New Orleans' brand Haspel has been keeping folks cool for more than a hundred years and their Seersucker Short-Sleeve Shirt continues the tradition.
New Orleans' brand Haspel has been around for more than 110 years and knows a thing or two about clothes made to keep you cool when it's hot and muggy. I grew up there so believe me when I say August in New Orleans is no joke. Seersucker, as mentioned above, is an outstanding fabric for summer. Haspel's version is made in Italy from 100% Cotton and comes in a range of patterns, including traditional stripes. The solid colors—there are four choices—are a nice alternative if you're looking for the benefits of seersucker fabric without a pattern.
It's getting hot out there! The Haspel Brothers company, founded in New Orleans in 1909, designed this seersucker suit to help keep their customers cool in the 1950s. The company's founder, Joseph Haspel, originated the idea of making men's suits out of lightweight wash-and-wear cotton seersucker material, which ultimately led to seersucker becoming the quintessential southern man's warm-weather suit. A 1950s Haspel suit is one of the artifacts included in the exhibition "We Love You, New Orleans" in the Cabildo.
Men's seersucker suit, Haspel Brothers, Inc., ca. 1950. Gift of the Crawford Family, 1966.060.145a–b.
Every year in June, on a warm and sticky Thursday, senators arrive at work looking like they’ve come straight from the Kentucky Derby. Gone are the standard dark suits of the winter months. Instead, they wear seersucker.
Walking the halls of the Capitol, they project a sense of gentility and ease. Why yes, they seem to say, this fabric is 100 percent cotton. Why yes, it is extremely cool. Why yes, these tiny stripes, blue and white and vanishingly thin, kind of make your head spin. Now let’s all squeeze together for a bipartisan photo op.