To know Sportsman’s Club is to love it. An unpretentious neighborhood bar where you can take a date for a perfectly executed old fashioned and just as easily spend an afternoon slinging High Lifes* on their sun-soaked back patio.
The vintage hunting motif may feature taxidermy and antler-adorned chandeliers, but since day one has never felt contrived or ironic. And we would know–we were there on opening night toasting our friends Jeff Donahue and Wade McElroy to their new bar, a partnership with Heisler Hospitality.
Back in 2015, we conducted a major menswear collaboration with Miller High Life where we designed a collection around the brand’s historic hunting and fishing ads.
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We were hard pressed to find a better venue to host our photo and video shoots than Sporty’s.
Over the years, Sportsman’s has served as a perennial stomping ground for industry folks to unwind after hours or throw one back with their bartender brethren on day off. Looking for a spot to meet an old friend to catch up? Duck into Sporty’s for a Lowlife and a game of checkers.
Last December, Sportsman’s Club celebrated their 10th anniversary and Jeff reached out asking if we could design an interesting merch item to commemorate the occasion. It’s seldom we get full creative license on a project, so we were stoked when the prompt was essentially “make something cool.”
The result was a fully custom satin bomber jacket inspired by the Japanese souvenir jackets of yesteryear.
Our lead designer Mike Morarity took the reins and illustrated the sportsman-themed jacket that features a 10 point buck on the back (a tine for every year in business).
We knit custom ribbed cuffs and collars displaying the Sporty’s brand colors that adorn their iconic bullseye logo.
The game birds perched throughout the bar’s interior flock the jacket’s quilted interior, and we even added an antique brass zipper as a subtle nod to buckshot.
*Sporty’s happens to be the #1 High Life seller in the state of Illinois
**a High Life and a shot of whiskey or a pull from their amaro machine
