Walmart ribbon shirt idea came from a dream, says Cree TikTok content creator

Chase Meechance, known as Off The Rez on TikTok, has spent more than eight years creating various Indigenous comedic skits and videos to get a laugh out of his more than 320,000 followers. His latest video titled, “When Natives Shop Extra Indigenously” shows Meechance shopping for Pepsi while dressed in a ribbon shirt made out of the signature blue and yellow Walmart reusable bag colors with the 1993 hit song Return to Innocence by Enigma playing in the background. “I was thinking about this ribbon shirt since last summer and it just came to me. You know we have so many Walmart bags laying around the house and I thought damn I gotta do something with these,” Meechance told APTN News. Meechance is from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation 40 kilometres  south of the Battlefords. His uncle Sage Ballantyne has a more “sacred” explanation about the shirt’s creation saying the idea came to his nephew Chase in a recent dream. “He had a dream about it from the grandfathers, he was at a powwow and he seen a whole bunch of people wearing ribbon shirts and ribbon skirts made out of Walmart bags and he said let’s make this happen,” said Ballantyne, the Walmart ribbon shirt creator under his powwow regalia and ribbon shirt home business Kihew Mekwan Designs. “It was my nephew’s dream, I just made it a reality,” added Ballantyne, who used 14 bags to make the shirt. The video of Meechance shopping in Walmart in the ribbon shirt has already been viewed almost 400,000 times on TikTok. Many people have reacted and commented. “Not the Walmart ribbon shirt, lol,” one said. “This one is sacred, walk with savings brother,” said another. Yet another commented “Shopping for your Bepsi in the sacred way.” “I’m 61 and thought I seen everything until I saw this magical Walmart ribbon shirt. It will surely become as mythical as Nanabush.” Meechance says he enjoys sharing Indigenous humour online and reading all the funny reactions in the comment sections of his video. “I love it, it’s mostly positive. There’s a few people that say it’s going against our ancestors but at the end of the day it’s just something for fun, its nothing really too serious,” said Meechance, who jokingly shared why he believes Indigenous people have such a close connection to Walmart. “It’s an urban natives’ traditional hunting ground. There’s berries for the berry pickers, meat for the hunters, Walmart bags for the ribbon shirt creators,” said Meechance. The Walmart ribbon shirt has since got Meechance and Ballantyne to create similar clothing pieces like the No Frills ribbon pants made out of yellow No Frills reusable bags and complete with fringes on the legs to “make it extra Indigenous,” they said. Since the Walmart ribbon shirt video, some have even reached out to Meechance and Ballantyne requesting to purchase the Walmart ribbon shirt. Meechance says they will make a few and take them around the powwow trail during the summer months. Meechance recently wore the ribbon shirt at this year’s annual First Nations University of Canada Powwow at Regina’s Brandt Centre to get a few laughs from people during intertribal. Meechance jokingly says he’s still waiting for Walmart to reach out and give him and Ballantyne a shout out for making such an eye-catching and Indigenously stylish outfit. “I’ve been tagging them on every post I make, hopefully they reach out in a positive way,” said Meechance. Continue Reading