Hudson Bay Blanket - 4, 6, 8 Point Blankets
Prepare to love your Hudson Bay blanket for a lifetime, because that's how long this exceptionally warm, resilient blanket will last.
Hudson Bay Point Blanket - Find it. Love it. Buy it.
The ivory-colored, distinctively striped blankets, often called Hudson Bay point blankets, were first used more than 200 years ago by Europeans trading with the First Nations trappers of Canada. Produced by the Canada's oldest corporation, the Hudson Bay Company, the blankets were highly prized by First Nations hunters, who traded beaver pelts in exchange for the water-resistant wool blankets.
From the Hudson Bay website:
"Each blanket was graded as to weight and size 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 in.; a half point measured half that length. The standard measurements for a pair of 1 point blankets was: 2 ft. 8 in. wide by 8 ft. in length; with a weight of 3 lb. 1 oz. each. Points ranged from 1 to 6, increasing by halves depending upon the size and weight of the blanket. The number of points represented the overall finished size of the blanket, not its value in terms of beaver pelts as is sometimes believed. "
Today the blankets are still produced in North America and England of 100% new wool. A multi-step manufacturing process is used that prevents the blankets from shrinking and results in their trademark glossy, almost furry, surface that is both snow and rain resistant.
As a nod to their historic background and importance to early Northern American commerce, the blankets are still available today in the famous multi-color stripe with short indigo dashes - called a "chief's blanket" in the 1800s - distributed through Woolrich Corporation, under official license of the historic Hudson's Bay Company. Many other blanket manufacturers produce heavy wool "point" blankets with similar markings to the classic Hudson Bay blanket.
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