GRAND OLE OPENING OF DOUBLE RL NASHVILLE

Double RL is going to be popping up in Nashville.

Ralph Lauren opened a shop for the Western- and workwear-themed collection at 1200 Villa Place in the city’s Edgehill district. It will remain open for 15 months.

The shop, which is intended to be an homage to the music and Western themes of Nashville, will feature turn-of-the-century industrial and haberdashery fixtures along with one-of-a-kind artwork and objects sourced from around the world. It will carry men’s and women’s apparel and accessories along with a selection of vintage product.

The company said it chose Nashville for the shop because the city authentically reflects the brand’s ethos

CHADS VISITS HATCH SHOW PRINT - NASHVILLE, TN.

During my last trip I also visited the Iconic Hatch Show Print Store.

It started with the Hatch family. William H. Hatch ran a print shop in the town of Prescott, Wisconsin, where his two sons, Charles R. and Herbert H. (born in 1852 and 1854, respectively), grew up and learned the craft of letterpress printmaking.  In 1875, William moved his family to Nashville where, four years later, Charles and Herbert founded CR and HH Hatch.

The golden age of Hatch was from the mid-1920s, when Charles's son Will T. Hatch took over the business, until Will's death in 1952. It was a golden era for country music as well, and Hatch captured the magic. Will frequently turned his talent as a master woodblock carver to "chiseling and gouging" (as someone once put it) some of the most indelible images of country music performers ever made. To further secure the historic link, Hatch's home from 1925 to 1992 was right behind the Ryman Auditorium, the Mother Church of Country Music.

Hatch captured the glory of other musical genres, doing work for the great African-American jazz and blues entertainers of the day, such as Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Elvis Presley.

Today, Hatch Show Print resides at 224 5th Avenue South, in four different spaces designed and built to suit the demands and mission of such a busy icon of design, letterpress printing, and history.

And being in the store you will end up with some goodies to share your memories at home.     

CHAD'S STORE VISIT - ANTIQUE ARCHAEOLOGY, NASHVILLE - TN.

I guess I'm the biggest fan in Holland of American Pickers and that said i had to visit the Antique Archaeology Store in Nashville, TN. When I arrived I saw a great old building which was once the Marathon Car Factory some real American heritage. When I entered the store I was overwhelmed by antiques, no not the junk Frank & Mike finds on their travels trough the States, but old people who made a stop with the hop on hop off trolley. They just enter the store to buy a souvenir like a T-shirt or a mug. Okay I also bought myself a souvenir but I really also enjoyed the stuff I saw and recognized from the television. Whenever you have the change pay them a visit don't let the tourist keep you from seeing a great store in an amazing building. 

CHAD'S STORE VISIT - IMOGENE + WILLIE, NASHVILLE, TN

Last week during my trip through the South East of the USA I paid a visit to Imogene + Willie.

The store is situated in the old Granny White gas station on the outskirts of Nashville on 12th Street S, a cool area with nice stores and restaurants.

Matt and Carrie Eddmenson know denim. For years, this husband-and-wife team was part of a family business that was the go-to source for processed, distressed denim for the likes of RRL and Rogan. And when that business went bust in 2008, they cut out on their own, creating a line of handcrafted washed jeans (made from Cone Denim, produced on vintage looms in North Carolina) under the name Imogene + Willie. So the old Nashville gas station works double duty as their retail outpost and design and tooling studio. They also offer one-of-a-kind jeans that are made-to-order for perfect sizing and fit, hand-washed, and detailed in-house.