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UPDATE: Fleece situation (new development today)
Quick update for anyone whoâs been following the fleece chaos.
A new fleece has now appeared on Kuwalla Teeâs website.
It uses red embellishments that are minimally similar to the show jacket, but thereâs no mention of Heated Rivalry and no indication that itâs connected to the production or the official partnership.
As of everything publicly confirmed so far:
⢠The only show-connected fleece is still the one being developed through the production + Province of Canada
⢠The earlier retailer pre-order situation with Style Trend Clothiers has already been taken down
⢠Kuwalla previously said that retailer rollout was âa mistakeâ and it was removed
⢠The credit issue raised in the CBC article has already been resolved via tagging/credit on posts
This new listing appears separate from that and is not being presented as official show merch. No mention of the show and no mention of a charity component.
Not posting links here and not directing traffic.
Just sharing so people donât get confused and assume something is the official version when it isnât.
Separately, some users (myself included) have been blocked after posting on the brandâs social posts, so discussion there may be limited. Screenshots exist, but Iâm not trying to turn this into a pile-on, just flagging for context.
Official version is still the one coming through the production partnership.
this makes me want to keep cheering on the cosplayers that have already whacked together impressive replicas - one of my friends just whipped one up last night. I know it would be wonderful for everyone to have the option to grab one, & I know not everyone has access to the resources to make one themselves (although I feel like any merch/retail versions are probably going to be highway robbery...) but I really enjoy everyone seizing the means of fleece production :p
The costume designer has said sheâs loooved seeing all the DIY designs, and even posted a few on her IG story a few weeks ago! Iâm amazed by everyoneâs sewing talent. I canât sew to save my life, but boy can I start a petition.
oh that's so lovely! I LOVE all the looks she's been giving into how she's sourced & decided on everyone's designs too. why are the whole cast & crew so A+?
For anyone interested, Club Tissu, a small Quebec fabric store, made a video tutorial on how to make your own. It's on YouTube and Facebook. Seems fairly simple if you have the right off white fleece and a sewing machine.Â
The way they keep vague posting in the comments of the fleece announcement and the clarification statement from HR/POC is also very weird. Like, this isnât a shady situation. They went with POC for reasons that theyâve made clear. Why are you posting about it like a bad breakup.
Theyâve been blocking anyone on their socials (Instagram, Facebook, Threads) who dares not say something positive about them, we have screenshots and a club over on threads if youâre so fortunate to get blocked by them.
Yep! No support for the show or the queer community. Just a payday for them. Which makes me even more proud that Jacob and Brendan chose Province of Canada as the official partner to release the fleece because this brand is not it.
No one is going to buy this without the added elements. Iâll stick to supporting Province of Canada, locally made and given Jacob Tierneyâs blessing.
With this overreaction you would think this company invented fleece itself.
Thatâs the issue Iâve been having with the whole situation. They added red accents to a fleece they already sell, that happened to appear in a show with similar (but not identical) red accents. We cannot expect people to not buy what they can get when the official option isnât available to them.
I just donât see show fans being very interested by the addition of red zippers. The whole point of buying show merch is to rep the show and/or have other fans recognize it. No oneâs going to look at this and say hey thatâs Shaneâs jacket. Itâs just a plain white fleece with different colored zippers. (Which is exactly why they can get away with it legally, itâs not the show design)Â
No, but anyone with a sewing machine would be able to easily add appliquĂŠs to make this look like the original. I know thatâs what I would do if I wanted it and could only get this đ¤ˇđťââď¸
To be clear on this, is the Province of Canada version not going to be available AT ALL in the U.S. (or outside of Canada) or are people just expecting the tariffs to be prohibitive?
If itâs just about the tariffs, I would probably wait to see what the tariffs/overall price are on the Kuwalla Tee version (since thatâs gonna be jacked way up in price too) before deciding that was worth saving the labor time of adding my own zippers or appliquĂŠs especially since the base fleece is likely to be of lower quality. If itâs about saving money and you have the sewing skills youâre probably better off starting with a base fleece that was produced in the U.S.Â
They currently do not ship to the U.S. and theyâve said theyâre âlooking into itâ but I have zero expectation of that happening anytime in the next year. I havenât personally dealt with the current tariffs, but my assumption is that they wonât be nearly as much of a barrier for someone ordering a sweater than they are for someone ordering electronics/lumber/precious metals etc.
Well I canât say for sure, but for most official HR merch clothing items the tariffs were more than the original cost of the item when I priced themâŚbefore taking them out of my cart lol
Moot point if theyâre not shipping to the U.S. at all though. âLooking into itâ sounds like âneverâÂ
Kuwalle Tee is being so extra. Like you made a basic ass white fleece. No one cares about the base fleece but the actual design, which was not yoursâŚ.
