This is a great story about a hoodie we did for Neil quite a while ago. Hope you enjoy it!
Back in the beginning of 2012, I realized that I had attended 85 Yonder Mountain String Band shows. OMG, I only had 15 more till 100. Many of my kinfolk friends had already reached this milestone and had done things to commemorate the occasion: Bumper stickers, T-shirts, etc.
I was trying to think of a memorable way to commemorate this milestone. The 1st thing to come to mind was MaB. I had been a long time customer and an avid fan of batik, but had never seen a batik artist with the unique ability to capture nature and the metaphysical. This is what 1st caught my eye when I saw my 1st MaB design. I own many Mab designs, but as a customer, who had stood in line for some small lot shirts at the Summit, I wanted them to customize a hoodie for my 100th show.
I spoke with Mateo in August about possible designs, still not knowing when I might reach my 100th show. As fate would have it, my 100th was to be on 12-12-12 in Tulum, Mexico. This was my 1st time in Mexico and the idea just seemed to click. Mateo had spent many years traveling and educating himself in Mayan art and culture.
When I realized the perfection of this match, I spoke with Mateo about giving him the liberty to be free with the design ideas, and to also try to incorporate my original ideas: Paying homage to my 100th show and a nature design to show my love for Colorado and the band itself. I wanted to do this without infringing on any copyrights or using the band name.
Once Mateo started the design, it kind of took on a life of its own. Although, I wanted the hoodie for the event, the batik design was very complicated and Mateo wanted to make sure it was complete before he gave it to me. He showed me a few camera shots from different parts of the hoodie, but I really had no idea what the final product would look like.
After weeks of agonizing what it would look like, it finally arrived and I was blown away by the detail of this one-of-a-kind hemp hoodie.
As you can see from the pictures, the front has a temple, similar to El Castillo(the temple at Chichen itza) AKA as the Temple of Kukulkan and of course Kukulkan (Feathered Serpent) is sitting on top of the pyramid. The front pocket of the hoodie has Kinfolk UFO sitting under the number 100 surrounded by an explosive batik web.
The back stayed true to my original design, with a ribbon that says “Life is better there”, a line from the song, 40 miles from Denver, under an incredible mountain scene complete with a full moon and stars.
Mab was the right decision to be the artist to honor my 100th Yonder show. Everywhere I wear the hoodie, people stop me to ask who did the amazing artwork and where can they get one. I tell them about the artist and point them to the website, but I smile a little as I tell them, this design will never be reproduced.
