This bandana is:
- 100% Japanese cotton
- Made in the USA
- Artist-designed
- Printed using eco-friendly, water-based ink
- LIMITED EDITION! once they are sold out, they are never printed again
- 22”x22"
- Hand cut and sewn with a folded flat hem
Meet our September Artist- Lauren Napolitano! @peptalks
Lauren Napolitano is a self-taught contemporary folk artist, born in California and currently based in Austin, TX. She works in ceramic, painting, murals + public based art, tattooing, and illustration, with most of these processes inspired by ancestry and travel. Napolitano has shown extensively throughout the United States (Major US cities: NYC, LA, Denver, Miami (Art Basel), New Orleans, San Francisco, & Austin) and internationally (Mexico, Spain, England, Portugal, Nepal). Notable collaborations with Burton snowboards, Creator of POW! WOW! Nepal, a mural commission at World Trade Center, and 1xRun.
From the artist:
“My work is about celebrating the handmade and the imperfections that come along with it. I am incredibly influenced by my mother’s Mexican heritage and I lean heavily on these ancestors as I create and gather inspiration. Much of what I create falls between the themes of being surrounded/supported or the symbiotic energy/movement between every living organism. Earth and sky, life and death, love and sorrow, I explore these connections through invented + inspired patterns and symbolism in order to find balance, growth and healing. Tattooing gives me an opportunity to go deeper with those who connect to my work. We are able to sit and exchange stories, or silence, and we have a image that imprints this moment for the rest of their life."
September 2024 bandana by Lauren Napolitano
A selvage's main purpose is to prevent unraveling or fraying, which makes a fabric stable and secure. Some fabrics come with frayed edges for aesthetic purposes. A selvage's self-finished edge makes sure that this fraying won't come undone and affect or damage the rest of your fabric.
Find a more detailed history of the bandana here. One of our favorite passages from this history...
As a minimum, you can expect bandanas to be 100% cotton... Some of the best makers offer selvedge bandanas, which have a barely noticeable selvedge line on one or two edges. The edges that are not selvedge will be folded and stitched.
One of the few places you can check the quality of the work is the corners. Has it been stitched together hastily, or is it clean and precise work? If you’re paying for well-made, it’s fair to expect nothing short of perfection.
Hand feel is an excellent guide here. If you like the look of the bandana, pick it up and rub the material between your fingers. Is it soft and supple? That’s a sure sign that the maker has gone out of their way to source top-grade cotton for their bandana. If it feels crisp or papery, mosey on to the next one.
Some well-made bandanas are deeply saturated in colour and could block out the sun on a cloudless day. Others are given a gentler dye treatment and are almost transparent. One isn’t better than the other, it’s just a matter of the maker’s purpose and your preference.
Finally, a well-made bandana, when unfolded and laid flat, should communicate something to you. It might tell a story, or it might evoke some far-away time and place or something nearer and dearer.
Great makers produce bandanas with this kind of intention. The bandana is their canvas, and, like all artists, they want their story to be understood and their work to be appreciated.