Nisga’a stick to their knitting..

They’re branching out in the Nass Valley, as the Nisga'a Knit & Apparel Corp. takes on a 29 per cent piece of a Kootenay knitwear company, and with the expectation of taking over the remainder of the company in the New Year.

Kootenay Knitting of Cranbrook, which has a contract to provide knitwear for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games has joined forces with the Nisga’a company, a move that will see an increase in production out of a planned operation in the Nass Valley.

The Vancouver Sun featured the developments in their business section this weekend, with a brief background piece on what led to the merger and what will be an eventual takeover from the Nass.

The move is described as one of the opportunities for the Nisga’a people that has developed through the Nisga’a treaty. No details on a construction schedule or how many will be employed by the new Nass venture were released in the article.


Nisga'a buy into Olympic knitwear company
by JEFF LEE
Vancouver Sun
Friday, November 16, 2007

VANCOUVER - A British Columbia knitting company that became an overnight Olympic success story and now supplies knitwear for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games has taken on a First Nations partner.

On Friday, Kootenay Knitting of Cranbrook announced that Nisga'a Knit & Apparel Corp. had bought 29 per cent of the company, and will likely buy the company out by early next year.

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The deal will see Kootenay's three-machine plant remain in operation, with Nisga'a, which is owned by the Nisga'a First Nations, opening a plant of their own in the Nass Valley.

Ron Stickley, president of Kootenay Knitting, said the partnership became necessary after the company won the licence last year to produce knitwear for the 2010 Games. The company's growth and demand for its goods required additional investment, he said.

Willard Martin, a hereditary Nisga'a chief, said the investment and eventual ownership of Kootenay carries out a pledge the Nisga'a made to themselves in the wake of their landmark treaty to take full advantage of economic and investment opportunities.

"The Nisga'a treaty provided limitless opportunities for engaging us in the boundless economic opportunities of Canada," he said.

Under the deal, Kootenay's True North designs will eventually be transferred to the Nass production facility once it is built next year, Stickley said. The dollar value of the deal was not make public.

Cathy Rella founded Kootenay 15 years ago in her basement. By 2001, the company had become well-known for its hats, sweaters and scarves. Its reputation was cemented when it supplied, on short notice, knitwear for the CBC's on-air crew at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games.

The resulting publicity made Kootenay an example of a small company that participated in the Olympics and leveraged later opportunities. Last year it transformed that success again into a licence from Vanoc to provide knitwear through HBC, the Hudson's Bay Company, a major 2010 sponsor.