL team come prefabricated from China. The rest is completely made on the site.
“We call it haute couture, it is not a mass production line,” said SPPAREL Vice President Mike Quinn. “The work is the big component because it is paying Canadian dollars, it is paying Canadian job rates and these people have 20, 30 years of experience.”
The cheapest authentic replica jerseys in the NHL store are not made in Canada.
For decades, SP Clothing in Sainte-Hyacinthhe, which., Has done all the authentic NHL jersey that has hit the ice or has been bought by fans. Almost 80 percent of the NHL clothing made by the manufacturer could be reached with 25 percent tariffs, stealing the fear of the company that supplies can seek to make changes.
Concerns about the move of production to avoid rates
Berard worries that the NHL supplier, Fanatics, considers taking Quebec production to avoid paying any tariff.
“We do not have the ability to absorb that 25 percent and the client does not have the capacity [for] That 25 percent increase either, “Beard said.
Last year, the contract through fans to produce the authentic Pro NHL t -shirts and socks represented 70 percent of SP Apparel business.
Economists say that rates are designed to impose companies such as SP Apparel.
“Trump said: ‘We want those works to return to the United States, as they were in the seventies and eighties,’ and this is one of those [industries] That is easily mobile, “said Moshe Lander, professor of Economics at the University of Concordia.
Lander is not convinced that the NHL stands on the road if fans decided to relocate their production, even if Canadian fans opposed or even boycotting buying American manufacturing shirts.
“It could be something that they leave a reduced footprint in Canada, perhaps only to obtain licenses for the seven NHL teams here and the other 25 move to the American side of the border, but I do not know if this is the type of thing that will really make the NHL stop beyond that is a commercial decision,” said Lander.
SP Apparel says that once the NHL chooses its supplier, it does not depend on the League to decide where the shirts are made: it depends on your partner, fans. SP Apparel says that Fanatics has not yet indicated any plan to make a change and emphasizes that it maintains a great relationship with the NHL.
“They really appreciate the fact that [the jerseys] They are made in Canada, “Berard said.
Neither the NHL nor the fans responded to the request for comments of CBC.
“I have lost a lot of sleep,” Berard said, added that his employees are nervous and worried about his jobs.
“I feel that I am driving a car, but I don’t have my hands in the steering wheel.”
