The Shirt That Came Back Home

In a galaxy far, far away, and in an fashion industry that seems to be lightyears away from what it is now, I designed. Among others, I had envisioned and created a collection called Vluxe, and for the Fall 2007 season in particular,  I had invented a particular technique.

It was simple, yet created an effect not quite seen before. I took relatively traditional patterns in men's shirting fabrications and designed a second pattern that would be printed over it. The particular uniqueness of this was the fact that I had purposefully left "holes" in the printed designs, much like port holes on a ship that one looks through, and in this case one would see the unaffected traditional pattern of the fabric. The end result turned out to be a success in the men's market, a fun shirt that looked great with a pair of jeans.

But that, is just some context for what happened next. Years later with a new brand and collection in an online store, I received an order followed up with an e-mail asking me, I believe on Facebook, if I was really me, that is, was he, Matt, actually speaking with Lucky Nahum. Well yes he was, and he proceeded to tell me a few things. Matt told me how big a fan of my work he was and how many of my shirts he had bought in the past. Then he said that there was a particular shirt he loved but had never bought, he had "let it get away", and he literally sends me a picture of it. I had to give him the bad news that they were all long gone, and the only one I had in my possession, was my personal one and it wasn't in his size (a Large), it was an XL. Quickly he said "I can make it work, you really don't know what your shirts mean to me". That was an interesting statement in and of itself, what could a shirt, or a collection of shirts "mean" for someone?

Matt proceeded to tell me how at one time he was considerably heavier and my shirts had played a role in making him feel confident with the very first Vluxe he had ever worn, confident enough to eventually shed considerable amounts of weight and picking up more shirts and more confidence along with them.

We left it that I couldn't let go of my shirt, I just couldn't, I was attached to it due to it's particular design. I was leaving for a trip to Europe and the order from the online store was about to be filled while I was in Italy. Perhaps it was the good wine I was consuming in Tuscany, but I started to think about Matt and "the shirt" he so loved. I called my office back in the U.S. and directed them to include my shirt with his order for free, as a surprise gift from me. The story had moved me and I simply felt Matt had "earned it".

Move forward to 2015 and I discover the same exact style on eBay as I check for fun every so often to see which of my shirts are being sold. There it was, "the shirt",  and in my size too. Was this Karma at work? Was this my shirt coming back home? With a few clicks I placed the order and today "the shirt", my shirt, came back home.