Passion comes in many forms - but there's nothing like wearing your heart on your sleeve....and if your heart pumps Toyota through your veins, then our latest offering will bring a smile to your dial.
"The Iconic" Shirt is a beautifully detailed Button Up Shirt for Men with Pre Sale launch in Mid April, but looks to be SOLD OUT before it even lands in the warehouse.
My most vivid memory as a kid travelling Australia with the family was the Main Street of Cohen up on Cape York. I remember looking up and down on both sides of the street - Toyota's reversed into the kerb, as far as you could see.
Clearly this was Toyota country - a Car built for the harshest conditions and they never let you down.
Back in '78 touring the country with Mum & Dad and my Sister, it was hard to find kids to play with. There weren't many families on the road back then, correspondence schooling was "pick up your next terms work at the Darwin Post Office" - it was just unheard of to pack up and hit the road.
I remember one family - 4 kids - we knew them as the "Jacklands". We seemed to bump into them quite a bit. He was a good fisherman Mr. Jackland - and he had a Zodiac...that was big in those days.
I remember catching Spaniards at Cape Hillsborough from this tiny little inflatable - it was gold.
They were doing the same as us, living the good life. A Millard was their Van and it was only small....towed of course by a SWB45 Series. It was a classic. Toyota's were just everywhere. You saw the odd LandRover getting about, but they were pretty rare.
At Free 24 7, we think that the iconic rigs of the past and present need to be honoured and the best way to do that was on a high quality Button Up Shirt. As with anything worth doing well, it takes time to put something like this together.
As we Exhibit at Shows/Expos around Australia and many of our friends are into the Adventure life, we set about getting everyone's feedback on what were the most iconic shapes of the past 50 odd years.
Now there's always going to be a bit of controversy as to what was "left off" (I didn't even include my 100 Series!!!), but I think we got it pretty right.
"The Iconic" lineup:
- SWB45
- 55 Series
- 79 Dual Cab
- 80 Series
- 200 Series
- Hi Lux
- Troop Carrier
Now that's one hell of a garage - we've been fortunate enough to own a few of these, but I had to lean of a few mates to help us out with the others.
Researching our old photos of the rigs, taking new ones where we could - getting our mates to shoot images of theirs. Plenty of work goes into a design like this one.
Here's a grab of a couple of the Rigs as they appear on the Shirt, it really is a Shirt for the purists.
Our Creative Guru Steve bought the images to life on the designs screen, plenty of editing and a lot of back and forth - looks unreal though.
As part of the launch of "The Iconic" we set out to interview some of the Guys behind the Rigs that appear on the Shirt. Launching during a Pandemic is not without its challenges and a few of the guys that we wanted to catch up with are interstate - borders shut - no access. Bugger.
We managed to interview my Dad about his 55 Series, click on the link below to watch a bit of YouTube entertainment.
https://youtu.be/vim8u7YV9nk
Like anything that we do here, its the level of detail that we include in our Clothing that sets us apart. CREATING something that people just want to wear time and again is what drives us.
Hand crafted Gear Cog Buttons, tasteful Lifestyle Labelling and super comfortable to wear. Everyday we get images from our customers across the World wearing their new Shirt with pride. With Lockdown just about over now - I reckon it's time to get the good threads on, as its time to have a Party!
