Where Beach Life Came From
It started as something we said to each other. Somebody would describe a day, or a place, or the way an afternoon had gone, and the answer was always the same. That is Beach Life.
It was a joke first. Then it stopped being a joke.
Once you have a name for something, you start noticing it is missing. We looked for clothes that lived in it and could not find them. Plenty of brands do the beach. Plenty do the city. Almost nobody does the part in between, where you come home with sand in the car and go out that night in the same sweatshirt.
So I tried to draw it.
That turned out to be the hard part. The first pieces of art were detailed. Careful, specific, every element in its place. They were also wrong, and it took a while to work out why. They were too narrow. Each one said beach life is this, and beach life is never just one thing.
It is jumping into the ocean and body surfing. Shaking sand out of your bag after a good day. Reading by the water. Walking the shoreline. A drink at five, and not worrying about the evening, because the day was already good.
No drawing holds all of that if it tries to say everything. So I kept cutting until what was left was simple enough to hold it.
The figure under the umbrella is on the back of the Midweight Hoodie. It is not a specific beach. It is what comes to mind when I think of one.
The hoodie is made in the USA, midweight, soft in the hand from the first wear. It is the one I reach for when the seasons turn, and on cool nights on the sand next to a fire. After a few washes it softens further and the artwork fades just enough to look like it has been somewhere. Lived in, rather than new.
Beach Life is not a place you go. It is a day you already had.
Paul