Tiger Lee n' Devil May Come visited Channel 10 ABC Morning Blend Show to talk with Natalie Taylor the Saucy Sea Wench.  We showcased the 3 types of Pirate Clothing for both men n' wenches: Street Pirate, Casual Pirate n' Formal Pirates for this years Gasparilla. Watch the video on this link:  

Taking my hard working krewe before the coming Gasparilla storm! Great play, even a pirate would enjoy.  Just watch out fer the on-line ticket seller, who be the real pirates of today, arrrrgh! Just take off yar sash n' bandana n' ye can instantly transform yar pirate garb into a colonial outfit.

Get a free Bandana by visit Pirate Fashions retail store on Dec 10.  Wear a bandana as a sign of good luck fer all scallywags. 

Bandana arrr also called kerchief, wild rag, bandannoes, head scarf or oramal.  They originated in India, from the hindi word "bandhna", which mean "to tie".  It also be called a neckerchief, when worn around the neck, the poor man's substitute for a neck cravat.  When sewing in a cap shape, it be called a "Do-rag".  In colonial America, bandana were sometimes printed with maps as guides for travel. 

Pirate worn bandana to keep the seat from the eyes of laboring deckhand.  Many people don't want to wear anything on their head, as modern life doesn't require it anymore.  But 300 year ago it was considered improper to go outside without some kind of head covering.  Going without a bandana and sash, will make you look like a colonial instead of a pirate.  As they both wear the same puffy shirt, knee breeches, tricorne hat, boots n' weapons.

Most modern bandana are 22 inch square pieces of fabric.  The key to a beautiful pirate bandana is showing long flowing tails from the front n' back.  Watch video on how to properly tie a bandana.  Arrr bandana are large 52x34x34 inch triangles in solid color cotton, linen, silk and actual calico from India. Cotton be an common affordable fabric, linen be strong n' good at absorbing sweat, silk has brilliant colors, calico is printed. 

Calico is printed cotton cloth from Calicut, of South India, now called Kerala.  It was block printed with floral patterns. They started making the calico cloth in the 11th century.  The Ottoman Empire traded in the cloth in the 15th century. East India Company imported in great quantities in the 17th century.  Captain Jack Rackham commonly work the fabric, where he became commonly known as Calico Jack.

Pirate arrr "both and" not "either or"!  This mean pirates worn both a bandana n' a tricorne hat.  You do this because you can not wash a hat, so you want to sweat into something you can wash.

First Citrus Bank be the choice of Pirate Fashions.  It has been the best bank this here pirate has used in his entire business career of 35 years.  They arrrr the first bank who cared enough to come visit my shop.  They got me two PPP loans during the Black Plague n' refinanced the mortgage on the building. They feature a different small local business to celebrate with a gift.

Well blow me down, they arrrr going to buy you a pirate bandana if ye walk into my shop on Dec 10, 2022 between 11am to 6pm.  No purchase necessary.  If ye get one of arrrr fancy silk bandanas which cost $25, you get $15 off the price.  Any bandana in arrr large collection be available:  https://piratefashions.com/collections/pirate-bandana, we will even have orange bandanas available fer the first time.  Sorry this offer doesn't apply on-line, on in the Tampa store.

A24, the art film studio who produced the movie  Everything Everwhere All at Once with Michelle Yeoh, also produces books.  They interviewed me about 2 years ago for a $50 art book called Florida!, that just came out last month.  It contains hundreds of unique places to visit in the pirates favorite state.

Gabrielle Calise interviewed me for this book n' also the Tampa Bay Times article. Overall the 3 page article does a great job of giving the history of the store n' some interesting facts behind the chest. 

I don't know why she didn't include any photos taken for the book.  What I didn't like was that it gave a price list of what a high end outfit would cost 'n then put it next to an old 1970 photo of three girls in cheap pirate outfit.  This misleads people into thinking that for $1236 you can get three horrible pirate costumes. Sometimes fortune come with misfortune, arrrgh!

We hate companies that Green Wash. Just like we hate companies that use the good name of Piracy fer personal gain only, when in fact they have nothing to do with piracy other than their company name has the word pirate in it for marketing purposes only.

