Janurary 28, 2022 be Black Flag Friday, the day before Gasparilla Parade. The decks be crowded so we must limit space to dedicated buyers only fer this one day.

There be a style fer ye at Gasparilla, where it be beginning, intermediate or advanced. The more ye dress up the more fun ye be havin'!

The Street or Pirate Lite outfit consist of a Pirate T-shirt with a sash and bandana to give it a taste of pirate.  Good fer those new n' in the crowd of party goers.

Casual or Working Pirate outfit consist of a rugged look with simple cotton and linen fabrics.  Good fer those who want a comfortable n' authentic look.

Formal or Fancy Pirate outfit consist of lace trim and fancy fabrics. Great fer those what want to be outlandish on a night out in the town.  

Tampa Bay Times Published this piece on Jan 18, 2022, amazing article written by Gabrielle Calise.

This year we be open 10 more days compared to arrr regular weekend hours, plus we extended the hours on 6 days as well.

Ye be warned that the day before Gasparilla, which we call Black Flag Friday, be like Black Friday but busier!  We do more in that one day than we do in a regular month.  We open two extra cash registers that day, but it still takes about 45 minutes to wait n' pay.  So it be best to come earlier in the month and leave that day for all the out of town guests coming in on Friday to shop that day.

No matter how much we sell during Gasparilla, we always have a ship load of inventory left in the hold, it just might not be for the exact item you wanted.

Most retail store arrrrr having major supply chain shortages because they order everything from China n' arrives on a slow cargo ship stuck in the port of Los Angeles. Cheap light toys will not make it this year, as the price of shipping a cargo container ship from increased from $3000 in 2019 to $20,000 in 2021.

We arrr different, 33% of what we sell is made inside arrr retail store/manufacturing warehouse.  Another 33% is designed by us, but made exclusively fer us. Mostly in India, where it is airshipped to us.  We arrr not big enough to fill half a cargo container.  The other 33% we buy from distributor, which half arrrr having issues.  So about 10% of arrr very large stock be short, mostly weapon n' affordable hats. We currently have about 12,000 items in stock, as we normal carry alot of inventory as it  takes a really long time to get pirate plunder.  

It alway be advisable to order or shop early, as last minute shoppers will alway lose out on having the most selection to choice from. This will be especially true fer this year Gasparilla shoppers.

This be arrr ladies formal gown that we we started working on half a decade ago.  We made one prototype the first year, but had issue with it, so we decided to work on the men's 7 seas custom coat.  It wook 2 year to complete that one, which came out wonderful.  We really like to modular build to allow for lots of customization.  We wanted to apply those concepts to what is normally a bespoke gown made specifically fer one individual. 

After 2 more years, we arrr nearly finished. To make this gown, we had to design bum pads, panniers n' tiny custom hat.  We also had to make it fit with arrrr reversable panel corset.  The stomacher on the corset can be used on the gown as well. The stomacher can be worn 3 different way: plain, laced or with bows.

This gown has spin off into 3 different looks: Military, Court (or wedding) n' Colonial.  Each of those looks can be worn 3 different way to protray 3 different time periods.  We made a white wedding gown that can be modified to look completely different by adding colored roses and a different color petticoat.

Since this gown be expensive, we wanted to have lots of customizing options as well as the flexiblity to make to look different without too much effort. They will take 4 to 8 week to individually hand make these amazine gowns.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day be a parodic holiday created in 1995 by John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) n' Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), of Albany, Oregon.  They proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pyrate. The holiday, n' its observance, springs from a romanticized view of the Golden Age of Piracy.  

This year arrrr newest krewe member of Pirate Fashions, Lady Death Pool , who be born on Sep 19, decided to get married on Talk Like a Pirate Day as well.  So we hooked her up with a small pirate ship, the Raven, fer her wedding at the Rotary Riverfront Park on the Hillsbourgh River in Temple Terrace.  Key elements of a good Pirate Wedding arrr: Pirate Ship or boat, Pirate Wedding Vows, Sword Arch, Rum Cake or Cupcake, firing of Black Powder Cannon or firearms, all the friend n' family in pirate garb.

She be wearing arrrr Corset Dress in white with a red duchess skirt. White wedding dresses where not at all popular until Queen Victoria got married in a white dress in 1840.  Before that time, women just wore their finest dress, red gowns embroidered with gold or silver being particularly popular.  At the time, wearing a white gown was considered too impractical as it would easily get dirty.

Tiger finally got to leave the port of Tampa to adventure north to Long Island to attend his niece's graduation in Nautical Engineering. Sorry I had to miss out of the last Cocoa Beach Pirate Fest.  Got to NYC garment district to plunder some brocade fabric n' metal shank buttons.  Went up to Connecticut to visit my mate Newport Jack, who show me Mystic Seaport to learn about wooden whaling ships.  We also voyaged to the Whydah Pirate Museum up in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts; which be crazy busy with families escaping the plague fer some fun.  It be great to get out fer some adventuring out in the New England seaside.

Hoist yar Colours! Burgundy be a deep reddish brown shade inspired by the wine from the French region called Burdeaux. This be arrr grand collection of pirate garb in the color burgundy, oxblood n' maroon. Next to black n' red, burgundy be the next most popular colour fer pyrates!

Burgundy be associated with higher class society n' signifies sophistication, ambition n' power. As you can see we have a boat load of pirate n' wench garb in burgundy to make a costume of all burgundy or with burgundy accents.

In 1695, the pirate ship Fancy, commanded by Capt Every, plundered the Indian Emperor Aurangzeb's ship, the Ganj-i-Sawai.  The pirates tortured the men n' raped the women while plundering tens of millions of dollars' worth of gold n' silver.  The English Kind William III put up a large bounty on their heads, which lead to the first worldwide manhunt.

Jim Bailey, a prison security analyst by trade, be a treasure hunter on the side.  In 2014, he discovered the first coin in Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown.  Research confirmed the Arabic coins was minted in 1693 in Yemen.  At that time no American colonists traveled tot he Middle East until decades later.  Since that time they have discovered 15 additional coins from the same era in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.  It proves that some of Every's men settled in the colonials, to escape capture.

https://apnews.com/article/ancient-coins-may-solve-mystery-1600s-pirate-f5a6151b74e0dcf96de585eab451f90c