Just about every clothing store on the planet tends to go on sale after Christmas, but only the really bold wait till the 7th of January to announce their sale (technically, many items did go on sale on December 26th, we just didn't announce it). Without much further adieu, our SALE is on!

There are a number of returning favorites to the sale: Bills Khakis Limited Edition pants, sportshirts, and outerwear, Agave Denimsmith knits, a few Martin Dingman shoes & belts, and some Ike Behar casual shirts.

Some newcomers include our entire assortment of Fairway & Greene golf apparel, Peter Millar outerwear and some sweaters & vests, some random cigar accessories and leather goods, and select Jan Leslie cufflinks.

If you've participated in our sale before, you know that the discounts will increase over time -- we're starting at 30% off -- but our inventory is very shallow so the availability of items disappears quickly. Wait at your own risk. 

For those in the Bay Area, the San Francisco store does have a number of items that just didn't make it to the website in time, including a dozen styles of Ike Behar shirts, a few Peter Millar sweaters & vests, and some other miscellaneous items worth contemplating. Stop on by. 

Happy Hunting!

Fairway & Greene's tagline is "Respect for the Game", so I can imagine there will be some water-cooler conversations at HQ on Monday morning regarding a striptease at Doral.

After spraying his tee shot into the muck, Henrik Stenson - a real-life professional golfer - tundressed, addressed the ball, and then re-dressed for the remainder of the round. Seriously. 

Some background: in Dubai earlier this year, Stenson waded into some mud - mud sprinkled with gold flakes, no doubt - to play a shot and wound up covered with dirt. Rather than finish this most recent round looking , he decided the more prudent course of action would be to take off all his clothes except for his boxers and glove, and take the shot.

Stenson is four shots off the lead, as if that is anything people will remember about him. Read the full story from Sky Sports News here. 

Back on May 22nd, right before Father's Day, I wrote that Golf Shirts are the new Necktie. That may have been considered blasphemy so close to the holiday most associated with the necktie. I didn't cite any facts, but my gut told me there was a great deal of truthiness behind my assertion. Wouldn't you know -- 13 days later, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Men's Dress Furnishings Association -- the trade group representing American tie makers -- was shutting down.

Don't get me wrong -- everyone knows the workplace has been getting more casual. But the "death of the suit" and "death of the necktie" prognostications have been put forth every few months since the introduction of "Casual Friday" and, later, the dot-com bubble that featured billionaire CEO's in t-shirts, jeans, and sandals. The ambiguity of Casual Friday gave rise to acceptance of a golf shirt and khakis as appropriate office attire at least one day a week.

Rather than buying Dad a tie for Father's Day, we noticed more people buying golf shirts for Dad. And why not? There are several reasons why a really nice golf shirt -- like those sold here -- make a great gift:

1. Golfers and non-golfers wear golf shirts. He can wear it on the course, in the office, or both.
   
2. Golf shirts are the Goldilocks of men's shirts -- not too formal like a dress shirt; not too casual like a T-shirt. 
3. Golf shirts are versatile. They can be worn untucked or tucked in (we prefer the latter). They can be worn solo, or under a sweater, vest, or blazer. In fact, there are some sweaters that just look better over a polo shirt than they do over a collared shirt.
   
4. Subconsciously, men love golf shirts for reasons they don't talk about at cocktail parties. It evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of the fresh cut grass in the 1st tee box on a Sunday morning. 

The golf shirt is a timeless gift idea, and it seems as though it has replaced the necktie as the go-to gift for many Dads. To branch out a little, you might also consider a Mock Turtleneck (#1 seller from Oct-Dec), or add the popular Merino Wool Windsweater. You can browse our golf shirts here...

Disclaimer: there is no truth to the following post; only a great deal of truthiness.

The necktie has been the #1 Father's Day gift since 1006 A.D. A mere 1,000 years later, in 2006, NPR broke the news that the gifting of a tie for Father's Day had jumped the shark, calling the "ubiquitous but anachronistic artifact of Western culture" both "sad" and "as cliché as giving a blender as a wedding gift" (oops! is that cliché?).

With the "casualization" of America over the past few decades, the ol' four-in-hand is slowly being replaced by other gifts. In particular, electronics, tools, BBQ accessories, and gift cards are gaining in popularity, but there is one item of clothing that appears to be overtaking the necktie as the quintessential Father's Day gift: the Golf Shirt.

