Local designer creates two retro-style shirts for the Kitchener Rangers

With the Kitchener Rangers season opener almost two weeks away, one local designer is calling her recent t-shirt designs with the hockey club “a dream come true.”

Emily Cunningham is a designer and digital creator for Civilian Screen Printing in Kitchener, who came up with two retro shirt designs as part of a collaboration with the team.

The designs include a retro puck holding a hockey stick with the year the Rangers were branded and another with a loose line drawing of the inside of the Kitchener Auditorium. The design is based on vintage tattoo culture and retro designs from the 1970’s.

Cunningham said it was “really special” for her to draw up the designs because she grew up playing at the Kitchener Aud and went to a lot of Rangers games as a kid.

“When you start out as an artist, there’s so many other people doing a similar thing [to you] and it’s hard to find your ground to stand on,” said Cunningham. “Getting something like this is truly a dream come true and I sometimes can’t believe it’s happening.”

Cunningham has been at Civilian Screen Printing for three years and has been designing her own shirts through her own line called HushPuppyDesigns for the last five years. She said the response to the shirts from the community has been overwhelming.

“I’ve had so much support; so many people sharing my posts and purchasing it online or saying they’re going to head out to games to get it because again it’s a small local person designing for this big brand,” said Cunningham.

The shirts are available at the Kitchener Rangers Authentics store at the Kitchener Aud or online.