KHAKIS VS. BLUE JEANS
Red, White, Blue and Khaki
The greatest struggle known to cloth.

Check the pants you're wearing. They may say as much about you, as they do about the society you live in. If you wear khakis, you probably also wear blue jeans, at least occasionally. If you're a jeans guy, chances are you'll never spend a day of your life in something as indescript as a pair of tan pants. Either way, khaki and blue, the two most well worn colors known to cloth, represent a deep division within our society, yet individually, remain worthy symbols of America.

To get to the root of this symbolic anomaly, look no further than their humble yet heroic roots. Blue jeans, indestructible work-wear produced in mass to outfit fortune hunters during the gold rush, were originally worn by those who followed the call "go west young man" in pursuit of the American dream. Khakis, on the other hand, emerged from the orderly world of the military, outfitting those who selflessly answered the call "Uncle Sam wants you" for the purpose of preserving the American dream.

This is the reason both blue jeans and khakis are all about freedom and the American way, yet they remain mortal opposites. While khakis are about discipline, dependability, consistency and conformity, blue jeans are about change, self-expression, individuality and rebellion. Jeans are more about the person wearing them, while khakis are more about what the person is doing when wearing them (this is why there will never be a market for tight khakis). In short, blue jeans have attitude, khakis are too cool to care.

Is it any wonder why a generation of cultural revolutionaries donned blue jeans bearing patches, rips and tears during the 1960's. Necessity made khakis the post war college uniform of GI's returning home from WWII. They were all they had, and besides, they worked as well in the classroom as they did in the field.

The truth is, most of us identify with both khaki and blue, at least at some point in our lives. Take a look at some old pictures of yourself,... what were you thinking? What you wear says a lot about where you are in life.

You could say that khakis were worn by the minds that built this country and jeans were worn by the hands that built this country. Herein lies the secret to our yin and yang. America wouldn't be what it is today without the kind of people who wear both. And most of us do.

PEOPLE YOU'D NEVER SEE WEARING KHAKIS. Howard Stern James Carville Jay Leno Michael Jackson Don King Abbie Hoffman The Osbornes Donald Trump (cotton ones anyway) Gandhi

PEOPLE YOU'D NEVER SEE WEARING JEANS. Richard Nixon Frank Sinatra Allen Greenspan Fidel Castro Sean Connery Walter Cronkite Margaret Thatcher The Kennedys (at least in public) Gandhi

WAR OF THE WORLDS II
On October 30, 2002, hysteria repeated itself. Radio talk show host Glenn Beck reenacted on live national radio Orson Welles’ rendition of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, fulfilling a childhood dream and remaking radio broadcast history. 64 years earlier to the day, Orson Welles stirred mass hysteria with his live dramatic radio broadcast portraying a Martian invasion of earth, all starting in the small rural town of Grover’s Mill, NJ. The original show was clearly introduced as radio theater, but listeners who missed the show’s introduction, were left to determine the true fate of the civilized world. What followed was nothing short of bazaar.

Many took to the streets, to their basements, and to their gun cabinets to protect themselves from the imminent destruction of life on earth as we know it.

This was a time innocent enough to believe in what it heard. Could it afford not to? There was no CNN then, let alone TV for a reality check. We were left to the dangers of our own imagination.

Glenn Beck, the nationally broadcast radio talk show host, is a child of radio and he lives to make radio’s once great grip on America great again. His performance was true theater, complete with sound effects created from nails on a chalkboard to old leather street shoes in bag. A reminder to us that to step forward, we must sometimes look back.

Bills Khakis was thrilled to sponsor Glenn Beck’s 2002 War of the Worlds broadcast… a reminder to us that some things are worth repeating, and some things are best when left unchanged.

Glenn Beck hosts the Glenn Beck Show, which airs on more than 100 affiliate AM radio stations across the United States. Glenn takes on any and all the issues we live with in our world today. If you tune in, expect to hear the world according to Beck. It’s a world you will find yourself nodding, sometimes reluctantly, in logical agreement. And you have little choice, because no matter what the subject, Glenn dares to tell the truth if you dare to listen.

EDWIN BASTONI
It had been 60 years and the last thing on Ed Bastoni’s mind were his days in the U.S. Army during WWII. That was until he spotted an old WWII regiment photo while browsing through a local retail store. The image, a point of sale piece we adopted to help pay homage to the heritage of khakis in America, had been borrowed from the wall of a rural Pennsylvania pub, far from Mr. Bastoni’s New England home. As he scanned the rows of servicemen lined shoulder to shoulder, memories ran to chills. In mounting astonishment, he began recognizing the youthful faces, one after another. This was indeed the regiment in which he served, but where was he?

