Probable Maximum Loss: Cole Haan

Esquire Gentleman Magazine, Spring / Summer 1993

Probable Maximum Loss or PML is an insurance term I always called the "Ka-Boom" factor. PML is a basic underwriting strategy where an insurance company figures it's total maximum loss in a building, location, region or... shoe maker.

Cole Haan started in Chicago in 1928 and were, by the time I knew them in the '80s, the classic shoe choice. Whether a simple calf tassel loafer (my first post college shoe) or their perfect correspondent in buck and tan calf -- Cole Haan was classic. You didn't wear tassel loafers -- you wore Cole Haan tassel loafers.

In 1993, Cole Haan introduced the venetian loafer you see in the advertisement above. It was a clean looking shoe made in their Maine factory. In 1988, Cole Haan was bought by Nike and shortly afterwards closed their Maine plant and moved all manufacture off shore. How odd that Cole Haan became, if not the first, one of the earliest shoe companies to embrace off shore while leaving pricing the same.

Today, pricing remains high for what you get but design has really suffered as seen here. The plastic injected shoe so commonly associated with Donald Pliner is seen across the Cole Haan line. This may have more to do with the small world of shoe design talent but I think it stems more from what Asian factories are comfortable making. Who knows. I don't pretend to know a lot about making shoes. I do understand Probable Maximum Loss. You know? Ka-Boom!

Mail Order Monday: Burton By Post

Mail order was my birthright as a kid. Sears and JC Penny? Mere amateurs. Sometime in the late '60s, just after the Whole Earth Catalog made its splash, an understated book came out called, The International Catalog of Catalogs. It was nothing more than the world's best catalogs in one book.

Segmented by product type, like cooking or camping or apparel, it might have included the UK's version of Sears, Burton By Post as seen above. The magic of international mail order was not so much in the ordering but in the dreaming. That, and it was an insight into a country. The difference in clothes, cameras, slippers and underwear. It was an amazing trip to take.

I miss that. I know I have the world at my finger tips via the Web but it isn't the same. In a catalog, there was a story. I don't care if it was intended or not. It was there and I was a part of it. I was shopping in Manchester or Rome or Mexico City.

It was a pain. International money orders at Deak-Perera, shipping charges, stamps...But something beyond magical happened when the package arrived. Foreign stamps everywhere, with sevens crossed and custom forms stuck to brown paper. I saved it all. I still save it all.

Chris Craft Catalog - 1980

(click on page to read)

I lived on board a boat my senior year of college. It was a power boat or 'Stink Pot' and I hated that but I was still living in a marina and nothing on earth could beat that. I spent a lot of time sailing with neighbors and grilling fish on their hibachi screwed to the aft railing of a 41' Morgan. I loved that boat and have always dreamed of owning one. I know their fat and lazy cruisers - but then - so am I. Not that I cruise but you get my point.

The Chris Craft catalog was rarely found on a sail boat. Instead, in the 80's Florida of my college youth, this was found in the heads of power boaters. Usually a retired Anchor Cranker from Mayport with a fondness for being addressed by their rank well into retirement. Unlike my telephone colonel father who, upon being addressed as colonel, always said, "Call me Fred. I'm not in the Army anymore."

Chris Craft had some cool stuff and some pretty hideous stuff. It's a nostalgia I almost hate to bring up for fear some NYC hipster is knocking off that sweat shirt in the Honduras before he finishes reading this post. Chris Craft Apparel is still around but just a shade of what it once was. Still, this Tervis Tumbler has my name written all over it.

Brooksgate 1985

Brooksgate Fall Catalog 1985

You can still get all of this. Even that hunting dog sweater. Just go to Polo.

1981 Fall Fleece

Brooks Brother's Fall 1981 Catalog

A Brooks Brothers Woman

Brooks Brothers Madras Shirt Dress

Brooks Brother's Sundress

Brooks Brothers Resort Wear

So I'm talking to this old Army buddy who's in the food biz and we're going on about how white burgundies make for a nice pairing with triple creams. This is usually champagne territory but the still white makes it a little more complex. And I say it reminds me of port wine cheddar on a Triscut with Ballantine Ale. Rich is quiet for a moment and says, "You are a man of extremes."

Maybe I am. Give me the sticks or the city. A station wagon or something with two seats and a rag top. Give me J Press or Savile Row. I'm not so keen on the stuff in between.

These are from a 1990 Brooks Brothers catalog and while you may think there's a world of difference between these ladies and the woman below -- I don't. I mean sure, they're Wonder Bread but there's no botox, nail extensions or implants. Or, maybe I am a man of extremes.

"The" Trad Catalog

Some months ago I discussed these very catalogs with a senior type from Press. He said they had found tons of them during the recent move from 44th St. I said, "You should gather them all up and publish them in a book. Same size as the catalog. Soft cover. It would sell like crazy." He looked at the floor and shrugged his shoulders. Couldn't be less interested. What was it Butch told Sundance? "I got 20/20 vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals."

These are from a great blog, The Continuous Lean. Go check it out. Some fascinating Charlie Rose interviews with Micky Drexler and Alan Flusser plus other Tradly items and pursuits. Go here: for more images and hi res scans.