This project began with a conversation with Spanto, the late co founder of BornxRaised. He had an idea he had been sitting on for years. He wanted a custom street hockey mask inspired by the one in the film “Heat.” Branded, full coverage, and built as a tribute to the movie and the city.

At first we stepped back from the idea. A functional mask carried risk. If someone used it on the ice and it failed, the liability was too high.

Less than a year later Spanto passed away. His team reached out and told us they wanted to bring the idea to life for him. That was the moment we committed.

After hours of research we traced the original mask from the film back to a small family run hockey equipment company in the United States. We called the founder directly and secured hundreds of masks at a deep discount. We sourced a pad printer in the same region to produce the full all over print artwork. Everything was made in the United States and costed for strong DTC margins.

We delivered the full order to the BornxRaised warehouse by an extremely tight deadline. The first run sold through. The follow up order for their collaboration with the LA Kings sold through even faster.

A promise kept. A tribute delivered.