President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario has turned into a merchandise opportunity for dueling hats.
In Canada, a new “Lake Ontario” hat is attracting customers from both sides of the border. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., Trump’s company’s store is now selling “Lake America” hats with “45/47” embroidered on the side.
Liam Mooney and Emma Cochrane, husband-and-wife founders of the Ottawa design studio Jackpine, launched the “Canada Is Not for Sale” brand with a line of hats last year. The phrase is written in the same Times New Roman font Trump uses for his “Make America Great Again” hats. It was meant as a response to Trump calling Canada the 51st state. Ontario Premier Doug Ford even wore one.
“What we try to do with ‘Canada Is Not for Sale’ is really subvert President Trump’s most powerful political symbol and meet him where he is from our perspective—which is a very transactional president who [sees] the world as a zero-sum game,” Mooney tells Fast Company.
Following Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America, Mooney and Cochrane designed a $40 “Lake Ontario” hat in navy and green colorways, which show the lake’s longtime name and a red Canadian maple leaf on the front. “Canada Is Not for Sale” is embroidered on the back.
There are also matching shirts and stickers with the design. The collection is available internationally, but the version fully made in Canada is being sold exclusively to shoppers in Canada; $1 from each sale will be donated to Swim Drink Fish, a Toronto charitable organization that advocates for clean water.
It’s clearly struck a chord. “In just over a week, the collection has sold several thousand items, including more than 1,000 to customers in the United States,” Mooney says.
Others have taken a similar approach to Trump’s executive order, with Ford helping to unveil new “Lake Ontario” signage on the Canadian side of the lakefront, and residents looking to rename Ottawa’s “Trump Street.” In the U.S., downloads have surged for MapQuest, which hasn’t renamed the lake even as other map apps have.
Meanwhile, $55 “Lake America” hats, which come in red or blue, are being sold through the online Trump Store. The product listing tells customers to allow 10 to 15 business days for the hat to ship due to high demand.
Trump has turned his renaming stunts into merch before, selling “Gulf of America” hats and prop executive orders through his campaign shop last year.
But he’s since shifted his merchandising focus from his campaign to his business, launching more than 600 items since he returned to office, providing him an unprecedented revenue stream as a sitting president.
Trump’s order to rename the body of water is unpopular, with 63% of Americans opposed to the move and just 14% in favor, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.
And what is yet another business opportunity for the president comes with financial costs for taxpayers as both federal and local governments are forced to change signs, software, maps, and tourism materials to accommodate his latest whim.