Today we launch the Mechanical Aid Shirt, our first drop for AW/23.
Our friends at Nama Denim made them on vintage workwear machines, just down the road from us. They’re inspired by Maggie Gee; a pilot, researcher, and physicist who served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II.
We will be doing weekly launches of the new collection over the next month.
Inspiration behind the AW23 collection
We’re thrilled to introduce you to our AW’23 collection, “Flying in Crosswinds”. W’menswear collections have chronicled the lives of many pioneering women throughout the 20th century. A third generation member of a migrant story, Gee’s grandparents uprooted from Guangzhou to call America home before she was born. Growing up, she looked forward to her family’s weekend trips to the airport in Oakland, California. There, she would look out for aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, in awe of her accomplishments. With the US involvement in WWII, Gee’s plans to study physics in college were put on hold. She saved up money and moved to Nevada to learn to fly, which she did, earning her pilot’s license within six months.
After the disbandment of the WASP program at the end of the war, Gee re-enrolled in college to earn her physics degree at a time when women were underrepresented in science fields. Not only did she earn both her Bachelor and Master of Science in Physics, she began working in Berkeley’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where she spent the rest of her career.
Maggie Gee, 86, of Berkeley, left, is shown in an old photo of her time in the WASPs on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009, in Berkeley, Calif. (File photo by Jane Tyska/Staff)
