It’s not every day that a famous musician makes his way to eastern North Carolina.
It’s not every day that a famous musician makes his way to eastern North Carolina.
However, chart-topping musician and bestselling author Jimmy Buffett is bringing his business right here to Washington.
His most recent business ties to Washington include a custom 44-foot boat in the works with Pacific Seacraft, as well as Uniforms Galore’s custom embroidery of pillows featuring Buffett’s “Margaritaville” logo.
Zane Buckman, manager at Uniforms Galore, said the pillow contract came out of a connection with Hatteras Hammocks. Frontgate, a national catalog that is licensed to sell Jimmy Buffett items, contracted with Hatteras Hammocks, which in turn contracted with Uniforms Galore to embroider the pillows.
The “Boat Drinks” pillows feature splashes of orange and blue, with a large margarita glass in the center and the slogan, “I gotta go where it’s warm.”
“Everybody in eastern North Carolina is really taking care of each other,” Buckman said of the contract. “It’s just kind of neat, you know, when you do stuff like that.”
He said Uniforms Galore has downsized substantially in the past two decades, due to businesses moving to other countries, such as Mexico and Haiti, but the pillow contract is an example of how the company is beginning to bounce back.
“It’s cool to your other customers when they come in. It really brings a lot of credibility to yourself, as well,” Buckman said of the project. “Our business is really back on the uptick.”
Pacific Seacraft made headlines in September 2015 with its involvement in building Buffett’s Surfari 44 boat, a design created by Friendship Yacht Company.
Being a newer design for a famous client, Pacific Seacraft employees had to keep the details of it largely under wraps. Any visitors were prohibited from taking photographs of the sailboat in the works.
Buckman said he hasn’t come in contact with Buffett directly, but hopes to do so one day when Buffett stops in for a bite to eat at Backwater Jack’s Tiki Bar and Grill, a regular stop for the musician when he’s in Washington.
“It means a lot,” Buckman said.
© 2016, Washington Daily News