This is either going to completely flop, or it might actually work.

While relaxing on the beach at Bolongo Bay on St. Thomas (USVI) last November, this idea came to me.  I’m laying there, Limin’, as they say, watching this girl walking down the beach.  No, it wasn’t the creepy stalker type of girl-watching (my wife was right next to me).  It was just casual observations of what was happening on the beach.  I’m pretty sure she was a local, you could tell from the way she was dressed, the sun-tanned skin and by the way she carried herself.  She looked way to comfortable to be a tourist.  And she was alone.  As she enjoyed an afternoon Caribbean swim, it struck me that she never removed her hat.

That’s when it slapped me across the face — NO, not my wife for watching this girl swim, but how that hat was more than just a hat.  That hat had a story behind it.  This wasn’t it’s first Caribbean swim.  It was weathered, worn and faded.  If only that hat could talk, I’m sure it would have some great island stories to share.

I realized that the very hat I was wearing at the time has written a story of its own — from a couple of Caribbean trips to countless Great Lakes adventures.  It’s been washed, worn, almost lost, sweat-stained, sun-dried and tossed around my Jeep and boat.  It’s my favorite hat…because it’s broken-in, faded and weathered.  The same goes for a few of my favorite t-shirts…they’ve traveled, been worn, sun-dried and weathered.  Oh the stories they could tell.

So here you go…Pre-Soaked & Sun-Dried Snoloha!

That’s right, the “RELAX” T and the Lake Michigan Blue SnoFlake Palm Tree hats are Pre-Soaked and Sun-Dried right here in northern Michigan.  Yes, for real.  They are actually soaked in the crystal clear freshwater of northern Lake Michigan and sun-dried on the lifelines of the S/V “Snoloha”.

Their story has already begun.  Now it’s up to you for it to continue.