Cool basque clothes

The fierce basques have of course created their own cool clothes brands. If you like bull fighting or rugby or T-shirts with colourful prints, have a look!

Quinze is a clothing brand created by the famous rugby player Serge Blanco. The clothes are especially appreciated by bigger sized men, like the handsome rugby players. They are mostly in a casual style, but you find dressy suits and pants too.

Another rugby brand is Eden Park. The name comes from a mythical rugby arena in Auckland, New Zeeland, where the first Rugby World Cup was played. It is also the home arena for the team All Blacks. The founder of Eden Park, Franck Mesnel, played that first World Cup in 1987 when France met New Zeeland. He belonged to a group of five very talented and mischievous rugby players who liked to attract attention. One of their many pranks was to put on pink bows at every final game, which is why the brand uses a pink bow as a symbol.

I must mention that these two brands are the two favourites of my husband. He likes rugby and he likes the clothes. Big parts of his wardrobe come from these two brands.

The founder of Paseo, Jacques Siaud, is born in the astrological sign of the bull. He created his brand with a stylized bull as a symbol, with a link to the corrida and the basque culture. My husband has several nice shirts of this brand. Jean-Marc, the graphic designer for Paseo, quit Paseo to create his own brand, Ruedo.

The brand 64 was created in 1977 by Denis Wargnier and Olivier Mauroux to make T-shirts for their friends. Their original and funny prints pleased more than their friends and the brand quickly grew to a million dollar industry. The brand name 64 refers to the number that identifies the Pyrénées Atlantiques region, for example on the car registration plates.

The brand Kukuxumusu – the flea’s kiss in basque - was created in Pamplone during the bull festival 1980. Three friends got the idea to sell souvenir T-shirts to earn some extra beer money. They thought the T-shirts on the market were not very fun and a main identifier for the Kukuxumusu brand is their fun and crazy prints.

Biper Gorri was created in 1999 by Helene Mendibour, a young woman of 28 years, who already had experience from the textile industry and from marketing. Biper gorri means red pepper in basque and it is often used as a spice in basque cuisine. The brand quickly gained in notoriety, a lot thanks to a very original packaging: the T-shirts are put in preserve tins and the baby clothes in milk powder pots. In the design you often see pottoks, the basque mountain horses.