MUSIC ICON BOB MARLEY INSPIRES CLOTHING LINE; Tuff Gong Clothing

Not a typical tee-shirt collection of licensed images, Tuff Gong Clothing may be one of the first of its kind: a well made, stylish, designer collection, where good design is more important than a trend. Tuff Gong Clothing is not designed as memorabilia for concertgoers, but the kind of clothes the people behind the label wanted to wear themselves and could not find. The collection is made of the finest quality materials and labor in both the US and the EU.

Tuff Gong Clothing is the brainchild of Rohan Marley, Bob’s son and former Football Star, and partner Stefano Aldighieri, former Creative director of 7 for All Mankind and design director for Levis Strauss & Co. The duo met through mutual friends. After realizing they share the same values and aspirations, the decision to create the collection came naturally.

The introductory collection includes men’s denim, shirts, tees, athletic wear, and outerwear. The line offers a range of styles such as “aged”, faded, and boot cut jeans, cargo pants, elbow patched, and snap button denim shirts, multi pocketed military style jackets and bombers, as well as easy-fit sweatpants and jerseys. “We wanted a timeless collection that reflects my father’s taste and style without compromising the beliefs he lived by”, says Marley. Aldighieri adds “While the inspiration is cleary vintage Marley, the execution is modern, contemporary line of high quality garments. We are more interested in Bob’s message than in the simple imagery”.

Details include the embroidered lion, and the symbolic colors of red, gold, and green, which are inconspicuously detailed throughout the collection, and used in the stitching of the garments. Jeans are broken down into three fits; easy, classic and legend. Hems are “aged” to give the look of a well-worn and comfortable pair of Jeans. Welt pockets, leather riding knee patches, and large bellow pockets further add to the vintage feel that runs throughout the collection. Unique to the jeans, rather than style numbers, Tuff Gong Clothing utilizes lyrics from Classic Marley songs such as “Sun is Shining”, "Hit me with Music”, and “Hope you like Jamming Too”, to name a few.

The collection seamlessly blends the various categories allowing the wearer to easily mix and match the tees with cargo pants, aged denim, athletic wear, or military style shirts. The color pallet for Spring 2006 is military green, faded blue, white, yellow, green, khaki, and gold. The line will be available in stores such as Atrium and Bloomindales November 2005. Tuff Gong Clothing price ranges include $200 to $215 for tees, $325 for outerwear, $200 for shirts and sweatshirts.

Tuff Gong Clothing is a part of the Marley Family of companies. It is the name of the record label founded by Bob Marley in Jamaica in 1965. The company was named by Bob Marley after a nickname from his youth—Bob was affectionately called “The Gong. And “Tuff” you had to be to survive in the music business in Jamaica. The company, with offices in Kingston, New York and Miami now includes a record label, recording studio, a manufacturing plant, and more.