Fashion, they say, is never finished. Each trend echoes a fresh statement – for example, this KFC-stained shirt says: ‘I’m a filthy b*stard and I like it.’
Picture the scene: you’ve purchased a Big Daddy box meal. You sit down, chips in one hand and gravy tub in the other, and as you chow down in a blur of euphoria, you spill the meaty nectar.
You’re now stained and smelling like gravy. For designer Coleman Larkin, this scenario isn’t a nightmare – rather, it sparked an idea.
Check out the shirts in a promotional video below:
For the sum of $50 (£38), fans of the fast food chain can purchase a gravy-stained shirt that ‘still has a slight aroma’. The new line of clothes is soaked in KFC gravy for a day, then dried for a few days more, before being given a chemical bath to keep the stain from fading.
Larkin said the shirts were created in partnership with Kentucky for Kentucky, a retailer whose goods celebrate the US state.
He said:
I was trying to think of a way to incorporate Kentucky cuisine into some sort of freaky apparel that would weird people out in a good way. I tried dying some shirts with other sauces and they looked pretty delicious. But it was my buddy Whit Hiler, co-founder of Kentucky for Kentucky, who had the genius idea of using KFC gravy and dropping them around Thanksgiving.
Some may say $50 for a shirt they could basically replicate at home is a bit steep. The designer doesn’t care though: the naysayers can think what they like.
Larkin added:
I’m too busy counting my gravy shirt money to care what those nerds think. Cool people love the idea. Scumbags hate it.
Whatever you think about the shirt, it clearly appeals to some KFC lovers – the initial run of shirts has already sold out in most sizes.
In order to create the shirts, Larkin was forced to order gravy over the counter by the gallon. ‘KFC won’t wholesale it to you, so you’ve got to pay retail prices like a chump,’ he explained.
Larkin added:
Plus you have to overcome the social awkwardness that goes along with ordering an inappropriate amount of sauce and nothing to put it on. That alone would deter most people. Luckily I’m a champion and do not bow to that kind of pressure.
Similarly to the process behind a regular tie-dyed t-shirt, they’re wrapped up with rubber bands, before being boiled in an acidic solution so they’ll take to the stain.
In order to keep the stain from fading, the shirts are rinsed in a chemical before being washed and dried.
It’s also not the first time Larkin’s work with Kentucky for Kentucky has captured the public’s imagination. Earlier this year he made headlines selling nuggets of horse manure from the 1997 Kentucky Derby winner, Silver Charm, preserved in a mason jar, for $200 (£150) each.
If you’re a cool person and would like to purchase a shirt, click here.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.