Cooper Canada Ltd. was a

sporting goods Sports equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear, which varies in shapes, size, and usage in a particular sport. It includes balls, nets, rackets, protective gears like helmets, goggles, etc. Since the p ...

and fine leather goods manufacturer based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. In its heyday, the 1960s through to the 1980s, the company was Canada's leading producer of fine leathergoods, hockey, baseball and lacrosse equipment. The company pioneered team-coloured hockey equipment and the use of

nylon Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups. Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...

foam Foams are two-phase materials science, material systems where a gas is dispersed in a second, non-gaseous material, specifically, in which gas cells are enclosed by a distinct liquid or solid material. Note, this source focuses only on liquid ...

, and modern plastics in equipment manufacturing.

Inception

Cecil John Weeks, a nephew by marriage of General Leather Goods owner R.H. Cameron, worked with Cameron, who had founded the company in 1905. Jack Cooper, who also worked with GLG, joined Weeks in purchasing the company in 1949. (Cooper had joined the company of 15 employees in 1932 as their first salesman) The company was re-styled as Cooper Weeks. In 1954 Jack Cooper bought out his partner, Cecil Weeks, but the company continued to be named 'Cooper-Weeks' until 1971, when it was changed to Cooper Canada to coincide with the company going 'public' with 40% of its shares being traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Cooper Canada was sold to Charon Industries in 1987.

Innovation

Prior to Cooper and Weeks's purchase, the company made leather coin purses, key cases and business portfolios along with

ski Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins c ...

and

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footw ...

harness sets. With the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

impacting sales, they switched focus to economy-priced protective

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

shin guard A shin guard or shin pad is a piece of equipment worn on the front of an athlete's shin to protect it from injury. These are commonly used in sports including association football, baseball, ice hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, cricket and mou ...

s (in 1933) and

gloves A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a ...

(in 1935).

Frank Selke Francis Joseph Aloysius Selke (; May 7, 1893 – July 3, 1985) was a Canadian professional ice hockey executive in the National Hockey League. He was a nine-time Stanley Cup champion with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens and a Hocke ...

, manager of the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

in the 1950s and early 1960s, worked with Cooper to decrease the weight and improve the durability and safety of hockey equipment. In 1969, the company introduced the plastic hockey stick replacement blade widely used in

road hockey A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The w ...

. In 1955 the company became the Canadian Licensee to produce and market Buxton leathergoods in the Canadian market. Buxton was a US-based company and a leader in the fine leathergoods industry. Cooper employees and customers worked closely together to develop innovations like goaltenders' throat protection and professional grade

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

equipment. In the 1970s, when few professional athletes were paid to endorse equipment, Dave Dryden, brother of

Ken Dryden Kenneth Wayne Dryden (born August 8, 1947) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender, politician, lawyer, businessman, and author. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was ...

, assisted the company in their Custom Pro Shop, sharing his latest thoughts on how to improve goaltenders' protective gear.

Expansion

Following the July 5, 1972 acquisition of

hockey stick A hockey stick is a piece of sports equipment used by the players in all the forms of hockey to move the ball or puck (as appropriate to the type of hockey) either to push, pull, hit, strike, flick, steer, launch or stop the ball/Hockey puck, puc ...

and

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal Club (weapon), club used in the sport of baseball to hit the Baseball (ball), ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more t ...

maker Hespeler-St. Mary's Wood Specialties Ltd. from the Seagram family, the company expanded into the bat market, with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

finally approving their bats on March 27, 1986. The bats gained popularity with such players as

Tony Fernández Octavio Antonio Fernández Castro (June 30, 1962 – February 16, 2020), better known as Tony Fernández, was a Dominican baseball player who played as a shortstop in Major League Baseball (MLB) for seven teams from 1983 to 2001, most notably ...

, Buck Martínez,

Tim Raines Timothy Raines Sr. (born September 16, 1959), nicknamed "Rock",Raines received this nickname at an Expo rookie camp when he was seventeen, based on his physique. is an American professional baseball coach and former player. He played as a left ...

Paul Molitor Paul Leo Molitor (born August 22, 1956), nicknamed "Molly" and "the Ignitor", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. During his 21-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), he played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1 ...

