No blanket is as loaded with as much history and culture, and can claim as much iconic status as a Hudson’s Bay point blanket.
The Hudson's Bay Company ("HBC") was founded in London in 1670. A fur trading business for much of its existence, it is the oldest company in Canada; and still owns and operates retail stores across the country.
A Hudson's Bay point blanket is a type of wool blanket traded by HBC in British North America (now Canada and the United States) from 1779 to present. The blankets were typically traded to First Nations people in exchange for beaver pelts as an important part of the North American fur trade. The beaver pelts were shipped to Europe to meet the demand for beaver fur top hats. That was the thing back then.
Native Americans were happy to be doing the trading. They prized the blankets because of their ability to hold heat even when wet; and treasured them to the point where elders would chose to be buried with them.
Originally point blankets had a single stripe across each end, usually in blue or red. But, by the mid-1800s, some blankets began to be made with distinctive stripes: green, red, yellow and indigo … on a warm white background. (Why those colours? They were popular and could be easily produced using good colourfast dyes at that time.) This is the version that has earned the iconic status.
Another distinctive feature of the blankets are the “points”. Points are short black lines woven into the selvage of the blanket along the edge just above the bottom set of stripes. About 10cm in length (except in the case of half points, which are 5cm), they indicate the finished overall size (area) of a blanket and allow easy determination of the size of a blanket … even when folded. French weavers invented the point system in the mid-1700s since then, as now, blankets were shrunk as part of the manufacturing process. The word point derives from the French empointer, meaning "to make threaded stitches on cloth".
From the early days of the fur trade, wool blankets were also made into hooded coats called "capotes" by both natives and French Canadian voyageurs. Snappy.
The blankets have always been made in England, and today they are made by John Atkinson, a sub brand of A.W. Hainsworth & Sons Ltd. Wools from Britain, Australia and New Zealand are used in the manufacture of blankets. “The blend is painstakingly true to the original recipe”, explains Julie Roberts, marketing manager at A.W. Hainsworth. “What makes the Hudson’s Bay Point Blankets unique is that they’re made from a specific mix of seven different types of wool.”
The blankets continue to be sold by HBC department stores and are available in point sizes of 3.5 (twin), 4 (double), 6 (queen) and 8 (king).
The connections many have to Hudson’s Bay point blankets are both deeply personal and sometimes political. Not all memories are happy ones. For some, they elicit fond childhood memories or are embedded in family histories, while for others, they are hurtful reminders of the enduring impact of colonialism and systemic racism.
In recognition of this bitter sweetness HBC has, since 2020, donated 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the blankets to Oshki Wupoowane | The Blanket Fund, providing support, through grant schemes, for Indigenous cultural, artistic, and educational activities throughout Canada.
Finally, HBC has published a fascinating series of filmed Hudson's Bay point blanket oral histories. You can browse and listen to them HERE.
Story Idea: Remo Giuffré
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References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson's_Bay_Company
https://www.hbcheritage.ca/things/fashion-pop/hbc-point-blanket
https://www.pointblankets.com/index.html
https://thecavenderdiary.com/2013/01/11/the-history-of-the-hudsons-bay-point-blanket/
https://fashionmagazine.com/style/hudsons-bay-point-blankets/
Videos: HBC Point Blankets - Oral Historys
Images
1. Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket
2. Indigenous traders at a Hudson's Bay trading post
3. First Nations elder with blanket
4. Potlach at Fort Rupert, 1890. Piles of HBC point blankets being counted out for giving away. Source: Hudson’s Bay Company Archives (Archives of Manitoba).
5. Top hat made from beaver fur. Go figure.
6. Redesigned HBC label in horizontal format: English on left, French on right
7. 1952 Hudson's Bay point blanket advertisement
8. 1933 brochure
9. Magazine promotes the coats
10. Traditional capote made with a Hudson's Bay point blanket. Credit: Steelbeard1.
11. Team Canada walked the 1964 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony in Innsbruck, Austria wearing HBC Stripes
12. Videos: HBC Point Blankets - Oral Historys
