BERKELEY, CA—In
the midst of one of the worst economic spells in the nation's history, a
company with its sights set squarely on the future is raking in cash by adding
a simple four-letter word to hundreds of thousands of pieces of memorabilia
from America's
past.
"You may be too young to remember," Gordon Sayles,
68, said as he used a tiny camelhair brush to put the finishing touches on a
40-year-old, faded and threadbare tie-dyed t-shirt. "But decades ago,
people were different. When they heard something coming out of the newspapers
or the TV or the White House that they didn't like, they'd get out in the
streets and let everyone know it. But times were different then."
Mr. Sayles blew on the t-shirt to hasten its drying, then
held it up for all to see.
"Looks like it could be hanging in the window of a head
shop in Haight-Ashbury!" Sayles said,
chuckling. "Summer of Love!"
Above the original message of "Question
Authority," Sayles has added the word "Don't" in such a way that
it could only be assumed to be part of the original product.
"And it ain't just shirts," Sayles confided.
"It's jackets, posters, bumper stickers, pins, VW buses and Beetles. Just
about anything with that hippie crap on it. It's like people just want to
forget it ever happened!"
Mr. Sayles made over $10 million last year,
exclusively on the west coast. But he's not hiding his plans for expansion.
"We're expecting to corner the Northeast market in the
spring, and by summertime, we hope to set up shop in the Valhalla
of hypocrisy," Sayles said.
