Still at the cottage? Don’t worry, the ‘Heated Rivalry’ fleece is finally for sale

Earlier this year, Jeremy Watt was on a call with Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, executive producers of Crave’s Heated Rivalry. For Watt, cofounder of the Toronto-based lifestyle and apparel brand Province of Canada, it was the culmination of a crazy run of events that occurred after his company found itself sucked into the viral vortex of social media chatter around the hit show. In episode 2, one of the main characters, Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams), wore a Team Canada fleece jacket, seen just for a few moments on-screen. But it was enough to make fans start clamoring for one of their own. Soon, a grassroots #ReleaseTheFleece campaign picked up speed across social media. Fans started @-mentioning Province of Canada in posts, even going so far as to point out specific fabrics the company already uses. [Image: Crave/HBO Max] Watt took notice, and his team started to engage with the “ReleaseTheFleece” campaign. In one post, the brand gave viewers a taste of what a real-life jacket might look like. Then, on a whim, Watt sent a direct message to Hanna Puley, the show’s costume designer, throwing Province of Canada’s hat into the ring for bringing “The Fleece” to life. Now, a few months later, the results of that DM are finally launching into the world, as Province of Canada opens up preorders for the viral fleece. View this post on Instagram Made in Canada Watt started Province of Canada in 2014 with his wife, Julie Brown. The idea was to create a lifestyle brand with products made entirely in Canada—but without the usual stereotypes. His “feverish passion” for Canadian-made products, however, started years before that. When Watt was growing up in Ontario, his parents were avid supporters of Canadian brands because there were so few of them. “They were always the type to be, like, ‘If there’s something Canadian, we should support it,’” he says. In college, Watt and Brown both majored in graphic design, but neither has worked a traditio