Carhartt für Kölner Modejunkies

A typical staple of sci-fi shows is the one where they land on a planet, and find that some incredibly generic object or person has become an item of worship. Okay, that and "The Gods Must Be Crazy." Well, I'm planning my trip to Europe, and came across the same thing.

It's no secret that I wear Carhartts. I love them. I have them in almost every color. But when I was in Europe, I immediately got pegged as an American. They're only made in American, and only sold in America, so a lot of times no matter where I would go, people would just started talking to me in English as soon as they saw the pants. It wasn't a bad thing, just a dead giveaway.

As it turns out, I knew well Germany has a real big hip hop scene. Die Fantastischen Vier ("The Fantastic Four") are one of my favorite German groups. And, Carhartt has become heavily adopted by the German hip hop scene.

So some time ago, Carhartt started making and selling Carhartt in Europe. And last December opened a store of it's own in the world in Cologne, Germany (Köln, as it's known by the natives). Right in the middle of a haute couture shopping district. It's complete with lounge and appearances by musicians. (I later found out they also have such stores in London, Madrid, Paris and Berlin.)

So what's daily construction workwear on one side of the world is showing up all over in hip hop videos on the other.

See for yourself.

http://www.hokohoko.com/Carhartt_Store.962.0.html

I'm so ashamed

On Saturday, I was chatting with a friend of mine from Germany. We briefly started to talk about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The images flooding across the TV and newspapers were the same he was seeing sent across the world. I could tell he was pissed. How could this happen in the United States? During the recent and devistating floods in southern Germany (which of course was never even mentioned in the US press), their military had plenty of troops to be able to handle the situation. How could people be left behind? While US newsfeeds showed flooded suburbs, international news programs showed the other half of the much more badly flooded poor neighborhoods. New Orleans was internationally known as a city of poverty, and this disaster ripped that open for the world to see.

I eventually had to stop talking to him. I agreed with everything he said. I had done everything in my power. I broke down into tears.

I had never been so ashamed to be an American in all my life.

I had gone to Europe just weeks after the last election, right into the some of the staunchest opponents of Bush. I had learned "J'ai voté pour Kerry.". That paled in comparison to my shame now.

The natural tragedy, "nature's act of terrorism" as put by one fellow flood survivor, was one thing. The human ineptitude that followed was quite another. I just wonder how many people died from the Hurricane, compared to how many people died because no one got there in time.

My parents had survived the Red River Valley floods in 1997. During that time, the National Guard and FEMA hit the ground running. The town eventually did rebuild, and the men and women of the Gulf Coast have a lot of work to do. But life does find a way. We did, and so will they.

But within days, then President Clinton gave a very moving speech to thousands of refugees from our evacuated home town. It was clear someone was in charge, and it was clear help was on the way.

I'm not holding my breath waiting on any such thing from this president. Mr. Bush, it would seem your political capital, like your budgets, are running a deficit.