Bad luck, Good Pins

This time, Friday the 13th lasted an entire week for me.
I'm not kidding.
It certainly wasn't limited to our Not Casual Friday at the shop.
My car blew up before I strutted around (inside) the shop with my black umbrella.
And my internet at home stopped working the day after.
I'm not really a superstitious kind of dude,
but something out there is making things difficult for me.

But in the middle of this really crappy, bad luck week,
I received the never quiet never soft button packs in the mail.
(4 days late, of course)
But they're so awesome,
it almost makes up for everything else.



Buttons.
Pins.
Whatever you want to call them,
I think they're dope.
They used to be so huge when I was in high school,
back when I went to hardcore shows.
Every decent band had a few different ones.

Well, never quiet never soft wanted in on the button action.
It's a 5 button pack, and it comes in a plastic sleeve
(not pictured above, for photographic reasons)
Only $5.
You can pick them up at the shop,
or have me mail you one (or ten).
Limited to 100 packs, so get on it.

Stephen's Tailored Tribute to His Father

I met Stephen while walking through Herald Square on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon.

He had his sleeves rolled up and I noticed the set of circles on the outside of his right forearm. He was more than happy to share the story behind them.

Stephen was raised in New Jersey and he remembers his father commuting daily into Manhattan, where he was a Vice President at AT & T. His father was extremely dapper, and always wore a "crisp" suit to work, dressing impeccably for the job.

He vividly recalls his father taking him for his first suit, and how his father imparted all of his knowledge onto Stephen; how the suit was the uniform of a true gentleman, and all about the cut, the style, the fabric, etc.

When Stephen decided to get his first tattoo, he wanted to pay tribute to his father and wanted something above and beyond a normal tribute tattoo.

With a tip of the hat to nostalgia, and the acknowledgment that his father's influence guided him toward a career in the fashion industry, Stephen had the circles tattooed on both outer forearms:


Seen together, and knowing his background, it is all the more apparent that Stephen has tattoos representing two sets of buttons on the suit sleeves of childhood memories.

When I asked him what his father thought when he saw this tribute, he replied, "He wasn't super pumped about it, but it grew on him. The first thing he said after I explained it to him was, 'Couldn't you've just gotten DAD tattooed...?' ."

Stephen now has 10 tattoos, most of which were inked at Electric Lotus Tattoo and Piercing in Boonton, New Jersey. His friend Don Perdue was the artist responsible for these honorary buttons.

Thanks to Stephen for sharing these cool tattoos honoring his father!