I would date it to the 70s because of the label and lack of an apostrophe on Simpson’s (due to Quebec language laws).
‘s is not part of the French language. Quebec wanted to protect / promote the French language and remove any and all anglicisations - still does. (More recently they wanted the term “fish & chips” removed from a menu in Quebec but they later acquiesced.) A law was passed - Bill 101 - in the 70s to protect the French language and that’s when Simpson’s, Eatons, Browns and all companies with a presence in Quebec had to drop the apostrophe. Browns (the shoe people), I believe, along with other companies, fought the change all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. They won the battle but lost the war so to speak and there went the ‘s.
They used the apostrophe until 1972. I would say this is pre 1977 so between 72 - 77 before Bill 101 was passed on August 26th, 1977. as there is no other French included on the label.
Hah - Mary Jane is correct. I thought it passed in 72 but it was ‘77. Some companies did start adding all bilingual labels prior to 77 though. They saw the writing on the wall and it made for good business. In 78 the Hudson’s Bay bought Simpson’s. By 89, the name was no longer in use. I agree with your sentiments Linda, but I see the other side too. You’d have to read up on Quebec’s history to understand. Until these laws came into effect, well leading up to them, a French person could not be served in their own language anywhere in the downtown core of Montreal. Pretty frustrating when you’re the majority of the population in the city, and by far, in the province. And, unless you spoke English, you had a hard time getting a decent job. I could go on forever on this subject and as well as my personal frustrations but I’ll leave it at that ;-)
How fascinating, not only the history of this sweater but the history of Canada also. Without this knowledge, I would have dated it to the 1960s, since most of those sweaters of that era came from Italy at the time
