(responding to the blog, March 25)

That's completely insane!

This is also going to really date the book. I forget the sentence, exactly, somewhere in the very early bits of PR (I haven't read much yet)... a line about how Cayce's militant anti-logoness threatened to start a fashion trend of its own, and thereby defeat itself.

The world is so much more ironic than I give it credit for somedays.

It's unreal. The idea of spending that kinda of cash on a jacket is enough to make me break out in hives. cayce may be allergic to logos and trendiness but the old three thousand percent markup is what gets me. I must now go wash myself in internet smut to feel clean.

I think the antilogo trend has already started in some sections of society. While Cayce goes to the extreme, I know plenty of people, myself included, who don't like being walking billboards. Hopefully non-logoed products don't outprice the logo products. If they do, I am sending nike a bill for advertising on my shirt

The upper sections may want to ditch the logos but from down here in the land of the trailer aspiring the view directly up for several levels has them all decked out in the logos as the artwork a la ambercrombe lucky etc. Well, except for the glittery female backless half shirt string thingys, no logo there just selling the female. Back when I was still doing bar work I'd see folks come in wearing the couple hundred dollar lucky fubu ensemble and then not have the cash for a drink let alone a tip. They always ask, "What's cheap?" or "What's on Tap." My only satisfaction was knowing that busch light and keystone light on tap will give the killer hangover. Us drunks all the way at the bottom knew to take the cheap clothes from the k-mart / farm king bin and never go lower than the bottled beer.

But what if guiness or bass is on tap?

I would definitely classify the people I am around are middle class. We are pretty much a practical sort. $10 jeans from Sam's club are just as comfortable as overpriced levi's. Guess which one I go for? I see the trend of Abercrombie stuff in many people, and frankly I don't get it. Guess I am too practical.

ces that have Guinness and Bass on tap and a neat little spoon thingy usually get the kind of person with the tailored suit and the nice ride as their weekday regular clientele and huge crowds of ambercrombe fools on the weekends who stick with whatever domestic brand they have adhered to.

The $10 Sam's club makers mark jeans are nice and definitely worth it over the levis but both are probably made by 10 yr. olds from a third world nation. Id gladly pay 15 - 20 a pair if it could be guaranteed union living wage labor made. I'm cheap and love the Sam's club clothes especially the puma long sleeve plain color shirts, but I see it in my own self interest to support union made.

The question is does anyone make a cheap shoe that isn't made out of canvas. If I spend $50 bucks on a shoe its usually a bargain half price for someone elses second purchase. Who makes a cheap quality shoe?

I don't know about quality, but I'm a big fan of
the upper level Van's. They fit my feet better
than anything else I've tried, plus they have
flat soles (a personal preference). They're
usually about $65+ bucks, but if I go to an
actual Van's brand shop they usually have a "buy
one pair, get the second for 1/2 price" sale, so
it comes out to just a hair over $50 per pair.

Not that I need two pairs of shoes, but
eventually that first pair will wear out.

What I'd like to find are a nice pair of leather
book-like shoes that can have the soles replaced.
I have a narrow heel and the only brand that fits
my feet at all (for these type of shoes) is
Sketchers and they're not made for swapping out
worn down soles.

As for jeans, $10 is a good price, but coming
from a rural area, I have certain issues with
supporting the Sam Walton empire. I do buy things
from Wal-mart, but that's because it's just about
the only place to get certain items without
driving 30+ miles.

Oddly enough, I wear Levi's and CK (as much as I
hate to admit it). I'd love to buy cheaper lesser
known brand jeans, but these two are the only
ones that make jeans that fit me (damn, I'm
starting to sound like a freak of nature in this
post!). Shorts, for some reason I don't
understand, tend to fit me even less. I usually
end up just lopping off the legs of old worn out
jeans.

I have been unlabeling clothing for years. I still like black *evis 5*1's and when I buy a pair, why, I just go to work stripping off the logos and the big patch on the back. But Cayce really takes it to the limit by grinding the buttons down, I might give it a go on the next pair...

