Top Shelf Flea: Final Cut

The Top Shelf Flea is officially booked, paid for, and all available spots are now full. That being said, it is my privilege to announce the list of vendors for the first time here:

Artifaktori Vintage

Amy runs a cool little shop in my neighborhood, selling vintage clothing for men and women, as well as other attendant paraphernalia.

Raspberry Beret

Rachael sells vintage women's clothing, from the fifties through the eighties, as well as fashions by local designers.

Sunshine Lucy's

Eddie and his wife Lucy sell quality vintage furniture and home goods, many of them creatively refurbished, as well as offering re-upholstery services for your favorite beat-up chair.

The Red Velvet Shoe

Michelle sells a variety of vintage goods online, and the Top Shelf Flea is honored to be her first live appearance.

Swamp Rabbit Books

James sells old and unusual books you didn't even know you wanted to read.

Carmen & Ginger

Christine will be making the trip from Providence to ply her own take on second hand, as seen in her Etsy shop.

Doc & Gam's

You thought you had a cool record collection, but not really. Not until you visit Doc & Gam's table, that is. All vinyl, all the time.

NimCo

Nimco (the 'c' is actually silent) has vintage enameled cast iron kitchen ware to suit every need. She'll be sharing a table with Rob, and his mid-century relics.

Zachary De Luca

The contributing editor of the blog "Ivy Style" has so much vintage menswear his roommates are quite irate. Come buy some of it.

An Affordable Wardrobe

What can I say? I've got clothes like I wear, if you need 'em.

and featuring

Bobby from Boston

Bobby is famous, truly the master of his game. He'll be holding court at the main booth, on the stage. Seriously, the stuff this guy has will make you cry.

And there you have it. Not a bad line up, is it. I would like to thank all the vendors who have decided to participate, as well as those who showed interest but didn't make our space restrictions. Because of all of you, this event promises to be a blast.

Don't forget, cash bar open all day! (...lousy drunks)

The Top Shelf Flea

Sunday, 2 May 2010

Noon till 6 p.m.

George Dilboy V.F.W. post 529

371 Summer Street

Somerville, MA, 02144

Eclecticism

The other day, the Selvedge Yard ran a piece on David Hockney. As usual, the article was nearly as cool as it's subject matter. If you don't read the Selvedge Yard on a regular basis, get started. In the piece was this quote, which has been stuck firmly in my head ever since:

"Style is something you can use, and you can be like a magpie, just taking what you want. The idea of the rigid style seemed to me then something you needn't concern yourself with, it would trap you." -David Hockney

Now the last thing I want to do is just re-post something cool from another blog and add my two cents, but I really dug that quote, and I thank the Selvedge Yard for calling it to my attention. It got me thinking about writing my own bit about style as a collection of influences and thoughts. I was going to base it around this outfit:

Casual but smart, I think, and fully prepared for the residual wetness found in Boston yesterday.

But really, this outfit has nothing to do with "Eclecticism". It just says that I know how to steal ideas from Ralph, who has built an empire on stealing ideas from others. I don't find anything wrong, inherently, with any of that, but it's inconsequential.

Believe it or not, I've actually gotten to the point in writing this blog where I have ideas in the morning and mull them over all day, or sometimes for two days, before "putting it down on paper". As I went about my business yesterday, with the kids, it occurred to me that this idea of eclecticism, and the points that resounded with me in that Hockney quote, had little to do with clothes, and more to do with lifestyle. Allow me to attempt to explain...

After breakfast, the kids and I trucked on down to the subway and rode out to South Station. Once there, we went to the far end of the platform during a busy hour to watch the commuter trains and Amtrak trains arriving and departing. This is the funnest free activity I've discovered as a dad. If the drivers of the trains catch on that you're only there with the kids to watch, they wave and blow their horns just for the kids...and Daddy wins a couple of hero points. We followed this noisy and diesel-begrimed extravaganza with a feast of train station McDonald's. Now, I know I may be something of a gourmand, but I will never deny the satisfaction of the occasional fast food with the kids. I like my fine wine, too, but every now and then a can of beer is just the thing, you know?

