Greenville native delivers new shirt to Columbia

Allen Stephenson delivers new shirts, his own brand of shirts. Under the name Southern Tide and under his skipjack fish logo, Stephenson is supplying 26 stores in his native South with what he calls "the most well- made polo shirts available."

A few years back, Stephenson, 24, was a biology major at USC taking a business marketing course. The course required a mock- up of a start- up. Southern Tide's skipjack logo was the result. Stephenson left school to jump- start the business full- time. Shown here is two year's work.

After a study trip to Italy, mostly Milan, Stephenson thought he understood how to put out a product and how to go global. To be sure, once he had his product's prototype, he bought four polo shirts: (1) vineyard vines, (2) Polo, (3) Burberry, and (4) Lacoste.

He studied the four and compared them with his Skipjack. The following characteristics he found unique to the Skipjack:

Material

The cloth of the Skipjack had a cool- flow characteristic, a micro- pique knit brushed soft on the inside. The cotton fabric and its elasticine inclusion allowed for a shape retention and a color retention long after the first few wears. The shirt was stretchable; 94% cotton and 6% elasticine.

Length

The Skipjack had the longest length of them all.

Arm holes

Double- stitch lailoring on the arm holes prevented any splits.

Buttons

The Skipjack's buttons were double- sewn. There's even an extra replacement button sewn to the washing instructions tab.

Other characteristics were shared by only one or two of the comparison polos, such as laserengraved buttons, embroidered logo, as opposed to a sew- on, encased placket, Columbia

and a drop tail.

Now there's a Gamecock fan's shirt, a garnet- colored polo, but the swatch sample sheet calls the color "Chianti."

In the works are a new khaki pants and a nose- billed cap, not for fishing or baseball, but shading for the nose.

Just last March, Stephenson delivered his first shirts to his first store, M. Dumas on King Street in Charleston. Soon after M. Dumas, Britton's on Devine Street in Columbia took its first order.

In the early '30s, La Société Chemise LaCoste gave its Lacoste polo in irresponsible quantities to René Lacoste, the world- famous French tennis player of the late '20s, one of the Four Musketeers. Lacoste was called Le Croc, for crocodile. The sew- on logo was a crocodile, not an alligator.

Rene Lacoste handed out his eponymous shirts wherever he went; New York, Paris, Nice, Rome, London, Wimbledon, everywhere. Soon enough, society players at tennis courts, golf courses, and club houses were photographed in their Lacoste polos. Soon enough, everybody wanted one.

It could happen again.