Recently when we showed a sample of our new Moth Of Sydney concept to an investor he said to us that it was significantly altered from any t-shirt or shirt that he owned and that it deserved to have it's own identity. We explained to him that it was derived originally from a pop-over shirt that I had worked on many years ago and he said 'no, it's not a pop-over, it's a 'Moth''.
Of course we were already calling them Moths adding a description of the suburb of Sydney from where each one was derived. It was a very bold move to suggest it was in it's own sphere and deserved it's own title but we've decided to run with it. You see, it's not right to call them a t-shirt. Yes, it's in the design of a T but it is more of a shirt. But it's not a shirt because it's made with a body of jersey or pique. It is more of a pop-over than a polo styled ribbed collared t-shirt but then it's not that either. It is a Moth.
Regardless of whether we survive long enough to become part of the vernacular in fashion in Australia (think RM Williams boots or RM's as people often say down here) - we have cultivated something which has both form and function. Function wise the response so far, as one of our customers aptly said referring to his collar "it stayed hard and up all night long". Crude if we allow ourselves to read into it, but to the point regardless.
Another customer wrote in and said:
"Thanks for sending my Moth yesterday. Arrived safely. It’s a cracker and most
importantly it passed the wife test with flying colours!"
In case you are not from around these parts, 'cracker' is a very good thing. It wasn't the first time I'd heard that either. One of our first customers that bought a Centennial Moth said it was a cracker too.
So what is it that makes these Moths gel with the men of Sydney?
Firstly, the product is designed for Sydneysiders by Sydneysiders. They are made to be worn in a variety of environments which mean you can dress them up with a suit for the evening or down to shorts for the beach. You can stroll along the harbour foreshore on them or tee off on a fairway. You can walk into a bar with them in the summer time without feeling under-dressed or you can head off for a weekend in the country with a pullover for the evenings. We are immensely proud of the city we come from and it is most definitely one of a kind. It is a city which, like a Moth, requires a continual metamorphosis in your attire where in the space of one day you could be in the Blue Mountains, on the Hawkesbury River, sailing across the harbour on a yacht, dining on the Finger Wharf, eating freshly shucked oysters at the Sydney Fish Market, catching a play at The Sydney Opera House, taking a stroll along Mrs. Macquaries Chair, cycling through Darlinghurst or catching the last waves at sunset on Bondi Beach. It is a city of many settings and it needed a product to allow men to seamlessly move through it.
Our Moths are designed to be worn with everything. They are intended to be the staple that men have been missing between the product categories of shirts, t-shirts, polo collared t-shirts and pop-overs. They are a little bit of each but not one in particular and therefore they open up a new category of product.
The features are that the collars are made of shirting, either inside or outside. The placket too is made of shirting and drops much lower than traditional polo ribbed collar t-shirts. It is also there to provide more structure to the garment. At the same time the sleeve head is finished with one of two options, either a sleeve head cuff or a ribbing. In the case of ribbing we have used companies which produce both yarn dyed jersey and matching yarn dyed ribbing. Invariably our Moths are made with one or two exotic fabrics. The Oxford contrast below, for example, comes from the esteemed shirting company SIC Tess which produces some of the finest cotton shirting in the world. In other models we have used Carlo Riva cottons for contrasting because they offer a particularly light finish for the collar.
The result of our work and trials, which has taken more than 18 months of prototypes before we were absolutely sure we could sell them to customers, is a product that works. It is not contrived. It is not fashion (not in a fad sense anyway). It is a long term solution to providing elegance and sophistication in a reasonably priced alternative garment for Australian men to wear in the hotter months. Jacket on, jacket off, with a suit, with shorts, with swimming trunks. It doesn't mater which way you wear our Moths, you will most definitely be more comfortable and more confident to negotiate a multitude of social settings and environments.
Shop them on www.mothofsydney.com or please enquire with us directly on moth at mothofsydney dot com as we have a number of models we are still waiting to load up onto the website.
Our plan, as we move ahead, is to tell the stories of Sydney along with every Moth that finds a new home. A city that dazzles tourists, that is always celebrating something, that grows more sophisticated with every passing year and that has finally found it's own place in the world. Welcome to Moth of Sydney.
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| Using navy Italian yarn dyed jersey with contrasts in a blue and white striped SIC Tess Oxford shirting cotton. Shop this Moth now. |
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