Afterwards, I dragged the children back on the train to Charles Street to visit North River Outfitters, for a can of Barbour wax so I can re-finish my jacket. They sell Alden shoes there, and while waiting for the kind young lady to fetch my Barbour wax, the boy said "Look, Daddy, they have shoes for you!"...to which I replied, somewhat under the breath "I wish." This was followed by a trip to the Cafe Vanille, for some coffee and a little cake called an "Almond Financier" for Daddy, and some pink bunny shaped Easter cookies and chocolate milk for the small ones. Ain't nothing like following up Micky D's with a trip to the French patisserie.

Next, on to Harvard Square. Once there, I decided to visit the Harvard book store. They have this crazy machine there named Paige M. Gutenbourg. It's a book printing robot that will make you a copy of any book that Google has in the public domain for $8.00. So Dad gets a new book and kids get to watch the crazy machine making a book. I figured I'd pick up a copy of the Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius. The girl who runs the machine said she'd be right with me.

While I was waiting, my little girl decided to become somewhat restless, and I couldn't spare the time to wait for the kind young book-machine lady to return. No matter, there was a cart right next to me filled with used books for $1.00. far be it for me to leave a book store empty handed.

I picked up a stuffy volume on Paris in 18th century,
and what I hope is a good collection of short works by a southern fella in the 1960s. I'll let you know.


Next, on to the stationery store for this crazy numbering stamp. I can use this for my price tags at the Top Shelf Flea...but really I'm just enamored of the fact that I can still kit out my desk like it's 1978.

Actually, the reason for my stop in Harvard Square was to procure this album on vinyl:
You see, where I work we listen to cable radio. This band, Edward Shapre & the Magnetic Zeros have a couple of songs that pop up on the "folk rock' channel. I dig it. They're a a band of hipsters from California, and I feel like I want to hate them, but I just can't because they write a damn good song. It's just like in the punk rock days when so many guys I knew would pretend they hated Led Zeppelin, because it wasn't 'punk' enough, even though Jimmy Page was the reason 90% of them picked up a guitar in the first place. I myself spent too many years liking or not liking things because of some rigid set of rules. It's a liberating day when a person can overcome this kind of thinking. So instead I'll be glad to have found a new band that I really like for the first time in years. My local purveyor of such things was clean out of it, though I do suspect that the kid at the store with the tattoos and floppy mohawk was quietly impressed with the weirdo in the tie with two kids in a stroller who asked about such an esoteric "cool kid" band, or maybe I'm inflating my own balloon.Now, all I have to do is sit back and wait for my new vinyl record, purchased through the computer, to arrive by post...

How's that for Eclecticism?

Teaser, part 2

So, the other day I un-earthed this old red and white mini-gingham check button down:

Damn, that's a serious late 1960s collar. Those are some long points, no? It's a 'Classic" in the "Traditional Fit", from Gant shirt makers. This is Gant the first time around, when they were really just classic, before they went sour and eventually made a (prohibitively expensive) comeback. The shirt also hails form Cohen's of Cockeysville Maryland. Now, that label leads one to believe that this Cohen's joint was the jams at one time. Usually when I find labels like this, research leads me to discover only that the place is long gone, if I indeed manage to discover anything at all. In the case of Cohen's, they are still in business since 1905 and live on the web, though it appears the mighty have fallen pretty far in this case.
Those long points make for one almost outlandish "roll' to the collar. It's almost mod, like something you'd see on George Harrison with the Beatles in 1965, though perhaps not with a novelty tie celebrating American independence from Britain.
Anyway, I tried to wear it today, but the sleeves are just too damn short for me. So I'll offer it for sale at the Top Shelf Flea. Size 15/ 32. Start fighting over it now.

The Sporting Life

I played it casual today. I gave my clothing as little thought as a guy who thinks enough about clothing to write a blog about it can, which is admittedly considerably more thought than many men give their clothing on even the most serious occasions. But I digress..I dressed comfortably, "casual but smart" as Captain Peacock might say. (watch throgh till about five minutes in. That bit about the clip on bow tie will kill you). The outfit took me from the grocery store to a slow evening at the wine shop on a drizzly day with ease.

It wasn't until late in the evening that it occurred to me that every bit of clothing I had on was derived directly of some form of British or American sport, and each item from a different sport. Think of it: a cap from baseball, a sweater from tennis, a jacket from bird hunting, jeans from the rodeo, and shoes from sailing. Even my university striped oxford is from Polo, so there's a vague connection there.

