The South's New King of Tailgate

Well, K. Cooper Ray has done it again!   He's teamed up with his ol' partners at Brooks Brothers to bring us a new southern collegiate inspired style tailgate blazer that is sure to be the talk among any and all who see it!  This is a fantastic looking garment and one that I personally cannot wait to sport with a comfortable pair of blue jeans, a white button-down and some dirty bucks (sweater vest, tie and bourbon optional - depending on the weather)! True to form, the Fitzgerald fit with the patchwork pockets and amazing hunt-themed lining is vintage "Social Primer." (similar in fit to last year's navy SP for Brooks Bothers blazer)  It's a limited edition, and I can only imagine that it will be a huge hit among UGA, NC State, and  Ole Miss fans - or anywhere else where red is the color of choice. 

(Had to add one ACC team in there for good measure).

This one's just out of the gate and I can't wait to see what next year will bring - Long Live the King!

Ripping off American Ingenuity in favor of a profit...

Now first and foremost let it be known that I am a Capitalist!  I love ingenuity and the ability to make a market for yourself and others (who benefit from jobs being created).  It, however, is never alright to simply "steal" from another person.  I don't care whether it's a clothing design, a computer code, a blueprint for a widget maker, etc.  Theft is theft, no matter (as my grandmother used to say) how you try and "church it up."  

Just today it's come to my attention (from friend, designer, and social arbiter extraordinaire, K. Cooper Ray over at Social Primer) that one of his fellow designers, Kiel James Patrick, who is based out of Rhode Island, has had his signature creation (a fantastic nautical rope belt that really must be seen) both knocked off and off-shored by none other than the iconic American brand, Land's End.  Apparently there has been a firestorm of blowback towards Land's End within the social media space regarding this issue, and from what I can see, rightfully so!  KJP has developed an item that is not only appears to be amazingly well designed, thought out, and executed, but that took literally years to fully develop and employs no less than 20 American workers for both sourcing of materials, and hand crafting.  Land's End, being opportunistic (and I have to say...seemingly Machiavellian) took this KJP design for themselves and outsourced the manufacturing to China.  This is not Capitalism! Capitalism is making it on your own steam...the inspiration, the innovation, the refinement, and ultimately the manufacturing and selling.  To stand on the shoulders of giants is one thing, but to already be a giant and try to squash the little guy is nothing more than despicable. My family and I have bought from Land's End in the past and I'm sure that that they will sell a ton of these fantastic belts, but to not at least approach the designer and offer a design fee or a percentage of sales is about as Draconian as I've seen in business. We, as an American people (and yes, corporations are made up of people) are better than this, and for most of my life I thought such storied brand as Land's End were, too.  Sorry to see that I was wrong!  

Sorry Land's End...mark me as an ex-customer.

Until Next Time...

D-

Belts Photo Above used from http://www.ivy-style.com/

On behalf of Southern Culture, Thanks Social Media!!!

I was just sitting back here at the end of a long Monday -  pondering how the Internet and the advent of social media has aided in what could be argued is nothing short of a meteoric resurgence of Southern Culture.  You see, if it weren't for the newly increased stream of information and subsequent heightened awareness of certain aspects of today's "new south," I'm quite sure that many new lovers of all things southern wouldn't have ever truly known what they were missing!

And along those lines, I  have to say that I'm pleased with some of the broader trends that I see... for instance, there is a resurgence towards working in harmony with the land, buying locally grown and sold produce, slowly cooked foods, a love of southern heritage and history, and a groundswell among the ranks of people pursuing the shooting sports.

Whether it's Garden & Gun (fantastic magazine - I highly recommend it) exposing throngs of new listeners to the uniquely southern sounds of the Avett Brothers, K. Cooper Ray's Social Primer introducing a whole new generation of young men to Charleston-style gentility (and amazing bow tie creations), or any number of the fantastic new bars, bistros and restaurants such as Mandolin (Raleigh, NC) or Husk (Charleston, SC) that have adopted historic southern favorites and refined them to today's diner's palette,  there is a blending of history and social-media technology that is benefiting my beloved southern U.S.  Yes, it's a great time to be southern, and an even better time for those who aren't, to discover why we love this land, region, and culture as much as we do!

And it's all just a mouse-click away!

Until Next Time...
D-

note:  all links are to social media pages...only befitting for this post