A Fish Out of Water
San Francisco artist Peter Federico has always loved Japanese design — especially the popular Japanese fish kites called koinobori (“carp streamers”), traditional symbols of success that families fly above their houses on Boy’s Day (May 5).
Koinobori hung above Peter’s bed as a boy; they hang above his bed today. Does Peter dig koinobori? You bet.
In fact, he wanted to create a garment that looked like one. A garment that could transform a person into a koi fish — as much as possible without genetic modification, that is. So, after more than two years of planning, he teamed up with Betabrand to create the limited-edition Koi Hoodie.
We started off with thick and cozy 100% cotton fleece. A local printer painstakingly silkscreened Peter’s tri-color carp design — the colors were precisely formulated to match those of an
actual koinobori — onto pieces of hoodie fabric that were then sewn together in our little S.F. sew shop. For a final touch, we added a red satin “fish mouth” hood lining.
So Betabrand ended up with an astoundingly cool hoodie, as beautiful as it is wearable.
Each hoodie features a screen print of Peter Federico's rich, colorful koinobori design.
And Peter? He got a crash course in the garment industry and probably quite a few headaches along the way. But we all agree it was more than worth it.
We made just 90 Koi Hoodies, so they won’t stay around for long. Order yours today.
