Part of an ongoing series of 29Secrets stories, taking a deep dive into the history of legendary beauty products and iconic fashion moments…
By Christopher Turner
Illustration by Michael Hak
On May 2, 2025, Canada’s longest-standing department store marked its 355th anniversary, while facing its end. The anniversary, the initial questions surrounding the closure of select Hudson’s Bay stores across the country, and then liquidation beginning at the previously spared stores, have prompted a lot of reflection, a little Canadian pride – and perhaps a little sorrow at its loss as a national entity.
One of the most recognizable (and complicated) chapters in the history of Canada’s most iconic department store chain is the story behind the Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blanket, which has been produced since 1779. The cozy white wool blanket is instantly recognizable with its green, red, yellow and indigo stripes, which in recent years has also served as an emblem for the company.
The Hudson’s Bay Company was not the first to create the point blanket: the first were created by French weavers sometime in the 17th century. The company did, however, popularize them among Indigenous and settler communities in Canada, and had been trading blankets since the company incorporated in 1670 as a fur-trading business. At the time, point blankets served as a form of currency and were used by both European settlers and explorers to barter for furs with Indigenous Peoples. In 1779, the Hudson’s Bay Company finally commissioned its very own wool Point Blanket, with a series of thick coloured stripes and points (markers on cloth). In recent years, the company has used the design from the blanket with its distinctive stripes on a variety of clothing, accessories and household items sold across the country.
Few objects are as deeply intertwined with controversy and Canadian history as the Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blanket. It is a symbol of colonial trade, Indigenous resilience and a cultural legacy that remains an enduring artifact of the nation’s complex past. Here’s the complicated history of the Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blanket, from its origins in the 17th century fur trade to its place in contemporary Canadian heritage.
The gritty beginnings
In the late 1600s, long before Canada was Canada, Britain became a dominant force in the North American fur trade with the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which would become one of the largest fur trading companies in the world.
The company was formed largely because of the actions of two French explorers – Médard Chouart des Groseilliers and his brother-in-law, Pierre-Esprit Radisson – who in 1659 had travelled deep into what is now Northern Ontario and Manitoba, and learned from the Cree that the best fur country lay north and west of Lake Superior, and that there was a “frozen sea” still further north. Assuming this was Hudson Bay, the pair sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland.
Denied support by France, the pair turned to England’s court, where King Charles II granted them an audience. English commerce was moving rapidly across the world at the time, and the king ultimately agreed to finance a voyage to Hudson Bay to search for the furs that the pair described.
Next, Prince Rupert – the swashbuckling cousin of King Charles II – chartered two vessels for des Groseilliers and Radisson to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay, which left England for Hudson Bay on June 5, 1668. But des Groseilliers was the only one to make it, after a storm damaged Radisson’s ship and forced him to return to England. Upon arrival, des Groseilliers set up the first fort on James Bay’s southern shores, where he traded with the Cree. Just over a year later, in October 1669, the expedition returned to England with its first rich cargo of furs, which were sold primarily to Thomas Glover, one of London’s most prominent furriers, ultimately proving the viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay. King Charles II agreed, and his papers reported: “Beaver is plenty.”
Convinced of the economic potential, King Charles II signed a royal charter that established the Hudson’s Bay Company, then officially “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson’s Bay,” on May 2, 1670. This charter, similar to other British imperial ventures at the time, established a legal monopoly aimed at preventing others from trading in the area. It also granted the company monopoly trading privileges and mineral rights to all of the lands drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay.
Crucially, the charter claimed some 1.5 million square kilometres of land inhabited by Indigenous communities. King Charles II knew that he couldn’t take land that didn’t belong to him, but he reserved the idea of land ownership for Europeans, ignoring the territory’s Indigenous inhabitants. As part of his refusal to recognize Indigenous sovereignty, he gave the region a new name: “Rupert’s Land,” in honour of his cousin, Prince Rupert, who served as the first royal governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
The basics of the company’s fur trade were relatively simple, but simply didn’t work without Indigenous Peoples’ labour and knowledge. The company built posts along the Hudson Bay coastline, staffed by English officials and mostly Scottish traders, and then waited for Indigenous trappers to bring them furs, which they exchanged for goods that were becoming increasingly important to the Indigenous community’s survival, such as guns and wool. The furs were then brought back to Europe and sold for a hefty profit.
By the mid-19th century, as the Hudson’s Bay Company’s landholdings grew, the region would encompass some eight million square kilometres and large parts of modern-day Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, Ontario and Quebec, as well as the northwestern and midwestern United States. From the perspective of the British, this was an example of how they could transform – or “civilize” – the globe. But parts of this region already had names. For some Indigenous communities, it was Turtle Island; for others, Inuit Nunangat or Denendeh. And for the Indigenous nations who called this region home, the simple act of one man in England signing a piece of paper had profound consequences.
