The No 1. draft pick of 2023 figures to be visible off the ice in deals with Canadian brands. After lululemon, is old-school-turned-design-minded Sher-Wood Hockey next?
Might Connor Bedard soon be outfitted by one of the "most prolific sports stylists in the the world?" Kesha McLeod has decked out Serena Williams, LeBron James, James Harden, Candace Parker and other "A-listers."
McLeod is Sher-Wood Hockey's fashion director: a radical move for Sher-Wood, an old-school hockey brand founded in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1949. Sher-Wood was as traditional a hockey brand as... a wood stick.
No more. See this video on Sher-Wood's commitment bust out and flaunt fashion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roMDP9dZ_ms
Not even a player as talented as Connor Bedard could use a wooden stick today and be at the top of his game. But the NHL's top 2023 draft pick did pose with a Sher-Wood CODE TMP Pro composite stick in publicity shots for lululemon when the Vancouver-based athletic apparel announced Bedard had become a brand ambassador.
The soon-to-be Chicago Blackhawks forward also was wearing Sher-Wood hockey gloves along with his lululemon sweatshirt and shorts.
Something is brewing:
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For decades, Sher-Wood was famous for sticks produced in the heart of Québec's wooded Eastern Townships. Models such as the iconic P.M.P. 5030 Feather Lite were made from aspen and the "twigs" of choice for thousands of players ranging from house leaguers to Hall-of-Famers.
But Sher-Wood is shedding that image, using a "completely new playbook," Brendan Arnold, Sher-Wood's associate VP for brand told THN Editor in Chief Ryan Kennedy last November. See: https://thehockeynews.com/video/q-a-with-sherwood-hockeys-brendon-arnold.
Arnold said Sher-Wood's brand had become "dusty and old" and "fell off the face of the Earth," so it needed something radically different to be revived.
The new pillars for Sher-Wood: "Creativity, individuality and self-expression."
McLeod acknowledged that many NHL players look great in an expensive tailored suit, especially with their "thick thighs and thick glutes." But, McLeod said younger players need something more casual and relevant.
Stay tuned. Bedard says he just want to make the Blackhawks and be "one of the guys.
But even if he doesn't use words, the center may make a fashion statement.
