Schott & Sailor Jerry Celebrate The US Navy – 10.14.15
October has been a big month for Sailor Jerry. I already shot Lucero in Nashville and in NYC for their SJ Presents tour and last night I went down to Schott’s Soho store to celebrate the US Navy. Before Sailor Jerry was a rum company they were a clothing company based on the designs of tattoo legend Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins and to this day they still sell the clothing. They also do some really cool clothing collaborations like when I went down to Miami for the release of their Iggy Pop designed collection. Yesterday they teamed up with the iconic outer wear brand Schott to create a pea coat for the 240th anniversary for the US Navy.
Schott started making pea coats for the US Navy during WWII and Sailor Jerry Collins was in the Navy and was tattooing Navy men in Hawaii during WWII. The connection makes total sense and the pea coat they collaborated on is pretty fantastic and it even has a semi secret flask pocket so of course they had to design a leather wrapped flask as well. The whole thing was a pretty inspired idea.
Meanwhile tattoo artist Oliver Peck became friends with the Schott’s after his favorite 60 year old Schott leather jacket started to fall apart. Schott ended up fixing his jacket and since the pea coat release timed perfectly with Oliver being in NYC for the Ink Master live season finale they got Oliver involved in the release party. He was doing free Sailor Jerry tattoos all night and everyone had a blast.
On a slightly related note I have owned a bunch of leather jackets in my life but they never felt right to me. I finally got one that I like (although the zipper is broken) and it was actually a vintage rip off of the iconic Schott Perfecto made by Sears. I should have worn it last night… or maybe I should just sell it and try and buy a new Schott jacket since they are pretty amazing.
