Meet the man behind the Canucks' eye-popping dragon Lunar New Year jersey

Trevor Lai hit a designer hat trick when he was chosen to create the Canucks Lunar New Year jersey for the third time. But this year, he felt even more pressure.

Trevor Lai hit a designer hat trick when he was chosen to create the Canucks Lunar New Year jersey for the third time. But this year, he felt even more pressure.

“Obviously, the year of the dragon is the most important one in terms of the Zodiac calendar,” said Lai. “The dragon itself represents leadership, power, excellence. So starting off with the design, I wanted to express that in combination with the Canucks’ skate logo.”

The final jersey crest is a golden dragon wrapped around the iconic skate. “And I figured that since the rest of the dragon was all gold and red, that it would be nice to include the beautiful green and blue of the Canucks’ colours in the eyes.”

For the shoulder patch, Lai designed a version of the Canucks’ orca logo jumping into the air. The jersey was an instant hit with fans.

“The red jerseys, thanks to our amazing fans, sold out in about a day. So immediately, the team reacted quickly, and we thought about what would be a great second jersey, and came up with the gold on gold,” said Lai.

The second jersey isn’t cheap. The gold version with a name and number on the back costs $888.

“Every jersey is hand-sewn here locally in B.C., it’s so intricate. Our crest makers actually can only make six of these jerseys in a day,” said Canucks head of retail Wynn Moody.