We dream of Hawaii. Stuck mainland as we currently are, we dream aggressively of Hawaii. The deep dark warmth of nights, the moon and palm tree shadows on the water, the blaze of the sun as it churns through the afternoon sky, the perfect slap-slip of water-sand, the obligatory icee and spam onigiri stop at 7-11.

And here at Battenwear, when we dream of Hawaiian escapes, we dream in Barkcloth. 

Picture Duke Kahanamoku accepting an award for one of his many, many accomplishments. You can't do that without also picturing barkcloth, for surely that's the fabric of the shirt Duke wearing underneath his lei, in front of a giant surfboard or a statue of himself.

Barkcloth is the formal wear of tropical climates, the most serious connotation of the casual fabrics.

 

 

Though it is no longer actually made of bark as it once was, it's a fascinating touch nonetheless--substantive but imminently bendable, soft without being in any way slick. It lives on your body instead of covering it. 

Battenwear Spring/Summer 2020 is not the first time we've done barkcloth. Remember this oldie from 2016, below? That season, we were going for more Las Vegas than Hawaii bark--another venerable part of the fabric's history. 

True story: Don Johnson's publicist called us on our Manhattan office landline to ask us about this barkcloth Correspondent Jac below (ignoring the matching shorts unfortunately). Wait, you're calling for who? It made our month.   

 

 

Anyhow, we'd like to invite you . . . like "lay a lei around your neck" invite you . . . to check out this season's barkcloth goodness. We've got 2 tops and 2 bottoms in it. And we'd also like to submit our ideas for the the items we think will go best with the barkcloth pieces.