I looked at the Buzz Rickson stuff and had a good laugh - who in their right mind would spend that kind of money on a detailed jacket which 99% of their friends wouldn't appreciate unless they checked out some books from the library and examined military clothing? *shrug*

OTHOH, if you really want to get into clothing details, reenact the American Civil War. Most of the clothing is "off the rack" and draws sneers from the ultra authentics like myself, who wear clothing by makers who specialize in the "real" stuff. I owned an officer's frock coat that was an EXACT copy of one hanging in the state museum in Mississippi, the cloth was woven on a loom and I used original period buttons. You can replicate down to the last detail these days.

http://www.bright.net/~crchilds/

Or here is a "dag" from my old my unit's page (Chicamauga, 1998):

http://www.cleburnes.org/fieldpics/chickamauga.html

I guess my point is that we will spend cubic bucks on clothing if we're motivated for a reason. I'll go back to lurkin and let ya'll discuss the intellectual stuff, thanks for the new book Bill, it's a real hoot!

been discussing for weeks (it's my job)
why people in our cultures look so hard
for something that makes them stand out
but if it's too strange, too obscure,
it's irrelevant and they either become
a niche unto themselves, or they adjust
slightly so that the world can incorporate
them into the more coherent vision of the
individual.

unlabeling is all in line with this.

a small cat named poo.

"Not wealthy, not weeping."
-R. A. Heinlein, the moon is a harsh mistress

Have to disagree with the bass and guiness bars. I am currently in a college town, so you separate things a little different here. Where I go is probably the one bar in town that doesn't cater to fraternities and sororities, and they have bass on tap in the bar area with others in the restaurant area.

As for Wal-mart and Sam's, they had already taken over when I started buying my own clothes. I agree they hurt local businesses, but they are kind of like (I will probably get the name wrong) Lucky Dragon convenience stores in "All Tomorrow's Parties". They have everything you need with no real alternatives. Their clothes are problably made in the same sweat shops as name brands, so I don't feel so bad about that.

I take Michael Moore's words on this (pre-war, during the filming of his last TV show The Awful Truth , I think, for the BBC and Bravo) roughly: Try your best not to bring other people down as you go through life

With brand name things I think one needs to look at the motivation behind avoiding brands. When removing labels you are either trying to avoid being a walking advertisement or trying to establish a no-brand brand. I agree with the cat on that one.

quote:

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Originally posted by obrzut:
I think the antilogo trend has already started in some sections of society. Hopefully non-logoed products don't outprice the logo products.

---

Whoa, finally I find a topic that is right up my ally!!

I studied fashion design in college and studied subjects like colour theory, applied design and marketing.

Although I did only one year out of two, I learnt plenty...and some stuff that would make you howl!

If you want to devoid yourself of all logos and logo related things, almost like a purist...
Make it yourself, or live in a nudist colony!

It's evil, even some garment factories/companies even have the patents to the dyes and colours they use to produce clothing...

Wonder why some people know where another person bought there black t-shirt from by just looking at it?

A black tshirt is just a black tshirt...or is it?

Companies/designers have many ways of 'signaturing' what they make, even if all the garment has is a inside tag.

I rather take comfort in the manufacturing of FAKES any ol' day!

Interesting stuff,

~cyn004

Everyone is someone elses freak ~unknown

One of my writing professors back in the day asked me if I wore all black to show I'm dark on the inside. My initial response was to give her the what are you stupid look. but I told her a the truth as I knew it, which was that I'm very lazy and aquiring a sense of fashion might be something resembling work which I wanted nothing to do with and I knew that black goes with everything.

As I get older and have a lot of time on my hands to think about odd things and the post about them on the internet I realize that A more precise truth would be that I subconciously want the uperhand in any situation and dressing a six foot guy in black tends to lend an intimidating air. People think hmm he may be soft spoken but hes very big and somewhat threatening. This would be a clothing as functional sort of fashion something i realize has always appealed to me.

but then again I like pimphats.com if I had the cash and the opportunity i just might buy one of those bright orange pinstripe suits they sell I dont know why. so maybe i'm just blowing smoke up my own ass here

All I can say to those who decide to invest in a Buzz Rickson is that if you want to be REALLY cool, you have to remember to make a cigarette burn on the sleeve and then cover it up with duct tape.....

...and if you want to exceed being cool altogether, snag your threads in a Thrift Store and wear any damned thing you like. When you're done, take it back, trade it in and wear something else you like.

El Cheapo mudman

I just cant do the dead man store. get a serious case of the heebie geebies. I'm ok with that being irrational. I had some crack head friends who use to go to the salvation army store with 10 bucks and come back with and outfit and five dollars or a bottle of screwtop wine.

oh. my. god.

don't you mean gaffer's tape?!

"Tiny molecular daggers that latch onto fibres stab and destroy microbes have been created, meaning 'killer clothes' may soon be available... The "blade" is a carbon chain up to 16 atoms long, populated only by hydrogen atoms. It has a strong affinity for fatty surfaces."

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993579