Winnipegger's chain mail hockey jerseys get attention of NHL

A Winnipeg hockey fan and chain mail artist's work is going viral thanks to a tweet from the NHL.

David Twerdochliband his wife Tara were at the Hockey Fights CancerJets game at the Bell MTS Place when the picture of the two of them in their chain mail jerseys was snapped and tweeted out.

The jerseys are made with thousands of aluminum or rubber rings joined together to form the chain mail. They can weigh close to seven kilograms.

"It's very time intensive. Each jersey's about 200 hours, so I have to plan out kind of which ring goes where; I have to open and close all the rings. It's very labour intensive," said Twerdochlib,who teaches high school art and English in St-Pierre-Jolys. He also makes chain mail under the company name Tease Designs of Canada,

People are drawn to him when he wears the jerseys to games and other events, he said, but there is a bit of sticker shock when people ask him how much one costs.

"When I tell them that it's about $5,000, they kind of go, 'Oh, well, that's nice,' and then they kind of just walk away," Twerdochlib said.

"They get that it's worth it, but it's kind of out of the budget for most people," Twerdochlib said.

The first jersey he made was the Team Canada World Junior Hockey team jersey.

"I was very impressed with how these young guys were going off to another country, you know, fighting for the honour of their country, so it's very much a knightly quality," Twerdochlib said.

The project started over his Christmas break while he watchedthe tournament; it ended up taking two years to complete.

"It ended up turning out so well that I liked it. I started thinking about other important people that have sort of represented warrior qualities," Twerdochlib said.

He has made nine hockey jerseys, including the Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers and Montreal Canadiens.

"A lot of people see me and they kind of wonder, is that knit? And then they realize, oh, you're kind of sparkly," Twerdochlibsaid.

His second favourite jersey so far is his Jets jersey, but the bright pink breast cancer jersey is closest to his heart.

"I made that in honour of my mom, who died of cancer," Twerdochlib said.

He keeps each new project secret until it is complete, but he is willing to give some hints regarding whose jersey is next.

"I'm working on another NHL player, not a Canadian team, but a player that Winnipeg Jets fans will recognize," Twerdochlib said.

The new metal detectors at the arena haven't prevented him from wearing his chain mail jerseys because they are aluminum and don't set off alarms, he said.

Chain mail hockey jerseys go viral after NHL tweet

7 years ago

Duration 0:42

People are drawn to David Twerdochlib when he wears the jerseys to games and other events, but there is a bit of sticker shock when people ask him how much one costs.