The origins: A blanket fit for trade
By 1700, wool blankets accounted for more than 60 per cent of traded goods in the North American fur trade. Wool was a highly prized commodity, as it was warm, durable and easy to maintain in harsh climates. The Hudson’s Bay Company had been trading blankets since the company incorporated in 1670, but didn’t commission its very own Point Blanket until 1779, when its traders sought a more standardized wool blanket for exchange with Indigenous trappers.
An independent French fur trader named Germain Maugenest is thought to be the one to have advised the Hudson’s Bay Company to introduce point blankets. Maugenest, who took a job with the company in 1779 to help escape his debt to a Montreal fur trader, offered multiple suggestions to improve the company; one of his recommendations included regular stock of a blanket with a “point system.” The term “point” refers to the small lines woven into the edge of each blanket, which indicated its size and value. Contrary to popular myth, these points did not measure the number of beaver pelts required for trade but instead served as a sizing guide for traders and customers alike.
HBC Heritage (the now defunct arm of Hudson’s Bay, which was dedicated to preserving and promoting the company’s history), explained:
“Each blanket was graded using a point system. Points were identified by the indigo lines woven into the side of each blanket. A full point measured 4–5.5 inches (10–14 centimetres); a half point measured half that length. The standard measurements for a pair of 1-point blankets [were]: 2 feet, 8 inches (81 centimetres) wide by 8 feet (2.4 metres) in length; with a weight of 3 pounds, 1 ounce (1.4 kilograms) each. Points ranged from 1 to 6, increasing by halves depending upon the size and weight of the blanket. The number of points on a blanket represents the overall finished size of the blanket, not its value in terms of beaver pelts as is sometimes believed.”
A month after Maugenest’s meeting, the Hudson’s Bay Company commissioned the Witney Mills in Oxfordshire, England, which had a long tradition of producing high-quality wool textiles, to produce the first Point Blankets for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The blankets originally had a single stripe across each end, usually in blue or red, and the wool was tightly woven and finished with a napped surface, making it exceptionally warm and water-resistant – qualities that made it indispensable in the rugged Canadian wilderness. Thickness and quality were the same from blanket to blanket, though larger blankets naturally weighed more.
To create the Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blankets, the wool was first dyed before it was spun by the mill (the blankets were woven 50 per cent larger than their final finished size), and then left to dry in the air and sun to help brighten the colours. They were then put through a milling process, which reduced the size and prevented any further shrinkage. The milling also prevented the blanket from hardening when exposed to severe climatic conditions.
The original point system made it easy to sell the blankets through fur trading, as the points became a reliable pricing convention, and the point blankets quickly became the standard for measuring every item that the Hudson’s Bay Company was trading. In fact, the blanket became so synonymous with the standard measure for trade that in the company records, the term “blanket” was used to convey a collection of smaller trade goods.
Over time, production expanded to other British mills, ensuring that a steady supply could be shipped across the Atlantic to meet the growing demand. Then in 1798, Thomas Empson of Witney Mills received a purchase order from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s London headquarters for “30 pair[s] of 3 points to be striped with four colours (red, blue, green, yellow) according to your judgment.” And so, the multi-stripe Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blanket pattern was born.
Interestingly, the colour palette – white with red, indigo, green and yellow stripes – has no specific meaning that can be traced; the four stripe colours were simply popular at the time and are sometimes known as Queen Anne’s colours, as they were favoured during her reign (1702–1714), and were easily produced at that time using good colourfast dyes.
As for the order? The modern “order” of the stripes – green, red, yellow and indigo – was not standardized until the mid- to late 19th century.
The fur trade and Indigenous communities
The introduction of the Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blanket into the fur trade marked a pivotal shift in economic and cultural interactions between European traders and Indigenous nations. The blankets were made in England, transported by boat across the Atlantic and bought by Indigenous and settler communities alike to use as bedding, clothing, room dividers and fabric for other items. While Indigenous trappers traditionally relied on animal furs and hides for warmth, wool blankets offered a lighter, longer-lasting alternative. These blankets quickly became a sought-after item in trade, exchanged for beaver pelts and other furs that fuelled the booming European fashion industry.
Over the years of fur trading, the design of the Point Blankets changed and grew to accommodate the preferences of various Indigenous nations. For example, there is some historical evidence that reveals many Inuit liked plain white blankets that provided camouflage in the winter, while the Tsimshian and Tlingit typically preferred deep blue designs. Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw) and Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations tended to like green blankets, and in many Coast and Interior Salish communities, the favourite colour was red. Though the reason for these differences is not certain, it is thought that certain patterns and colours held important spiritual meaning, as well as practical use.
