There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
One of the great aspects of working as a buyer is the travel – visiting trade shows, showrooms, factories, and the like comes with the territory. That said, all the trips can get a bit tiring. Because of the seasonal nature of clothing, shows are all packed together twice a year. I know people that go from Florence to Paris to New York to Las Vegas every six months, and get tired just thinking about it. Even so, meeting new people and seeing new places makes the fatigue worth it.
On that note, I just returned from a brief work trip to Chicago and while there I had the great fortune of touring the famed Horween tannery. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been working with Phil Kalas through Massdrop for a while now, and Phil also heads up operations at Horween. He was kind enough to give me a tour of the place, and I must say that I learned quite a bit. As most of you likely know, Horween is one of the biggest names in the leather business (and has been for about 110 years), and is known for producing chrome and vegetable tanned leathers of all kinds, from Chromexcel to shell cordovan and beyond. Here’s a glimpse into what goes on there every day: