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Red Wings' Tatar a clothes horse |
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Tomas Tatar is far from the first professional athlete to launch his own clothing line, but in his case, the reason behind the decision to do so is motivated more by passion than profit.
“I like fashion,” explained Tatar, the Detroit Red Wings left-winger who led the team last season with 29 goals. “I like designers. When I was becoming a teenager I liked certain stuff and I just keep following it.
“I really follow Italian fashion, so I think that’s the biggest look I like. They design some pretty tight stuff and I think a lot of Europeans are wearing this.”
So when Tatar was approached by Puck Hcky to assemble his own line of wearable products, the decision to him was a no brainer.
“When they asked me to do it I was glad to help,” Tatar said. “It was an idea of Puck Hcky. They came to me last year. I decided to do it this year and around December (of 2014) we released the first clothing line.”
Products available at puckhcky.com include hats, T-shirts and hoodies for both men and women. Tatar has plenty of personal input into the line, and the idea behind this plan is that the clothes should reflect not only who he is as a person but also be the types of items that he would wear.
“I’d like to be a designer but I have a horrible imagination, so I’d need a lot of help with it,” Tatar said. “They came over with the idea, Puck Hcky, and I liked the idea. Their company is making hockey shirts, but I have the signature line where there could be five different shirts with something that describes me.
“We are talking about it every time when we want to come up with something new. It’s just something from my personal stuff, things that would mean something to me. That’s what we are putting on the shirts and the hats, something that I feel is a little closer to me.”
“There is a thing of my tattoo, my face and something about hockey. They have one tattoo shirt and then they have a shirt about by name and the one that’s really popular is the one that says ‘Tatar Me’ with my silhouette on. I think that shirt is really fun. It’s really funny when you see somebody in the stands wearing that shirt. I think it’s pretty cute.”
“I think it’s interesting for fans to have different kinds of options to buy and I really like it. I think the fans like it and it’s for them, so hopefully they’ll enjoy it. There’s a lot of hockey in Michigan and I’m living a hockey life, so I like to support a thing like this.”
For the time being, Tatar intends to keep his main working focus on the Winged Wheel.
“It’s all about having fun,” Tatar said. “It’s kind of like a hobby. Obviously, hockey is the main thing and I’m trying to focus as much as I can. But when I have the time to check out the new stuff I’m always looking on the Internet.
“This clothing line is something like that. If I have the time I sit down and just look at what the fans would really like to have and just find out what new stuff we can get to them.”
Down the road, though, when the time comes one day for Tatar to hang up his skates, you just might find some of his designs gliding down the runways in Milan.
“You won’t be playing hockey forever, so I always keep my head up and am trying to meet new people,” Tatar said. “You never know who you’re going to work with after your career is done.
“There are many ways you can meet new people and this might be one of them.”
Lidstrom To Suit Up
Former Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom intends to be back on skates in an NHL rink next season.
Relax, the seven-time Norris Trophy winner isn’t making a comeback with the Wings. But in honor of his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Lidstrom has confirmed to the Hall that he will play in the Nov. 8 Legends Classic at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.
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