 | |
| Product type | Ice hockey equipment |
|---|---|
| Owner | Canadian Tire Corporation |
| Country | Canada |
| Introduced | 1921 |
| Website | Archived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2002-01-25) |
Hespeler is a Canadian brand of ice hockey equipment owned by the Canadian Tire Corporation through its subsidiary FGL Sports (formerly the Forzani Group Limited). The Hespeler brand originated in the Hespeler Wood Specialty Company in Hespeler, Ontario, which was founded in 1921 and produced hockey sticks. In the 1930s Hespeler was merged with a number of other manufacturing companies to form the Hespeler-St. Mary's Wood Specialty Company, which continued to manufacture hockey sticks at the Hespeler factory.
In 1972, Hespeler-St. Mary's was purchased by Cooper Canada, who discontinued the Hespeler line and used the factory to produce its own sticks and bats. Subsequent owners of the Hespeler factory included Charan Industries, Canstar Industries, Nike, and Roustan Hockey. Hockey stick manufacturing in Hespeler ended in 2021, when Roustan transferred its operations to Brantford.
In 1987, businessman Steve Davies discovered that the Hespeler brand had never been trademarked. Davies acquired the trademark and formed the company Hespeler Hockey Inc., which revived the brand. In 1997 Davies sold the company, and that year, Wayne Gretzky became an officer, director, and part-owner. Hespeler went through several ownership changes after 1997 until it was purchased in 2004 by the Forzani Group Limited. In 2011, Canadian Tire purchased the Forzani Group, giving it the rights to the Hespeler name. Since 2011, the Hespeler brand has been used sporadically by Canadian Tire alongside its other hockey brands, Sher-Wood and Victoriaville.