What a mish mash of influences and derivatives, huh? Th is should all be some kind of egregious faux pas, but it all just "goes". I think that gets at the essence of what is "classic" in menswear. If everything is classic, everything will inevitably work together. And every now and again, it makes creative rule breaking almost easy.

Attention to detail is a big part of style. Paying too much attention to the rules of detail is throwing style out the window, or missing the point entirely. No names shall be named.

p.s. if you've ever wondered why I stay away from the forum sites, it's because those guys tend to get in mighty big twists over little things like this. Frankly, I just haven't got the time for it. Once again, no names shall be named. Just sayin'.

Customer Service

Customer service is a dying art. People working in shops often have no knowledge of the products they sell, and if you don't have a receipt, forget it. Hell, we're even expected to ring up our own purchases at the gas station and grocery store these days. And no one seems to care. The bright side of all this is that when one is served properly as a customer, it's a treat to be relished (which it shouldn't be, I know, but I am looking for a bright side). For example:
This little package arrived in the morning mail, all the way from England, the end result of some extraordinary customer service.

Inside was this huge piece (36" x 60") of actual Barbour waxed cotton, completely free of charge.

My Barbour jacket is one of my most prized items of clothing. After a few years of solid wear in the snow and cold of Winters in New England, it's got some battle scars:

No matter, I can hang with the idea of the tattered and patched Barbour. All I need is a piece of waxed cotton fabric, so I can have Mr. Lee fashion some patches to close up the holes. I don't know if you ever tried to find a piece of waxed cotton cloth, bulk, on the internet or otherwise, but believe me, it ain't easy.

As a last resort, I email the customer service department at Barbour. I explain to them how much I love this jacket, and how much I'd rather repair it than buy a new one, and how I have secret elderly Korean tailor whose work is tight-as-sh*t, and I want him to make patches, and please, where can I get some cloth? In reply, I get an email asking me for the model number of my jacket. I email back that it's an A50, an older style "Moorland".

Two weeks go by with no reply. Just as I'm about to rat them out, I get an email apologizing for the length of time to reply, but it took a while to track down the fabric to match an older jacket, and of course we'll send you a yard at no charge, just give us an address. I never actually asked them for the cloth.

A scant five days later, the cloth arrives via airmail at my door.

That, folks is customer service.

A Questionable Classic

Menswear is a funny beast. It tends to be at its best when it sticks with a basic set of rules and functions which have been around ever since the dawn of full length pants.Guys who step too far out of these lines may look cool for a year or two, if they're lucky, but are doomed to look silly and dated soon enough. However, I think we can all agree that a healthy knowledge of the rules and a respect for history combined with a willingness to break those rules and challenge that history just so is what differentiates style from rigid conformity.

So let's talk a bit about "the classics".

Dungarees, especially the iconic Levi's 501, are classic. The uppity suit guys may get in a twist about this, but in truth jeans are by now right up there with grey flannels, white oxfords and navy suits in the canon of standards. No getting around it. That's why it's hard these days to consider any well appointed gents wardrobe complete without a pair or two. So what about...

...white jeans? I know your gut reaction to these might be that they scream 1994 at the top of their lungs, but I seem to recall seeing plenty of photos of Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman and others riding motorcycles in dusty white jeans and tan suede dessert boots as far back as the early 1960s (back me up, Selvedge Yard). Downright chiseled and rugged. So where does that leave the slightly overweight young(ish) urban father of two?

Somewhere about here. Just the other day, I stumbled across a pair in my size for $5.99 at the local thrift. I bit. I find they bridge a certain gap. Allow me to explain.

Boston, until the day before yesterday, was in the grip of freezing cold rain blowing sideways for about a week. The flooding of basements was legendary. Then, all of a sudden, Ole Ma Nature comes through with blazing sunshine and a temperature of 70 degrees.

Of course, the streets were over-run with flip-flops and shorts today. It seems people only live in extremes these days. To my mind, however, it was still mid-March, no matter how nice the weather. How does one nod to the weather without jumping the gun? White jeans?

I wore them with my vintage navy varsity style cardigan (you know, like Thom Browne knocked off), and a Brooks Brothers red and white striped oxford...

with just the right amount of fray at the cuffs and collar.

It really was damn nice today, so I finished the whole thing off with penny loafers and some bare ankles.

