It's the Seaplane, Boss!

It's that time of year again…  no, not Christmas… but that year... 1968.   It always happens -  Conservative and understated is kicked aside for wild color and free love.  Not that love has been expensive recently.  Ever date a 25 year old?  Twenty minutes into dinner and she's asking you to bed while taking a selfie and blowing in your ear.  Whatever happened to three dates?

The conservative and understated loved their mad dash of Go-To-Hell color on the golf course and at the resort.  But Seaplane Shirts are pitching a different color to a different customer.  There are shades of the '70s Disco Nik Nik but there's more of the  tasteful aesthetic you see in Findland's Marimekko and the bold block pattern of Souleiado from Provence.

Schuyler Brown's idea was to create colorful shirts for men to wear to work.  If you think about it, we're still in the Dockers, golf shirt and Cole Haan kilties thing with most men who don't have to wear a suit to the office.  That and the the rolled up denim, gingham, Red Wing look that I swear was borne from so many of today's designers watching Jethro Bodine from their play cribs.

Brown could have made the shirts in China and asked a couple hundred bucks but he had an even bigger agenda.  That is, to change how the retail model works.  A lotta people talk about it doing it but once they get a whiff of a 500%, 800% or even 1,000% markup -- Thanks to China -- They always come up with an excuse why they couldn't find a US maker.

By going direct, and buying last fabric remnants, Brown can have a shirt made and sell it, sans the retailer, direct to you while still making a profit.  We're talking $49 to $65 a shirt, and you can buy directly from Schuyler, or go to Amazon.com, who handle his inventory and where his shirts may also be had with free two-day shipping fro Prime customers.

Seaplane Shirts is hitting all my buttons.  Made in the US, tasteful and overboard all while doing business with as few hands in the middle as possible.  Schuyler told me a story of how, in 1917, his maternal grandfather inherited a plowline factory in N.C.  One day he saw a tractor and knew he was in trouble.  So he figured out how to braid rugs with a lot of the same equipment; for nearly 100 years the company has made a substantial contribution to employment in Montgomery County.

I think Seaplane has seen the future as well.   Most men don't realize that's what happens when they buy an Alpha sized shirt for $250…But if they knew how much the mark up was, and most importantly, who was getting most of the money…Well, no man likes to be a chump nowadays --  Especially the guy who takes a girl on three dates.

Seaplane Shirts
Website Here
Amazon Site Here

Off My Back: Souleiado

Pronounced Silly-ah - doe - - Lets try to be adults.

Men's are sized 1 (smallest) to 4 (largest)

Who knew the French have lockers?

The Souleiado Logo

A year ago the Friday Belt seemed like a good idea. 15 extra pounds later I'm not so sure. I've decided to climb on the wagon. The Friday Belt returns in six weeks. In its place - "Off My Back" A weekly look at shirting old and new. Strange and common. Cheap and expensive. US and UK. We kick it off with something unique, traditional and about 105% French.

I was first introduced to Souleiado patterns by Pierre Deux. Then I found a small shop in Bermuda that carried their men's button down shirts. Called Provincial shirts, they're made of 100% cotton in hand block printed designs over 200 years old and they're as traditional and unconventional as you can get.

They're hard to pin down. Certainly it's rustic. Simple like a young red wine from Provence...Whoops. Can't go there (This is gonna be a long six weeks). But they're so ancient looking and that comes from the patterns that are actually printed onto the shirts using old wooden blocks.

I actually wore this shirt on casual Friday a few jobs back. Show up in a shirt like this - people talk. My boss is standing in front of me in a pair Kenneth Cole squared toe shoes, Dockers and a ten dollar haircut. He asks, "Where in the hell did you dig up a shirt like that?" And I replied, "The south of France. You wouldn't understand." Yes, he eventually fired me but he'll never understand the chemise aller a L'enfer.

It's the kinda shirt you wear without a tie. There's a lot going on here and I'm always afraid someone will mistake me for a professional card player. Best worn in French owned restaurants. At least they understand the origins. Of the shirt - not me.