We had only used a small portion of the shot and Mr. Bastoni contacted us to see if we had the rest of the image in hopes he would have the opportunity to identify himself among his fellow servicemen. We did have the entire image, and Mr. Bastoni’s instincts were correct. Positioned 18 servicemen from the left in the top row, was the 18 year old private, fresh from graduation from the Billings Medical School in September, 1943 near Indianapolis, IN. Sargent Edwin Bastoni served in Guam through 1946. He now resides in Newton, Massachusetts.

BILLS PROFILE: John McHale
Home Town
Detroit, Michigan

Residence
Old Greenwich, CT

Occupation
Executive Vice President, Major League Baseball

Why You Do What You Do
I love the game and believe in the Commissioner’s vision for the future of baseball.

Favorite Distractions
running, skiing, reading, and following my old clubs, the Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Greatest Risk You Ever Took
Leaving my law partners to work in baseball.

Greatest Accomplishments
1) Husband of Sally,
2) Father of Duncan, Willy, and Franny,
3) Member of the development teams for Coors Field in Denver and Comerica Park in Detroit.

Favorite Book
“Ninety-Two in the Shade” by Thomas McGuane.

Quote
“Man is excellently made and eagerly lives the kind of life that is being lived.” – Mikhail Zoshchenko.

How You First Discovered Bills Khakis
Gary Clark at Van Boven in Ann Arbor, MI. I have nine pairs!

“HAAWGISMS”
Eddie Holden (a.k.a. the Haawg), the Bills Khakis sales rep in the deep south, is famous for his stories and profound views on life…

“In baseball, why do they call it the foul line, if when the ball hits it, it’s fair?”

TOP 10 KHAKI MOVIES OF ALL TIME
The critics recognize many movie categories including: drama, documentary, short film, suspense, comedy/drama, thriller, musical, and a few others. We feel there is one more category, and it is all about everything that is khaki.
10. English Patient
9. Casablanca
8. Shawshank Redemption
7. The Hudsucker Proxy
6. Dead Poets Society
5. Hoosiers
4. Indiana Jones (you pick it)
3. Out of Africa
2. Saving Private Ryan
1. Lawrence of Arabia
Honorable Mention! Rushmore

THE REAL McCOY
If you ever were looking for a reason to try a pair of our authentic Model #1 Plain Fronts, you will find it in this picture. Yes they are full. Yes they are long in the rise and worn high on the hip. Yes, you need a bit of bravado to wear them. But so did the men in this picture. We received this picture for publication in the “Free Press” with an accompanying letter.

Dear Bills:
…“I can’t tell you how happy I am to find your product. The enclosed photo depicts Dan, my beloved dad (on the left), and his brother, Abe, in Mississippi in 1942. Dan was finishing U.S. Army Air Forces training and Abe was finishing U.S. Army infantry training. They met for a day or two on leave from their programs. Neither was a youngster – Dan was 32 and Abe five years older – but they were proud to be in uniform. I thought you may be kind enough to honor these khaki-clad “boys” in your newsletter. They certainly are poster children for the superlative garments you sell!! Keep up the good work and stay the hell in business!”…

David E. Weber, PH.D., UNC Wilmington

CENTER ICE TEAM PHOTO
This past winter, we got everyone at Bills Khakis together for a team photo at the new Sovereign Center in downtown Reading, Pennsylvania. The Sovereign Center, home of the ECHL Reading Royals, has been a huge success for the city of Reading. Facing off are founder Bill Thomas (left) and president John Dever (right). It was a relatively clean game.

GRASS ROOTS BASEBALL
Brooks Whitworth (back left) & Bill Folk (back right), of Homer Reed Ltd., Denver, CO stand behind their team “The Khakis” who finished last fall’s Southeast Denver little league season with 6 wins, & 6 losses. Casey Folk, (right) bat girl and Zen master, dons her “Khakis” uniform with pride, and we are proud of them!

A NOTE FROM BILL
Our newsletter is intended to extend a special look into our company, the people behind it, and most importantly, the personalities that really make things tick, our customers. We are looking for your letters and photographs for inclusion in our next newsletter. Tell us about your life adventures with Bills Khakis. Your contributions are not only appreciated, but necessary to create a newsletter that lives up to the above.

Contact Marge at 1-800-43-khaki or customerservice@billskhakis.com with submissions, contributions and pictures.