It has been in arrr DNA to try to use materials that pirates used during the Golden Age, so 90% of the items we sell are made of cotton, linen, wool, silk, leather, bone, feathers n' metal.  Only a few items have nylon, such as arrr pirate flags and fishnet hosery.  Our corsets use cotton in the lining, steel in the boning, but polyester on the outside (as we have not been able to find a good source for cotton brocade. The Gasparilla throw bead are all plastic.  We don't sell any of those cheap Halloween costumes which are almost all made of petroleum products.  

Customer ask why my paper n' wood fan arrr so expensive, it's because they not be made of polyester n' plastic. Pirates arrrr looking fer fancy brocade Frock Coats, we don't have them because we can't find a natural version of them other than $80 - 120 per yard silk.  We have to settle fer a nice cotton DaMask fabric instead. We have experiemented with using bambo, hemp n' ramie fabric but they didn't work out.

Everytime we launder polyester fabric, we arrr washing millions of tiny microplastic particles into the wastewater which enter the rivers, oceans, drinking water and food chain. We arrr happy not to be a part of that issue.

Arrr biggest issue be all the plastic bags n' card board boxes we use to recieve n' ship plunder out in.  The entire retail industry doesn't have a solution n' either do we.  If you have a suggestion, me us know.

The other issue Pirate Fashions has be all the energy needed to transport product to arrr location.  One third of the products we sell are made right in our store (which is more that most retail shops), so we do save on transportation there, but we still need to buy arrr supplies from some where else. 

We don't market that we arrrr Green, but fer those pirate who care about the environment, we here at Pirate Fashions be doing arrr part!

The Golden Age of Piracy ending in the mid 19th century when Navys began partrolling the seas. If ye be wanting a long glass to peer over the horizon, this be the read fer ye. In Peter Zeihan's new book "The End of the World is Just the Beginning", he predicts the return of pirates, privateers and State backed piracy.  The United State has been the protector of the seas for the past 7 decades.  After many years of war in the Middle East, we arrr tired of policing the sand box.  We are now oil independant and will stop holding up the world order. 

It be only a matter of to time until some African, Middle Eastern or Asian country decides they need resources they don't have and takes a ship.  Or maybe they want to cause trouble for one of their rival nations by shooting an oil tanker.  The second that happens, the naval insurance rates will sky rocket and people will begin arming their cargo ships.  This was the way of the world for thousand of years before the end of WW2.  In 20 to 40 years, Peter predicts the come back of pirates, privateers and state backed piracy.

You will have to read the entire book to get all the interconnected details.  Overall I thought the book was well presented and it changed my view of what is possible for the world.  The author provides some well researched ideas on how demographics and geo-politics interact in a time of everything bubble popping.  The book made it to the NY Times Non-Fiction Best Sellers List the week after its release.

The Hillsborough County Entrepreneur Collaborative Center in Ybor City puts on a local business panel every other week. Hosted by Lynn Kroesen. This week's event focus on Asian America Entrepreneurs and Military Appreciation.  As I be both Chinese n' a former US Army Officer, this pirate fit in nicely.

The first topic I talked about how Pirate Fashions makes arrr plunder n' what real pirate clothing be called.  The second topic was how we deal with Gasparilla n' what we do fer the rest of the year.  The third question be how to run a business without sales or advertising, make great product in a niche. That last being about how I don't look like Capt Jack Sparrow. Lady Honrado-Rosal of 7th Sky be a master rum taster (sounds like a pretty good business) n' Lady Lavin of Luminary Global be a disaster preparedness bag business.

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Munity! be an Award Winning short film.  A 17 minute flick that be professionally done, it be quite entertaining with an engaging cast that reminds me a bit of Our Flag Means Death.  It has a kind n' considerate Captain that be much like Stede Bonnet, n' Mr. Phoebe be much like the deadly disguised female pirate Jim.

The creator, Matthew Gratzner, be originally from Miami. He was a tour guide on the HMS Bounty n' worked at the Renaissance Festival.  In 1995, he moved to LA to become a film maker.  He personally made all the costumes n' props, including the long boat, n' shot it in its entirety in two days in the summer of 2019. I wish I could say I was involved with this production, but perhaps in the future may the time come that Gratzner wishes to produce more content of this fine caliber. The story is a subtle social commentary on today's divisiveness and tribalism told as an action adventure comedy using 17th century pirates.

Gratzner is working on developing Mutiny! into a 8 episode series.  He is pitching it in hope a studio will pick it up.  I do hope we do see more of his series in the future, as we alway need more pirate entertainment, arrrgh!  Click the link to watch the short film.

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