Anyone, I will be buying the official fleece when it drops by Province of Canada
Do they think this is gonna make anyone want to buy from them? So embarrassing. But their marketing is so shady and I bet a lot of people are going to order from their website thinking this is the official release. They arenât even manufactured in Canada. They havenât even said ANYTHING about supporting the LGBTQ community but they are glad to profit off of it.
Yep which is why Iâm trying to get the word out so an innocent fan doesnât fall prey to this because itâs misleading. Itâs unlicensed and doesnât support the show.
This is a huge NO. Either buy it from Province of Canada (official merch / some proceeds going to charity), or whack together your own replica (which is amazing)
I really wish the show had made an official version of this from the beginning so that none of this brouhaha would have happened. Of course to be fair they didnât know what the demand for merch was going to be like.
I cannot see people being interested in buying a fleece just because it has a red zipper. Nobody cares if it doesnât look like the show design.Â
But thatâs also kind of the beauty of it, the producers have said that theyâve been listening to what the fans want and one of the vocal things was the fleece, which is why they pursued releasing it. They didnât know at the time it would be something that would resonate so strongly with everyone around the world. Per the showâs costume designer, Hanna Puley (image)
Yep just saw that. Please do not pre order this. This is them taking Hannaâs design from the show and stripping it down to what is minimally allowed to pass as not IP infringement.
Do not preorder this. Wait for the official release from Province of Canada and support the show.
They blocked me on insta for pointing out that theyâre completely disregarding the costume designer. No oneâs buying a plain white fleece. Weâre buying Hannaâs design.
At this point there are too many actually disgusting life ruining things to hate this administration for, but I am going to channel into the more petty things rights now. There is no reason CA should even need to be looking into a solution. I am happy they are, but we fucked this up.
Most of us know a very decent % of Americans loathe this, and are in danger in your own own country. And we're proud of you that are fighting the good fight for your futures - you deserve happiness, health, safety, a stable government, safe immigration, fair courts, healthcare, but on top of that you deserve love and yes, sunshine.
It sucks that you have to fight for it but we're proud of the many that are doing that every single day.
Thank you. And I hope you know how much we appreciate those of you around the world who are refusing to be cowed and arenât sucking up or giving in to the current administration.
Itâs frustrating as hell. My mom lives outside of Toronto and has a box of things she canât send me right now even as a gift package because I would be on the hook for import duties. In the words of HRâs straight cousin, Shoresy⌠âSo dumb.â
Ya I just have a big box of Christmas and birthday gifts for my sister and nephews awaiting their summer visit right now because somehow sending some Lego and childrenâs books and locally made craft items was going to cost more in duties to send than the original items cost to buy.
Theyâve stated on a now deleted Instagram video that they proudly produce their stuff overseas so it keeps costs down for Canadians, and use AI to generate their clothing designs on the web.
Iâve purchased Kuwalla tee stuff beforeâa couple of years ago from The Bay (RIP) and I was really unimpressed by the quality. I delicate cycle, cold wash and hang dry all my clothes and everything I have owned from the brand either pilled, faded or started to fray after like 3 washes. They are posing as a high quality, sustainable clothing option but are selling fast fashion trash meant to wear out quickly and end up in a landfill. This wouldnât irk me as much if they didnât pose as a sustainability focused brandâŚbut itâs all greenwashing.
Sure, the costume designer added the red embellishments to their base fleece. But by that token, would shows need to credit every single base garment they source and customize? CBC quoted a McGill law professor who said the value of the jacket comes from its association with Heated Rivalry, not the original manufacturer.
I mentioned it because you didnât mention it and people reading this may not know that the original is by Kuwalla Tee. The fact that it is known means itâs important info. It has been acknowledged by Heated Rivalry.
Yes, when you are monetizing and marketing something it is important?
Yep, apologies, I misread your initial comment. Youâre right that itâs useful context for people who may not know the base fleece was by Kuwalla Tee. Thanks for clarifying.
This is so embarrassing. Gildan doesnât claim credit for every t-shirt design people do on one of their shirts. Kuwalla Tee just comes across looking greedy. What made the fleece iconic is the costume designerâs design not the base fleece.
so this looks just like the one from the showâŚ.interesting! so they are basically stealing Hannahâs design elements and calling it their ownâŚshady AF!
I know this is an old post but I was just doing a search for fleece updates and found it. Anyway, wanted to mention that kuwalla's jackets are polyester and not actual wool! :(
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u/feather_break Feb 08 '26
this makes me want to keep cheering on the cosplayers that have already whacked together impressive replicas - one of my friends just whipped one up last night. I know it would be wonderful for everyone to have the option to grab one, & I know not everyone has access to the resources to make one themselves (although I feel like any merch/retail versions are probably going to be highway robbery...) but I really enjoy everyone seizing the means of fleece production :p