少し前に生地の生産を終了にします発表させて頂いたCATBOYシリーズ
よくもまぁ元ネタのCOW BOYをCATBOYにもじったネーミングでふざけてるのに沢山の方に愛された私も思い出深い品番です。
通常の501ベースのジーンズって色んな職業の労働者に履いて貰おうとしてるのかな？って感じてるのですが、COWBOYの方は名前の通りで随所にCOWBOYの為にだけ作った縫製仕様が見られます。
馬に跨った時に負荷が掛かる場所は何処なのか？その際にポケットの位置は何処が良いのか？手綱を持った時に袖の長さは足りるのか？
ここまでシーンを想定した服はミリタリーを彷彿させるプロ仕様そのものなんだと思います。
だから後にバイカーに愛されRidersという品番が生まれたんでしょうね。
さてTCBの3Fにストックしてた生地の在庫も全て無くなり服となりました。
今は一緒に働くRyo君もTCBを知るきっかけになったのはCATBOYなんだと感慨深く語ってくれます。
まだ彼がオランダ住んでた時にリモートのビデオ通話で面接した時もCATBOY JKを着用して挑んでくれてました。
その時に着用してたCATBOYは恐らく小さくなり、私が小さくなったCATBOYのセットアップが丁度良くなり格好良く着てくれております。
きっと全てのストックが無くなった時に再販の声も凄く言われそうですが、永久欠番としてあえて終了とさせて頂きます。
ミシンの設定がめちゃくちゃ難しい癖にCATBOY PTの脇の地縫いの時にしか使わない縦2重のミシンも一旦お疲れ様でした。またカンザスにトリップしたくなったら逢いに行きます笑

We had announced that we would discontinue our Cat Boy series and we have used up all the CATBOY fabric left at TCB. The name, Cat Boy, is of course just a pun from Cow Boy and as far as I know no denim brand name their product with such a stupid pun but I loved this series so much and it’s loved by many customers as well.

It’s just my personal thought but when looking at the details and the constructions of Levis 501 it strikes me as Levis wanted to make tough work pants for any kind of profession. On the other hand, LEE Cow Boy is different, made only for a specific job, Cow Boy. When riding a horse, where should be reinforced?, where the position of the pockets should be, or whether some extra length for sleeve should be added for horse riders holding the reins, all those things were surely thought through when the original was made. The process of making this Cow Boy Jacket/Jeans is exactly the same as the one of making military clothes. Made only for a specific purpose. Lee was the second to Levis back then so they must have studied a lot to differentiate themselves from other denim brands and I should say LEE is very good at it otherwise the riders jacket loved by bikers never appeared in the scene.

Ryo also told me that Cat Boy was the first TCB products he bought and I remember he was wearing the Cat Boy tux when I had the first video call interview with him when he was still living in Amsterdam. Ryo’s gained so much weight after leaving the Netherlands so the denim tux of his must be too small for him now and now he is wearing the tux that I used to wear.

This is what happens all the time but we get so many requests for restock right after we’ve sold everything out but we can’t make them anymore so don’t miss it out. It feels so old days when it took so much time for me to get the right setting for a very rare sewing machine used only for the Cat Boy (if you have Cat Boy jeans, look at the inner side of the selvedge ID) but I should say good bye and thank you to the machine. Maybe I’ll do a maintenance for the machine again when I want to feel the air of Kansas!