Bonobos

From the evocative (bermuda straits, plymouth rocks, sandcastles) to the literary (meursaults, tessie hutchinsons, sisyphus, ali babas) to the shamelessly pun-tastic (kappa chinos, just whites, if looks could twill) to the utterly perplexing (stone-faced lady killaz), we sorted through well over 100 submissions to name our stretch brushed lightweight organic twill (or SBLOT).

Autumn approaches, and we don’t want to pigeonhole our twills for beach-going. And much as we love literature, Meursault and Tessie Hutchinson are both senselessly executed (bad chi), Sisyphus is condemned to Hades (ouch!), and Ali Baba is a tyrant (uncool). The day may come when a pun so witty, so original, and so perfectly executed appears that we deem it a worthy moniker for one our creations–but it is not today.

And stone-faced lady killaz? Well, Ryan M., you gave us all a much-needed chuckle with your assertion that “despite their stoic exterior, these stone twill trousers will knock the ladies dead when they undo the zipper to reveal the floral party in your pants.”

But in the end, we thought one suggestion triumphed. Congratulations Robin Testa! Thanks to your simple but richly connotative entry, “touchstones,” our stone-colored SBLOTs now have a name that (to paraphrase you) distinguishes them as the measure against which other trousers shall ever be judged. And, of course, you have a free pair on its way to you. Wear ‘em well!

But there’s more to this story. There was one other name, a close second behind touchstones, that we felt properly caught the ethos of our trousers. Matthew Olson gave us the name “sand dollars,” and the description “our twill chinos are… just as soft and supple as the sun-drenched and stone-washed echinoids kind enough to lend their name to these trousers.”

The elegance and concision of those words really struck a chord with us, so we decided that our soon-to-be-launched khaki shorts will now bear the name “sand dollars.” The newly-named sand dollars are the same luxurious stretch twill as our awesomely popular khakis, and are perfect for tee time (or tea time, for that matter) or a stroll along the beach. And there’s a pair en route to you, Matthew.

In the meantime, we’ll do our best to heed to the wise wordplay of Touchstone, Shakespeare’s fool in his romantic comedy As You Like It. The Bard may not having been thinking of pleated fronts and greedy markups when he gave Touchstone the line, “The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly,” but that’s what we think of every time we launch a new pair of bonobos.