Preferences, of course, changed over time, as ethnographer Aurel Krause noted as he spent the winter of 1881–2 with the Tlingit on the Northwest Coast: “A woolen blanket now is the most indispensable piece of clothing of an Indian. It is thrown loosely over the shoulder and worn in a toga like fashion. Blankets of blue and white are preferred (among the Tlingit) but even here fashion changes, much to the chagrin of the traders.”
At the time many Indigenous communities integrated the blankets into their own traditions. Many First Nations and Métis groups repurposed them into clothing, such as the distinctive capote: a hooded handmade wrap-style wool coat that became synonymous with fur traders and voyageurs. Capotes became so popular that, in 1706, the Hudson’s Bay Company hired a tailor to construct the blankets into these coats. The blankets also played a role in ceremonies and gift-giving traditions, signifying respect, gratitude and familial bonds.
The smallpox controversy
The history of the Point Blanket is also entangled with the darker realities of colonization. The blankets were often used as a tool of influence in trading posts, solidifying the economic power of the Hudson’s Bay Company over Indigenous groups.
Localized outbreaks of a host of deadly epidemics – such as measles, influenza, mumps, typhus, cholera, plague, scarlet fever and whooping cough – were becoming increasingly commonplace in North America in the late 1700s and early 1800s. But a smallpox outbreak, caused by the variola virus, truly devastated Indigenous communities. Some historical accounts suggest that British officials may have intentionally used the Point Blankets to spread smallpox among Indigenous communities.
The horrific story originates in a notorious series of letters from the 1763 Pontiac Uprising in Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania, in which Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, encouraged the use of blankets infected with smallpox as a means of biological warfare: “You will Do well to try to Innoculate [sic] the Indians by means of Blankets, as well as try every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race.”
While there was an outbreak of smallpox among the Indigenous Peoples around Pennsylvania that spring, the disease had already been in that area, and it is therefore unknown if Amherst’s thoughts were put into action.
Some scholars and historians believe that colonial authorities knew that smallpox would spread into Western Canada, and that it would help colonial authorities claim Indigenous lands without the use of treaties or compensation. Even if they did not intend to use the blankets to spread smallpox, trading blankets easily allowed for the transferral of European diseases to Indigenous people.
While the Hudson’s Bay Company acknowledges that smallpox decimated Indigenous populations across Canada, it states that its company “had nothing to do with the use of smallpox blankets as biological warfare.” In fact, the company claims that Hudson’s Bay Company employees tried to stop the spread of disease by practising quarantine when needed and providing care for the infected.
To this day, however, stories exist within Indigenous communities that smallpox was spread by blankets that were distributed by the company. While Hudson’s Bay Company has maintained throughout the years that there is no factual evidence this was done intentionally, the company has admitted that the blanket has a complicated and painful history, especially when it comes to the smallpox devastation.
“There’s no question that it contributed to the devastating spread of disease among Indigenous communities,” Iain Nairn, president and chief executive officer of Hudson’s Bay told CityNews in 2022. (At the time of Nairn’s interview, the Hudson’s Bay Foundation had announced that all net proceeds from future sales of the Point Blanket would be directed to a new benefit fund to support Indigenous individuals, organizations and initiatives that support arts, culture, language and education. The announcement of the “Oshki Wupoowane” Fund, or The Blanket Fund, was made on Truth and Reconciliation Day.)
The theory that smallpox-infected blankets were deliberately distributed to Indigenous communities remains debated by historians but is nonetheless a chilling reminder of the destructive impacts of colonial expansion.
From practicality to prestige: The blanket’s evolution
By the mid-19th century, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Point Blanket had transcended its role as a trade commodity and become a staple in households across North America – and while there were numerous iterations, the multi-stripe design had become its signature look. While originally intended to be a utilitarian product, the blanket had now evolved into a status symbol, often given as gifts or used in ceremonial settings within Indigenous communities.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the blanket’s popularity grew beyond Canada. British and American consumers began purchasing them for use in military campaigns, Arctic expeditions and even as fashionable home decor. The durability and warmth of the wool made them highly desirable in regions experiencing extreme winters, further cementing their legendary status.
The blankets also found their way into Canadian military history, with soldiers using them during the War of 1812 and later conflicts. Their insulating properties made them valuable assets for soldiers braving Canada’s harsh winters.
