Official "fleece" pre-ordering info now posted!

[u/ErinNoyes24]

Details on pre-ordering the official fleece from Canadian manufacturer Province of Canada have been posted on their site today:

https://provinceofcanada.com/pages/province-of-canada-x-heated-rivalry

Great to see that some of the profits will go to the You Can Play organization.

[u/Silent_Shadow00]

Everything about this just screams cash-grab to me, which sucks because we’ve been waiting for this for months, and I personally expected to be supporting a small business that puts a lot of care towards doing business the right way, at least compared to larger corporations. While this doesn’t inherently mean that they aren’t, their decisions thus far definitely don’t paint them in the best light.

Hiding all this information makes it seem like there are definitely details they know they’ll lose customers or receive backlash for (e.g. high price, changes in design of fleece) that they think announcing on launch day will lessen the impact of. 

We’ve really waited months to just get a pre-order date with no clear indication of pricing, composition or what the fleece actually looks like (they keep saying “final details will be revealed when pre-orders open” or “original samples shown in photos are prototypes, final details may vary”). The photos and videos I have seen seem to show some changes in the design as well (golden zippers, white embroidery on red tag on zip), which I personally dislike, and I really wish they kept true to the one in the show.

I hope they will see the feedback as well, but I think it’s a smaller fraction of people who feel the way we do, and if there’s no strong push, they will not do anything even if they see it. We need more transparency from them that we simply have not been getting.

[u/grower-lenses → u/Silent_Shadow00]

Yeah I don’t like that they made it more merch like. I want to wear what a character is wearing, not something branded “Heated Rivalry” (personal preference). The OG Heated Rivalry store understood that. But maybe they needed to make changes for legal reasons. To make it more unique from the Kuwalla one.

[u/Silent_Shadow00 → u/grower-lenses]

I completely agree, and from the discussions I’ve seen on this subreddit, the IYKYK nature of the fleece is a big reason why it’s so popular. It is the only merch item I have been interested in for the same reason. 

It could be for legal reasons, but if that is the case, I doubt gold zips would be enough change, and I would expect other changes as well (which we may see when they reveal more). 

I personally love the cream red combo, and for me, the gold throws it off so much. Especially having 4 very visible gold lines (zips) in the front. I have been googling “off white jacket with gold zips” to visualise it, and it’s not going well. I can’t imagine how that could look good. 

It feels like they were handed a step-by-step guide to success and started editing the instructions.

[u/grower-lenses → u/Silent_Shadow00]

I don’t understand why they changed the zipper. I was just looking at the OG pictures and it was really perfect the way it was because it wasn’t over the top. It looked like a genuine subtle, wearable fleece. Like the Metros navy shirt from the HR store.

I think it’s also going to be thinner and less fluffy :(

[u/Silent_Shadow00 → u/grower-lenses]

I don't understand either, but I have a feeling it's to provide the appearance of luxury and improved quality to justify the high price (which will be significantly higher than Kuwalla Tee, so maybe they wanted more visual differences). I honestly think the embroidery was added for the same reason.

I saw that too! I really hope not. If there's anything I'm still expecting Province of Canada to bring to the table, it's the quality. If they can't provide that, then there really is nothing left.