Wearing white pants before Memorial Day may still be some vague kind of sartorial sin, but I feel like the fact that these are denim, heavy cloth, gets them a pass...or something. Think of it this way: white pants and bare ankles acknowledged the sunshine; denim and a shawl collared cardigan kept it all in perspective.

It's likely too early in time to call white jean a classic. Maybe it's a bit like sainthood in that it requires so many years and miracles before canonization. But don't forget, less than half a century ago loafers without socks was mostly an obnoxious trend amongst the spoiled collegiate youth, not a basic tenet of your father's Summer style.

Just sayin'...

Teaser

With the Top Shelf Flea Market fast approaching here's a little teaser for you: a few new ties I picked up today that I'll be offering for sale in May:
It's a fairly special occasion for me to happen across even one of these vintage embroidered go-to-hell ties, but four in one day? Unheard-of.

Here are some close-ups, from good to better to best, in my opinion.
A true New England classic, the red lobster motif on hunter green ground,

A true goofball New England classic, smiling whales, possibly drunk, on a maroon ground,

Now we get a bit esoteric. A navy tie with a pattern of gentlemen gentry on horseback, alternating with highly detailed embroidered hounds,

Stand back for the winner,
British "Red Coats",

versus the Minutemen of Massachusetts. Hands off, and stop drooling. I think I have to keep this one.

From all the right kind of long gone legendary places:
"The Coop", i.e. the Harvard Co-operative Society. Once known for it's men's department and formidable collection of jazz and classical records, as well as its magnificent bookstore. The Coop is now owned by Barnes and Noble, and mostly sells sweatshop made made Harvard souvenirs to the parents of the new money savages who of late have infiltrated its hallowed halls.

The Crimson Shop, another long gone Harvard stalwart. I find it hard to even conceive of a time when a college campus had a network of satellite stores selling this stuff. When did the admittedly ambiguous age of 21 shift from leaning more toward adulthood than childhood?

Rivetz of Boston. I can't find a damn thing on the web about this place, but I remember when I worked at Simon's the older guys were known to hold Rivetz in especially high regard. Like "He shops at Rivetz" meant "he knows his stuff. Tread lightly." And of course, what does the original owner of these ties buy as a souvenir of his vacation? A Lobster necktie that smacks of coastal New England, of course.

Stop by the the Top Shelf Flea in May. I've also got all the suits, jackets, pants, shirts and shoes to compliment these ties. Plus, I'll be listening to jazz records on a plastic portable and drinking beer, ready for a good conversation.

p.s. there's this new blog called Styleite. In recent article on best menswear blogs, I was christened the godfather of the hipster thrift shoppers. While most of the hipsters I know tend to wear excessively tight jeans and dress like lumberjacks, with the occasional ironic reference to ugly bygone fashions of the early 1990s, I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a compliment. As old as I feel most of the time, maybe I am actually still kinda young. Thanks, Styleite.

An Eye on Spring : Internet Acquisitions

This is what Boston has looked like for the past three days:

photo credit: The Boston Traveler

Raining, cold and windy. Deep puddles like little lakes everywhere. Everybody sharing basement flood horror stories. No one can remember how to drive a car in such weather, and the roads are treacherous. Children (especially small ones) wail and gnash their teeth at not being allowed outdoors. Did I mention that the wind was blasting a fine spray of freezing cold water, sideways and at full speed, on those poor souls unfortunate enough to have to venture out of doors? So, yeah, I'm thinking about the Springtime.

A while back, I picked up a well made and inexpensive driving cap in dark olive corduroy from a place I found online called the Village Hat Shop. I decided to check them out for a Spring cap.I came up with this khaki number in a nice and heavy cotton twill. It's kind of like military cloth. Sure, it's made in China, but it's a quality piece, I like it, and it only cost me $14.95 plus shipping, which was prompt and polite, by the way. An Affordable Wardrobe wholeheartedly supports The Village Hat Shop.

I also relieved my doldrums with a few pairs of brightly colored socks:

Lilac, Pink and Orange, from the Joy of Socks. These bright hose, at $6.50/pair plus shipping, arrived at my house two days after I placed my order. They also had some good looking argyles. My hat is also in the ring for Joy of Socks. Check them out.

If this post seems a little lackluster, my apologies. Mostly, I just wanted that post about Facebook to move down from the top of the page.