By the time the former British colony had become its own nation, Hudson’s Bay Company had pivoted from the no-longer booming fur trade and opened its first retail store in Winnipeg in 1881, with Hudson’s Bay department stores soon opening in every major city across the country. The blanket maintained its relevancy, and the company began commercially selling countless versions and colours of the blanket, and merchandise, at stores throughout Canada.
By the mid-20th century, the blanket had become a symbol of Canadian identity, appearing in government and tourism campaigns to promote the nation’s heritage. In 1929, the Hudson’s Bay Company expanded their variety of colours in order to make the blankets an essential part of home decor. Occasionally, the company would even produce blankets for special events or anniversaries. For instance, for the coronation of Elizabeth II – who made history by becoming the first monarch to be crowned Head of the Commonwealth and Queen of Canada when she was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 – a royal purple blanket with white stripes and point was produced.
The blanket in modern culture
Today, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Point Blanket is more than just a historical relic: it is a cultural icon. In recent years, the blankets were frequently gifted to dignitaries, featured in museum exhibitions around the globe, and even incorporated into high-end fashion collections by designers across the country. Striped blanket coats have even been worn by Team Canada at a number of Winter Olympics throughout the years. But while the blanket is seen by many as the ultimate symbol of Canadiana, it is not loved by all.
Some Indigenous communities across the country have embraced the blankets as a means of storytelling and cultural continuity, but for some Indigenous Peoples, the Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket to this day represents the forces of colonization and is a reminder of the stories that Europeans intentionally gave blankets contaminated with smallpox and other infectious diseases to Indigenous people. That resentment is the reason why some Indigenous artists and designers have chosen to reclaim its imagery and reinterpret the blanket in powerful ways. Most notably, Cree artist Kent Monkman famously used the Point Blankets in his series of provocative paintings, “Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience,” as a representation of “the imperial powers that dominated and dispossessed Indigenous people of their land and livelihood.”
Another notable reclaiming came in 2011 when Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore created the video installation “The Blanket,” which featured Winnipeg dancer Ming Hong rolling down a snow-covered hill in a Point Blanket. Belmore said that while the “blanket is an object of beauty, a collector’s item that belongs to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s history,” it is, for many Indigenous Peoples, “still viewed as a trade item that once contained the gift of disease.”
Outside of the complex relationship that the blankets have in Indigenous communities, they have also been the subject of artistic installations celebrating Canada’s rich history, featured in documentaries, and have been the subject of academic research exploring their complex legacy. As discussions surrounding reconciliation and Indigenous rights continue in Canada, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Point Blanket serves as a powerful reminder of the nation’s past and the ongoing need for cultural recognition and justice.
As for the future of the Hudson’s Bay Company, that’s another story. In 2008, private equity firm NRDC purchased the Hudson’s Bay Company, turning the quintessentially Canadian retailer American. The company’s fortunes soon took a downturn, as department stores began to lose ground. When Hudson’s Bay stores across Canada began liquidating most of its stores on March 24, 2025, sales of striped merchandise – from the wool Point Blankets to patio umbrellas – skyrocketed. Within days they were sold out across the country and the blankets, which normally retailed between $350 and $550 CAD, were being sold for thousands on eBay.
Initially, some shoppers hoped that the resurgence in demand for the iconic Point Blankets and other striped merchandise would help give the brand a second life. When Hudson’s Bay announced that they would begin liquidating most of its stores as of Monday, March 24, 2025, six stores in Ontario and Quebec were set to survive post-liquidation. However, on April 25, a new court filing announced that Hudson’s Bay would also start selling off all merchandise immediately at the six stores previously spared from liquidation. That same day, the Hudson’s Bay Instagram account lamented on the sad news, posting:
“If there’s one thing we know, it’s that our stripes will live on. Keep them wrapped around your shoulders, displayed in your homes, and stitched into the memories we made together. You’ll always be part of our story, Canada.”
As of the publication of this article, Canada’s oldest company will close all stores nationwide by Sunday, June 15, 2025.
While the future of Hudson’s Bay and its trademark multi-stripe blanket may be over as we know it, it’s fair to say that the Point Blanket embodies Canada’s layered and often contradictory history – one of trade and tradition, resilience and resistance, utility and symbolism. Whether draped over a bed in a cabin, hanging in a museum or wrapped around the shoulders of an elder during a ceremony, the blanket remains a testament to the enduring connections between past and present. It serves as a reminder that history is not just something we read in books: it’s something we can touch, feel and pass down through the generations, woven in the threads of time. As the debate over its colonial past continues, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Point Blanket stands as both a cherished keepsake and a symbol of Canada’s evolving relationship with its history.
Want more? You can read other stories from our The Story Of series right here.
