A Hudson's Bay point blanket is a type of wool blanket traded by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in British North America, now Canada and the United States from 1779 to present. The blankets were typically traded to First Nations in exchange for beaver pelts as an important part of the North American fur trade. The blankets continue to be sold by Canada's Hudson's Bay department stores and have come to hold iconic status in the country. History In the North American fur trade, by 1700, wool blankets accounted for more than 60 per cent of traded goods. French fur trader Germain Maugenest is thought to have advised the HBC to introduce point blankets. Originally point blankets had a single stripe across each end, usually in blue or red. In the mid-1800s blankets began to be produced with a green stripe, red stripe, yellow stripe and indigo stripe on a white background; the four stripe colours were popular and easily produced using good colourfast dyes at that time. In 1798, a mill owner received a purchase order for "30 pair[s] of 3 points to be striped with four colors (red, blue, green, yellow) according to your judgement." to be manufactured in Witney, Oxfordshire, a town famous for its woollen blankets since the Middle Ages. From the early days of the fur trade, wool blankets were made into hooded coats called capotes by both natives and French Canadian voyageurs, which were well-suited to Canada's cold winters. Point system Points are short black lines woven into the selvage of the blanket along the edge just above the bottom set of stripes. About four inches in length (except in the case of half points, which are two inches), they indicate the finished overall size (area) of a blanket and allow easy determination of the size of a blanket - even when folded. French weavers invented the point system in the mid-1700s since then, as now, blankets were shrunk as part of the manufacturing process. The word point derives from the French empointer, meaning "to make threaded stitches on cloth". Over the centuries the sizes of blankets have shifted, particularly during the twentieth century as beds became larger. Blankets of 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4 point were most common during the fur-trade era. Today, Hudson's Bay blankets are commonly found in point sizes of 3.5 (twin bed), 4 (double), 6 (queen) and 8 (king).