The Dreaded Facebook

I really don't understand it at all. However, with The Top Shelf Flea looming large, I finally managed to get the Facebook page up and running. Find the link over in the sidebar.

Note this only a "page" for An Affordable Wardrobe and not a personal profile. I don't relish the thought of every person I've ever had the vaguest connection with tracking me down and "friending" me. I don't get the obsession with that either.

Anyway, I don't want to get all sour grapes about it, so I'll stop now. Check it out and "fan me up".

(Yuck, did I really just say that?)

Last Chances...Go Full Blast!

Here in Boston, we've got a good bit of Spring Fever in the air. It's a good thing. We've had some great weather for the sartorially over-wrought: warm enough to enjoy being outside in the afternoon, cold enough at night to keep the tweed and flannel in regular rotation. As the weather turns generally warmer, I find myself looking forward to all the stuff that's been in storage, but I also want to squeeze in one last chance for cold weather favorites while I can.

To that end, I wore this tartan flannel vest today. You may remember, I bought it a while back, but had yet to wear it. I'll be honest. I think this vest is really something. I'm sure many of you agree. But a piece like this brings everything to the next level. Admit it. Lord knows, I'm more than a little bit of a peacock, but even I can't find it in me to push it this far too often. However, with a blue oxford, thick flannel navy balzer, club tie and yellow foulard pocket square, the overall effect is very Brooks-Brothers-catalogue-with-the-watercolor-painted-illustartions-circa-1983, no? (I tried for hours to locate an outfit just like this in an old Brooks catlogue online, to no avail. I know I've seen it before. Wherefore art thout, Heavy Tweed?)
The club tie is the only thing here actually from the Brothers. At first glance, looks like it might be Harvard, only it's not. Pretty sure it's (gasp!) generic. J.Press would never sink so low.

Lets pause for a note on crests and logos:

I used to think it was no good wearing a crest or logo that you didn't earn. Mostly, I still do. But think about it. If we hadn't made a habit of appropriating military or school uniforms, we wouldn't have navy balzers, striped ties, khakis or trenchcoats. So who cares if I wear a fake club crest tie, just because it looks cool to have shields on my tie, and works really well with the plaid vest? Not me. Besides, the very purveyors of these things sell their wears to the general public. Pretty much kills the exclusivity argument, right?

Still, I get it. In the old days, nothing bothered me more than when one of my secret favorite punk bands got jsut this side of too well known. I understand.

Finshed simply, with big fat grey flannels (last chance?) and shiny brown brogues.

And since it was raining like hell, a tan Macintosh and a Pendleton cap, in Black Watch. One more tartan, you know, for good luck.

p.s. despite what I may wish to the contrary, I do in fact live in the modern world. As such, it seems clear to me that in order for events such as The Top Shelf Flea to succeed, An Affordable Wardrobe ought to have a page on Facebook. I've been trying to figure it out for three days. I still don't see what the point is or understand how it works. I try to ask people I know for advice, but all I get is "Oh, it's easy." Well, no, it isn't. Not if no one will explain it to you. Everything about Facebook runs against the genral way that my head works.I feel gross just for signing up. Anyone want to lend me a hand?

p.p.s I accidentally published a few spam comments, one about ladies viagra, one about dirty pictures, something else. I can't find which post they are attatched to. If anyone comes across them, please let me know so I can take them down.

How I Roll

So, this is the 300th post of An Affordable Wardrobe. I'll be damned.

For days I figured I should come up with something profound to write about, maybe a lengthy and thoughtful article about some completely esoteric aspect of the meaning of our clothes. A real smarty-pants article, no pictures even. Then I thought, nah, just keep going. So I think I will.

When discussing the iconic button down collar, menswear geeks like to get into deep discussions of the "roll" of said collar. For the un-initiated, a brief explanation: A classic American (style) button down collar has the buttons placed in just such a way that the collars points will not lay flat. This is referred to as "roll". You may think this is a mistake, but you'd be wrong. The more "roll" the better. It's the perfect combination of Yankee conservatism and an inherently American casual-ness. You know, the abstract concept upon which our boy Ralph built an empire of epic proportion. Some of you may remember that I picked up a couple of shirts in the cheaper-than-dirt sale section of landsend.com a while back. One of them was this "classic oxford", in classic blue. It has been discussed ad nauseam how Brooks Brothers invented (or more likely imported and marketed) the button down collar around the turn of the 20th century. It has also been discussed ad nauseaum that no other collar has had quite the "roll" of a Brooks Brothers Makers shirt from the glory days of the company, say 1960-1985-ish. But I gotta tell ya, this Lands End jobby is pretty spot-on, no?

