CCM ice skates The history of ice hockey skates (2024)

CCM founded in 1899 after the collapse of the bicycle market. Established "when the operations of four major Canadian bicycle manufacturers amalgamated: H. A. Lozier, Massey-Harris, Goold, and Welland Vale Manufacturing". CCM produced bicycles for many years in the area of Weston, Toronto, Ontario. They also briefly produced the Russell automobile.

By 1905, with saturation in the bicycle market, CCM began producing hockey skates using scrap steel that was leftover at the plant from the manufacture of bicycles and automobiles, and subsequently began manufacturing other hockey gear.

In 1937, CCM acquired the Tackaberry brand made by George Tackaberry who in 1905 was a shoemaker from Brandon, Manitoba, Mr Tackaberry got involved with skates when his neighbour the future hall of famer Joe Hall came to him with a problem, the skates available at the time were just not up for the job, so he got to work and came up with a custom leather boot featuring a reinforced toe and heel, little did he know that he had produced the first pair of the legendary Tacks skates and they went on to dominate the skate market for years to come. "Tacks" have been ccm's company signature skate until late 2006, when the Tacks line was replaced with the "Vector" line, and "U+" these were not that popular so the Tacks name is back and the new top line skates are looking great again!

The original CCM went bankrupt in 1983. All of the assets of the Company were purchased by Procycle Group Inc. of Quebec who retained the bicycle division and sold off the hockey division to Montreal businessman David Zunenshine who owned GC Knitting a manufacturer hockey jerseys. The company subsequently used the CCM brand when producing hockey equipment.

The company entered the toy industry in 1988 through the acquisition of Coleco Industries and in 1990 when they acquired another financially troubled company,Buddy L Corp., a 70-year-old manufacturer of steel and plastic toy cars and trucks based in the United States.

In 1991, the company incorporated and took the name SLM International Inc.

SLM purchased Kevin Sports Toys International Inc. (the maker of the Wayne Gretzky NHL hockey game), Norca Industries Inc. (a plastic toy manufacturer of such products as swimming pools, sleds, and sandboxes), and Innova-Dex Sports Inc. of Montreal (a bicycle helmet manufacturer).

SLM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in 1995, selling off Buddy L Corp. to Empire of Carolina Inc. and the SLM Fitness equipment business. In 1997, the company emerges from bankruptcy protection and reorganized.

The company acquired Montreal-based Sports Holdings, Inc, in 1998, and became the world's top producer of hockey merchandise adding the brands Koho, Titan, Jofa, Canadien, and Heaton. Titan and Canadien were well known brands of wooden hockey sticks in the 1980s and 1990s. Wayne Gretzky used the Titan 4020 while playing with the Edmonton Oilers. Heaton was known for its goalie equipment.

In 1999, SLM is renamed 'The Hockey Company'. In June 2004, The Hockey Company was bought by Reebok. All brands other than the CCM brand were retired and Reebok introduced its own RBK Hockey gear, later to be re-branded as Reebok Hockey. Then in 2006 Reebok were bought by Adidas-Salamon AG of Germany, Adidas continued to use the Reebok name on Hockey equipment until 2017 when the brand was again sold this time to a Canadian private company "Birch Hill Equity Partners" for around $100 million, they have re-launched the CCM name on all the hockey equipment.

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