In addition to blue and white, Babsocks produced a red Team Canada version two years agoBABSOCKS
Toronto-based sock maker Babsocks has signed a "licensing deal with the NHL Alumni Association to produce socks featuring the faces" of former NHL greats, according to Paul Attfield of the GLOBE & MAIL. The NHL Alumni collection of socks will "launch with a roster of about 15-20 legendary players," including former Maple Leafs G Johnny Bower and former Flyers C Bobby Clarke. Each caricature "will have to be approved" by the NHLAA, to whom former players "sign over their image rights upon retirement." A portion of the proceeds from any sale "will now go to the Association, which tries to provide greater quality of life" to former players. The company debuted three years ago with a "brand of socks featuring the caricatured scowl" of Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock. As well as "producing socks in home blue and road white, the pair made Team Canada red ones to coincide with the World Cup of Hockey two years ago." Babsocks "branched out even further last fall," teaming with Babcock to "produce a black Movember version, featuring the coach with a bushy mustache" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/17).
