Friday, November 11, 2011

ARE YOU WEARING YOUR CORDS TODAY?

Reading Between the Lines, This Is a Big Date for Corduroy Fans
11/11/11 Reminds Some of a Favorite Fabric, Ideal for Bikinis and Trench Coats


For lovers of corduroy, including Sandra Pieloch of Brooklyn, N.Y., no day can ever be more meaningful than 11/11/11.
"It's the day that most closely resembles corduroy ever," says Ms. Pieloch, a 35-year-old graphic designer. "It's the date we've been preparing for." (click below to read more)


Ms. Pieloch is referring to the ribbed textile's biggest fans, and in particular, the roughly 5,000 members of the Corduroy Appreciation Club, which boasts chapters nationwide and as far away as South Africa and London. The club's mascot is a whale, a reference to the term "wale," the ridge in corduroy.
As the club's director of "cordination," Ms. Pieloch is responsible for setting up events like Friday night's runway show in New York, slated to exclusively feature corduroy duds donated by fashion brands L.L. Bean Inc., Perry Ellis International Inc.'s Original Penguin, American Apparel Inc., Ben Sherman Group Ltd. and others.
"We're having what we believe to be an epic and historic sartorial display," Ms. Pieloch says, adding that at least two pieces to be displayed were designed specifically for Friday's show. Other items expected to be in the show include a corduroy bikini, a corduroy corset, a corduroy dinner jacket and a Teflon-coated corduroy trench coat.
To corduroy enthusiasts, just about anything made up of vertical lines or horizontal lines can be considered symbolic of the durable woven fabric. Linear-themed foods such as Ruffles potato chips are served at club meetings, held just twice a year on the 11th day of January and November. Beverages include 1/4Rye beer—punningly pronounced "quarter-rye"—a homemade brew consisting of 25% malt rye.
"You are a person that likes corduroy. You are interested in meeting other people that wear corduroy," says Miles Rohan of the club's constituents. Mr. Rohan, 35, says he founded the group in New York in 2005 as a way to bond with people who share his fondness for the warm, soft feel of corduroy in a piece of clothing such as a jacket, pair of slacks or hat.
At first, attracting members wasn't easy. Mr. Rohan, who works as Nickelodeon's director of knowledge management, says he initially wanted the club to maintain a low profile. Rather than post an ad in a newspaper or online, he printed up small cards with the club's name and email address and handed them to strangers he came across who were wearing corduroy. He also placed them in the pockets of corduroy clothing for sale in retail stores in the hopes that buyers would find them and contact the club.
"I wanted to emulate the Elks Club or Knights of Columbus," he says. "That sort of secret society is attractive to me."
The club slowly gained traction over the years, but in recent months its ranks have swelled as word of the significance of the Nov. 11 date has spread online.
To join, applicants must recite an oath and pledge to regularly wear clothing made of corduroy, and to keep mum about details of what goes on during meetings. "We practice secret rituals," says Mr. Rohan. "I wouldn't call it dancing but there are chants."
Failure to show up without wearing at least three different pieces of corduroy is cause for rejection. A far worse offense, however, is to try to enter a meeting while draped in a rival fabric, a move that Kurt Schlachter, one of the club's tallest and most imposing members, is tasked with preventing.
Security is necessary "to keep the undesirables out—usually some ruffian at each big event," says Mr. Schlachter, 32. And who, typically, is an undesirable? "Some advocate of denim or velvet who shouldn't be there," he says.
On the scale of undesirable, denim is considered less offensive than velvet, because "we like to think of corduroy as utilitarian fabric, and denim fits that, too."
After the last Nov. 11 meeting, the club received an email from a member and velvet sympathizer complaining that disparaging remarks were made about velvet, corduroy's nonridged relative.
"Might I remind you that, traditionally, much the same as corduroy, velvet is heavily associated with nobility," wrote the sender, a New York art dealer who goes by the alias Julius Fefferpot. "With all due respect, we ask that in the future the Corduroy Appreciation Club be more mindful of our common origins and work to uphold the integrity of your sister fabric."
Corduroy's origins date back to the late 1700s England, not France as is widely believed, says James Pruden, a spokesman for Cotton Inc., a research and promotion nonprofit headquartered in Cary, N.C. The term corduroy is most likely a combination of the words "cord" and the now obsolete "duroy" or "deroy," meaning a woolen garment, he says. "The thinking is that corduroy is so warm and such an autumnal fabric in the same way that wool is something you wear in cooler months," he says.
Today, approximately 2% of pants available at U.S. retailers are made of corduroy, according to Cotton Inc. As the Corduroy Appreciation Club's sole sponsor, the organization covers the cost of the venues the group rents for meetings and special events, in addition to providing marketing support. To fund other expenses, the club sells corduroy ties produced by a manufacturer in Queens for $41.11, Mr. Rohan says.
Friday night's festivities, to be held at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York starting promptly at 8:11 p.m., are expected to draw 350 corduroy enthusiasts, the maximum number allowed. It may be the club's last gathering.
"I admire things that stop," says Mr. Rohan. "It seems like a good way to go out on top."
One special guest for the evening is Avery Sorensen, whose mom says she'll be clad in a grey corduroy skirt and red corduroy jacket at the event.
The sixth grader turns 11 on Friday.
It's "a once in a lifetime opportunity," says Avery's mother, Lara Sorensen, an administrative worker at a New York synagogue, who plans to wear black corduroy slacks.

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