Canada is not for sale hat offers tough lesson in domestic manufacturing [Video]

The weeks since Liam Mooney and Emma Cochrane dreamt up a viral hat meant to fend off any notion that Canada will be taken over by the U.S. has been more of a crash course in manufacturing than in politics.

The pair of Ottawa-based marketers behind the “Canada is not for sale” hats made famous by Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week say they’ve realized how difficult it is to produce a ball cap fully made in Canada.

“Imagine you’re a snake and you’re trying to consume a giant bowling ball. That’s what we’ve been experiencing here,” said Mooney, co-founder of business consultancy Jackpine Dynamic Branding.

Over the last few weeks, the duo approached several players in the apparel sector to help them and mostly heard the same refrain: they don’t manufacture hats fully in Canada because the cost is so high and the demand isn’t there.

Mooney and Cochrane …