Kelly Gruber Kelly Wayne Gruber (born February 26, 1962) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman. He played for the Toronto Blue Jays and California Angels from 1984 to 1993. He was a two-time MLB All-Star and won a Gold Glove Award an ...

Jesse Barfield Jesse Lee Barfield (born October 29, 1959) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right fielder from 1981 to 1992 for the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees. A two-time Gol ...

Cecil Fielder Cecil Grant Fielder (; born September 21, 1963) is an American former professional baseball designated hitter and first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). Fielder was a power hitter in the 1980s and 1990s. He attended college at the Univers ...

Joe Carter Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays ...

, and

Hubie Brooks Hubert "Hubie" Brooks (born September 24, 1956) is an American former professional baseball right fielder, third baseman, and shortstop. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1980 to 1994 for the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, ...

, and were the first Canadian-made bats used in major league play. The factory maxed out production capacity to gain 30% market share in baseball bat sales by 1988, remaining number two behind

Louisville Slugger Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. A move of the production facilities in 1996 coincided with the decline of professional use of Cooper bats.

Product criticism

Some Cooper products met with limited consumer acceptance. A hockey

pant Pant may refer to: Clothing * Pants or trousers, an article of outer clothing worn on the lower half of the body, it comes in a variety of shapes like narrow, slim fit, baggy pants and many others. * Underpants, an item of underwear Places * ...

and

girdle A belt without a buckle, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle in various contexts, especially historical ones, where girdles were a very common part of everyday clothing from antiquity until perhaps the 15th century, especially for w ...

called Cooperalls, Cooper hinged DG32 shin pads, and the Cooper XL7 helmet have been named by critics among the worst hockey products of all time, though its widely unknown that Cooperalls became a surprisingly popular design in junior hockey and the Canadian sports of

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

and

broomball Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter sport, winter and ball sport played on ice or snow. It is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on the climate and location. It is most popularly played in Canada and the ...

. Cooperalls have not only had newer designs based on Cooper Canada's initial concept, but started an official trend in the sport of ringette; today, long sport pants for wear on the ice, "ringette pants" are now the accepted official part of an equipment kit in the sports

and

. They were designed by Steve Copeland and Len Clement of Cooper Design Group. Though used in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

, the Cooper XL7 helmet met with particular criticism as being unsafe because of a plastic clip that could break upon face checking or puck impacts, detaching the faceguard. (This same faceguard is now prized among collectors for its use in the construction of replicas of Crow T. Robot, the

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

from the 1990s television series ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

''.)

Dissolution

Canstar Sports Inc., the parent company of hockey product manufacturer

Bauer Hockey Bauer Hockey LLC is an American manufacturer of ice hockey equipment, fitness and recreational skates and apparel. Bauer produces helmets, gloves, sticks, skates, shin guards, pants, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hockey jocks and compression under ...

, acquired the hockey division of Cooper in 1990, and was itself acquired by Nike five years later. Former Cooper lead staff purchased the baseball bat manufacturing division in spring 1999 to form KR3. Jack Cooper was elected to the U.S.

National Sporting Goods Association The National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) is an American industry trade group representing retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers of sports equipment. History On May 26, 1929, the NSGA was formed when the ''Sporting Goods Dealer's Asso ...

Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame The Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame is an award for members of the American ''National Sporting Goods Association'', an industry trade group for the sports equipment industry. Inductees As of the 2023 awards, 181 people are listed in the H ...

in 1979 and the

Canadian Business Hall of Fame The Canadian Business Hall of Fame celebrates the outstanding achievements of Canada's most distinguished business leaders, past and present. Over 170 Order of the Business Hall of Fame Companions serve as inspiring examples for all young Canadians ...

in 1989. In

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the Cooper brand is used for

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

equipment since Cooper ice hockey helmets made their way into

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

during the 1960s. By now, Cooper is "seen as the market leader" of hurling equipment in Ireland.

References

{{Sports equipment brands Sporting goods manufacturers of Canada Defunct manufacturing companies of Canada Ice hockey equipment manufacturers Canadian companies established in 1905 Canadian companies disestablished in 1990 1905 establishments in Ontario 1990 disestablishments in Ontario 1990 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Toronto