MY CAMPING SHIRT
“Buy that H&M piece and it’ll disintegrate after two washes”.
We’ve all heard the punchlines over the years. And while there are certainly better places to get your clothes, I’ve always been a firm believer that if you take care of your clothes, they’ll take care of you.
Take this shirt, for example. It was the summer of 2010 and I was studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain. I was just a “broke college kid”, but l’ve always loved (and been really good at) sniffing out a good deal, especially for clothes. Lucky for me, H&M (which hadn’t hit Texas yet) was everywhere in Spain— most notably, very close to our classroom. So it became routine for me, once we let out of class, to pop in to grab some new threads I could afford in the range of about €4-20.
If I recall correctly, I spent about €7 on this shirt.
It was a different take on chambray (which was all the rage back then) and it worked with everything in my closet. I knew I’d keep it for a while, but could never have guessed it would stay with me this long.
Sketching in London (2010)
Over the next four years, I wore it from time to time, but it was never a standout piece in my closet.
Not until a group of 7 outdoor novices got together for a camping trip did it really begin to serve a purpose. I brought this shirt with me on what became YEAR 1 of our annual 7Man Tent camping trip, and it hasn’t missed a trip in nine years.
As you can imagine, ANY shirt— let alone, one from H&M, would begin to wear down after 12 years.
So in preparation for our YEAR 9 trip, I decided to take this beloved shirt to our friends Javier and Belinda at Dallas Denim Repair to breathe new life into it.
Not only did the shirt need a refresh, but it also needed significant structural repair. The elbows were blown out, the collar was fraying, and the denim itself had worn down to an almost-sheer finish. Luckily, my shirt was in more-than-capable hands. Not only did DDR repair my shirt, but they made it sing.
The process was comprised of basically three parts:
An Initial Consultation
A Progress Check-in
Final Check-In & Pick-up
The Initial Consultation:
If I was going to bring this simple, understated shirt to these masters of craft, I definitely wanted to have some fun with the repairs. Inspired by what I saw in their shop, I pointed to a few design details Javier and Belinda had created for some of their other projects. Once we finalized the design, they got to work— like, immediately. Belinda started stitching reinforcing for the shirt while I was still there.
Belinda using Japanese yarn and needles to incorpoRate Sashiko details, a traditional Japanese stitching methoD.
2. Progress Check-In:
This was my first view of some of the major design updates being made. It was honestly my favorite part. Javier and Belinda let me hang out and observe their process and I got a closer look at the shop’s back of house.
3. Final Check-In & Pick-Up:
The moment I had been waiting for. There really wasn’t much to do other than inspect the beautiful craftsmanship and express my gratitude for reviving an old friend. And boy did it feel good to have the shirt back in my closet just in time…
7Man Tent: YEAR 9
Okay, I take it back. This was the moment I had been waiting for. Our 9th annual camping trip had arrived and I couldn’t be more excited to break out my “new” shirt. And though the shirt was making its debut, I treated it like I would on any other 7Man trip— I cooked, hiked, and picked firewood in it, and it felt great. With all the work and time put into it, the shirt feels like it could go another 12 years.
I’m definitely not here to promote fast-fashion. In fact, I think holding on to your H&M, Zara, etc. pieces for over a decade is a way to slow down fast-fashion and buck stereotypes that aren’t always true.
