Cooper Canada Ltd.

Cooper Canada Ltd. was a sporting goods and fine leather goods manufacturer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In its heyday, the 1960s through to the 1980s, the company was Canada's leading producer of leather baseball gloves and protective ice hockey equipment. The company pioneered team-colored hockey equipment and the use of nylon, foam, and modern plastics in equipment manufacturing.

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 after admiring the quality of the company's products.) The company was re-styled as Cooper Weeks. On June 15, 1971, the company was renamed Cooper of Canada, when Cecil Weeks sold out to Jack Cooper.

Prior to Cooper and Weeks's purchase, the company had made ski and snowshoe harness sets. With the Great Depression impacting sales, they switched focus to economy-priced protective ice hockey shin guards (in 1933) and gloves (in 1935). Frank Selke, manager of the Montreal Canadiens 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.

Cooper employees and customers worked closely together to develop innovations like goaltenders' throat protection and professional grade lacrosse equipment. In the 1970s, when few professional athletes were paid to endorse equipment, Dave Dryden, brother of Ken Dryden, assisted the company in their Custom Pro Shop, sharing his latest thoughts on how to improve goaltenders' protective gear.

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