The Super Spectacular WAIW? Contest of Destiny

Nudity is overrated. You know it. I know it. Everybody but those hairy nudist colony people know it.

That’s why we wear clothes.

THE CONTEST

To win more clothes, specifically THIS T-SHIRT, tell me about your favorite item of clothing that you just can’t travel or live without.

What’s so special about your _______(insert one: shirt, pants, socks, underwear, tie, penny loafers, ear muffs, wetsuit, trunks, brassiere, cardigan, dickey. You get the idea)? Did they save your life, like THESE PANTS? Do they have some kind of sentimental value? Be sure to include where it was MADE?

HOW TO PLAY

To enter, post your ode to clothes on this comment thread. I will select a lucky winner based on creativity, expressed passion for the selected item, practicality of the item, and even, impracticality of the item (if you can’t go anywhere without your fedora or suit of armor, you gotta a good chance of winning).

The winner will be announced on 3/21. Enter as many times as you like.

ABOUT THE T-SHIRT

It’s organic. It’s MADE IN the USA. The cartoon was drawn by cartoonist Geoff Hassing. Geoff and I spent several months in 2005 brainstorming a cartoon. Together we created Tripp Trumbler aka The Touron. He’s a moron. He’s a tourist. He’s each and every one of us in a foreign environment.

Above all, the shirt is comfy and you want to win it BAD. So, get started…

 
Add a comment
jv says:

Hey – Can’t believe I’m the first to comment on this thread.

My clothing item would be a pair of old khaki cargo pants, purchased circa 1999, and made in China. Wore them to the threads on my first big trip in 1999 and continued wearing them for many years thereafter, despite a gaping hole in the crotch. They are now coming apart, but I still have them stored in my garage somewhere. They’ll probably be trashed next time I move. Sigh.

And no, they didn’t save my life or anything. It’s just a sentimental thing. Plus I like have a lot of pockets when I travel … gives the theives more opportunities to steal my stuff!

Like the site, by the way! I’ll be watching as your journey progresses.

Kelsey says:

jv,

SAVE THE PANTS! They were so loyal. They gave you the best years of their life.

Peace Sign patches were made for gaping holes in the crotch.

Melissa says:

I cannot live without my running shoes. It seems simple—just a pair of shoes, some might say. But I take my running shoes very seriously and there is a serious rotation to their life. I have been wearing Brooks Adrenaline running shoes since before they were called Adrenaline. They are made in China, but the company is located in Bothell, Washington, a city I once called home as well. These are the shoes that I have run marathons and triathlons in, yet I also lounge around in them. They are so important that the wallpaper on my phone is a picture of them (Hal Jordan, or whatever he is going by these days, can verify that for you).

At any give time I have five (yes, F-I-V-E) pairs floating around somewhere. These are the five phases of their life: First, they start out as long run shoes. This pair stays at home, not in the closet with my other shoes, but in my bedroom with the toes of the shoes neatly tucked under my dresser. They have my Road ID (if you do physically active things alone I seriously promote getting one) on them, and they get used once a week for long runs or races on the weekends. The second stage of their life is in my locker on campus. These are my “short” run shoes—I use them for my weekday runs. After the short run phase, they become my everyday shoes. The vast majority of my day-to-day wear is an old pair of running shoes.

By the end of phase three, I have worn down the rubber outsole on the heel and ball of the foot but the shoes are not useless. These are now my mud shoes. This is the pair that I have run “Mud Run” races in, or that I will wear for a muddy game of disc golf. The final phase of life for my running shoes is as my car shoes. This is the spare pair that I keep in my car for whatever emergency I may need them. Perhaps it is a warm summer day and I am wearing sandals but I need a pair of closed-toe shoes to wear for a spontaneous game of tennis…enter my car shoes.

I am amazed that each pair can take as much abuse as I give them, but that just adds to their charisma, and why I have made it so I am never without a pair of my running shoes.

Kelsey says:

Wow! Now that’s how to enter this here contest. A mix of obsession, a dash of crazy, and five pairs of running shoes.

Melissa, what happens to the shoes after stage five? Or are they disintegrated by then? Also, how long does it take a pair to get from stage 1 to five? One more thing, what’s a ROAD ID?

Pam says:

I would have to say my flip flops. Yes, that’s right, flip flops. Even though I live in Canada I wear my flip flops ALL year round. They have to be from Old Navy and I own about 7 pairs in a variety of colours.
I walk 3 miles to work and 3 miles home in my flip flops, I’ll stand in snowbanks to help push somebodies car in while wearing my flip flops. I shower with them, walk around the house with them, travel with them and even wear them to weddings and special occassions if I can get away with it.
I get really excited when I find a pir on sale for $3. In fact it makes my whole week when I do. My friends and family think I’m nuts, but the flip flops are just one of many reasons why they think that.

So there you have it. I might slip and fall on my arse when its wet out, but I still wear them!!

Joey says:

$12 beige cargo pants from Target.

I recently lost them so I had to make do with something I bought on the streets but there will be no future trips without my Target cargo pants size 32.

Mim says:

I never go anywhere without my Bonds stretch singlet with shelf. The shelf is the bit where you stick your boobies – I just can’t hack having them swing low. It is perfect for wearing on long flights too – ultra comfortable but supported.

Made in : Bonds, being a good Aussie owned company, has their products made in China!!

elAdi says:

My favorite piece of clothing that came everywhere with me was (RIP) a Apollo long-sleeve shirt with ‘Lunatic’ written in big letters on the sleeves. It came with me on my first trip away from Europe (1997) and was always with me when I was on the road – till I arrived here in Oz in 2004, when I had to admit that the wholes where bigger than the patches of cloth left…and burned it. Similar a Clawfinger shirt (must have been 1992 or so), which didn’t survive the last trip.

Why did I love those shirts. Because they probably knew me better than anybody else in the world.

Circuitloss says:

I have a lucky raincoat. It’s a piece of crap — probably worth $2 new — but I love it. It has been a blanket, a pillow, a jacket (against rain and summer chills) and even a makeshift sack.

Can’t go international without it.

Keppie says:

Made in China

My favorite gray sweater

Was better

Even when wetter

It kept me nice and warm

From frigid arctic tundra

To frigid air con Thai buses

A cushion for my head

Bug protection in bed

And the best thing:

I only did pay

Three dollars

But oh did I holler

When I went to launder

And I thought I washed it on “cold”

But now it only fits a three year old

Tortuga_traveller says:

My favorite item of clothing, now gone, was a light cotton shirt, long sleeved with very loose stitching, yet strongly made in two layers. I bought it in Mexico, and have never seen it again. It kept me from burning in the sun without overheating.

Someone decided to take all my shirts in Singapore, and I never saw it again afterwards.

I liked my thai pants, and my indian very light shirts, but they tend to fall apart after more than a few washes. Then there were my silk shirts bought in thailand. They had to be hand washed apart because they leaked colors, and once more fell victim to the washing machine, hand washing, and wear.

At the price, I should have bought 20 of them and pulled out 4 a year to make up for their lack of durability.

Bush Trekker says:

My favorite piece of clothing that has now gone to t-shirt heaven was my Grateful Dead Concert t-shirt from waaaayyy back. I could get a reproduction but it wouln’t be the same. My newest don’t leave hame without it is my Bearing Sea Fisherman hoodie from when I was on the the Bearing Sea for crab season.

Let your voice be heard!

Leave a Reply to elAdi Cancel reply