And just look at how it wrinkles after 14 hours of wear, just like a real shirt. "No-Iron" cotton is an outright abomination, and must be avoided at all costs.



That tie called my name yesterday. It's knit, not a knobby knit like everyone is used to, but a soft, smooth knit. A good friend told me it looked like it should be a sock, which I of course interpreted as a giant compliment. Anyway, I don't think there is any denying the strength of this tie with a recently acquired flannel blazer and some classic cavalry twill pants.

100% wool, made in (what?) Italy? Let's recap:

A classic blue oxford button down, from a classic American retailer, made in Indonesia.

A classic navy blazer, with some whimsy about it, made in the U.S.A., albeit at least 30 years ago.

An undeniably American preppy tie, made in Italy.

A classic pair of British style cavalry twill pants, by the inherently American company Brooks Brothers, made in Canada.

I mention all this because I had some idea of expounding on the discussion of "Made in America" that has been going around of late. Conor recently wrote thoughtfully on the subject, and was kind enough to point us to others who did as well. But...

I bought all these things, save the shirt, second hand, from charity run stores. At what point in a garments history does it become more important how one came by it than its point of origin? And the shirt, though not domestically produced, is well made, cheap, and has a great looking collar.

See? Now I went and opened up a big fat can of worms. I'll save that long winded dissertation for another time, when my thoughts have been collected and I've got the gumption. In the meantime, feel free to share your own thoughts, readers.

Neutrality

I'm a sucker for the trappings of the proverbial peacock. I like my cords in colors brighter than the sun. I'm a sucker for yellow socks. Don't forget about my less than subdued favorite scarf. But sometimes, you gotta take a cue from the Swiss and remain neutral.

A Barbour jacket in muted olive is dead perfect with a rumpled white oxford and a grey knit tie. (side note: dig that collar pin. I recently nabbed a Harrington style jacket by Lacoste, 1980s vintage, in teal {told you I was usually anything but neutral}. It wasn't until I got it home and went to wash it that I even noticed the enamel pin of the Italian tri-color.That thing is magic pinned to a Barbour corduroy collar, ain't it?)

And all that is perfect with some dark rigid Wranglers, cuffed, tan socks and brown Sebago campsiders.

Neutrality comes in especially handy in these hard-to-dress-for in between seasons. Today, the sun shone bright, and we hit 62 degrees. Downright balmy for Boston in early March. Believe me, I wanted to go all bright colors and sockless. But after dark, we fell back into chilly...not cold, but chilly. This neutral outfit, with one foot in nice weather and the other in foul weather, bridged the gap just so.

I am, however, far less than neutral in my baseball loyalty. Call this cap the element that nodded most affirmatively toward Springtime.

p.s Longwing is back, and better than ever. Your turn next, Heavy Tweed.

It's What's on the Inside That Counts

One of the nice things about proper men's wear is how little it really changes. When you find the good stuff, it doesn't matter how old it is or how ling you plan on owning it. The stuff has staying power. That being said, sometimes the most interesting thing to talk about is the lining.

Take for instance this navy flannel blazer. It's a two button sack, lapped seams, deep patch pockets. You don't need a photo of the outside because you already know what it looks like. The inside, however, is quite another story.

Even from a distance I'm sure you can tell that's one hell of a lining,

Cricketeer for Kennedy's. I seem to be turning those two names up a lot lately,

Made "The American Way", with wool. I guess that means when I wear it the sky will seem bluer, the beer will seem cheaper, and the burgers will taste beefier. Just wait, it gets better.

Here we see two birds in flight, likely a hawk chasing some other bird,

Bingo! The hawk wins every time!

All this while a gentry falconer looks on from atop his favorite mare on the grounds of the family manor in the country.

A fairly un-American scene for such an American piece of clothing. I guess we can call it a case of mis-directed Anglophila?

I actually bought this to sell at the Top Shelf Flea. But it fits me better than my old flannel blazer, and its ten times cooler. I think I might just have to keep it, even if that does break the old rule about the drug dealer using his own stuff.