It makes a lot of sense. Many dads golf, and according to recent polls, a plurality of their children believe he should be wearing a shirt while doing it. Just like ties used to afford the opportunity to give Dad something with some color, so does the golf shirt. They are also both excellent gift ideas around $100. But most importantly, the golf shirt has become an accepted top for men for business casual wear (or at least for Casual Fridays). So for the Dad that no longer gets to wear a tie to work, a crisp, new, colorful golf shirt has 999 years left before it will become cliché.

And, as a reward to our most clever, loyal readers, we've got a $50 gift certificate for the comment that offers the best example of another "ubiquitous but anachronistic artifact of Western culture".

Paul Goydos and Sergio Garcia are about to tee off in the first playoff hole at The Players Championship. Of course, it happens to be one of the most intimidating holes in all of golf -- the island green on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. The two players are polar opposites in a lot of respects, most notably their clothing.

Sergio Garcia could be the only person at the course dressed all in black. Head-to-toe in black and white, with Adidas' iconic three stripes zig-zagging horizontally in some places and vertically in others.

According to the Times, Paul Goydos "is almost certainly the only pro in the field who bought his own cap". In fact, Goydos doesn't have any corporate sponsors, and that may be part of the reason he seems to be the crowd favorite. The cap he wore represents Long Beach State University where he graduated with a degree in Finance. But we noticed his affinity for Fairway & Greene shirts. The photo above appears to be the Classic Stripe in Coral, while on Sunday, he was wearing a green short-sleeve moc turtleneck. The significance of that to us and to Fairway & Greene loyalists, is that Fairway & Greene does not pay players to wear their clothes. Any professional wearing their shirts is doing it because they know it is the finest in golf.

The coverage of Goydos' unlikely rise to the top of the leaderboard involved words like "journeyman", "a ham-and-egg guy", "common man", and "comedian". He made a lot of fans this week with his easygoing nature and self-deprecating humor. 

• Exhibit #1: Asked if he was surprised to be leading, he replied: “I don't know. I've only been out here for 16 years.”
• Exhibit #2: Given the 90 degree heat, a reporter pointed out to him that the top button of his shirt was fastened on Saturday, to which replied: "Because I don't have any shoulders, this is how the shirt stays on."
  

Well, Goydos' tee shot on 17th is in the drink, and Garcia's is a few feet from the hole, so it looks like Garcia will come out the winner today. But we hope Fairway & Greene is sending him a couple shirts on the house for all the free press... 

Way, way back in 2005, when gas was only $2.50/gallon in California, I wrote of our adjacent neighbor -- Club Sportiva. Club Sportiva was the first "luxury carshare" concept, started back in 2003; today, clubs like it are popping up all over the country. In late 2005, On The Fly moved in next door to Club Sportiva, and the two companies are separated by a gate that is left open all day so Club Sportiva members can peruse our merchandise, and our customers can ogle their cars. 

But thanks to the growing legion of readers of our blog, Club Sportiva has offered to let me take some of their cars for a spin in exchange for mentioning Club Sportiva six times in a single blog. Club Sportiva. Done. The first car up was a 2006 Aston Martin DB9 in navy blue with whiskey interior.  

Let's get one thing clear: I am not a professional driver. I barely know how to pop the hood on our company SUV. If you want a detailed descriptions of horsepower or torque or reliability, you best find another blog. I will approach these cars from the perspective of someone who will appreciate how the car drives, how it looks, and who looks at you in it. Sound narcissistic? I've been called worse.

The Aston Martin DB9 is a huge car. But to me, that is quintessentially Aston Martin. The new, smaller Vantage could easily be mistaken for a Toyota sports car to the untrained eye, whereas the DB9 makes a clear statement. For this reason, I actually regret not wearing something a little more bold; I opted for a safe Fairway & Greene golf shirt & vest, Bills Khakis Chamois Cloth pants, a Mulholland Brothers Hippo Duffel in Bridle Tan and a pair of one-of-a-kind Michael Toschi wingtip prototypes to match the interior of the car. The sound of it helps as well. The engine is louder at 20 mph than at 80 mph, and it's loud in the best way possible (the beautiful roar made me snicker at the Lexus-like commercials showing a driver in the car unable to hear anything outside).

The ride was surprisingly smooth, although I enjoyed more like someone scared to death of crashing his friend's car than an owner. It accelerates well, although the paddle shifting is not as responsive as other systems I've driven in the past. Fear of fishtailing kept me from testing its cornering capabilities, but a reasonable 180-degree long, curvy onramp near Candlestick Park had me driving faster than all the traffic on the freeway way before having to merge.

Of the entire inventory of cars available to Club Sportiva members -- and you'll see the rest in the coming weeks -- the DB9 has always been one of my favorites. Driving it only reinforced my opinion.