Chris Cognac and His Shirts of Many Colors
Thursday, November 09, 2006 | posted by Mike
Tune in to any episode of The Hungry Detective and you’re guaranteed to see two things:1) Chris Cognac walking down the street while talking into the camera. (It’s a slightly faster version of the walking/talking routine done by local news reporters. Seriously, is this something they teach you when you go to TV host school?)
2) Chris Cognac wearing a memorable shirt of some sort.
I saw a message board post about the shirts and wanted to know a bit more. It turns out that Chris has been wearing the print shirts for quite a while (when not wearing his police uniform, of course) and that he gets them from High Seas Trading Company. The shirts, including the prints seen on the show, can be purchased from the High Seas site. Click on the pictures displayed in this post to see a larger version of the shirts.
Terrill Agnew runs High Seas Trading Company. According to Mr. Agnew:
I spoke with Mr. Agnew about becoming the official outfitter of The Hungry Detective.This company began in 1988 making casual beachwear. We had always made surf related clothing and a few aloha shirts. About 12 years ago we stared experimenting with novelty designs for our aloha shirts and our line has grown ever since. We have 13 collections of shirts in our line with over 125 prints total for 2006. Our specialties are tropicals, automotive prints, patriotic, Culinary, and novelty prints. We are among the 5% that still manufacture in the USA. This enables us to do small limited edition runs of specialty prints as well as oversee the quality control. All shirts are California made and feature matched pockets, authentic coconut buttons, double stitching and are made with premium combed cotton or cotton/rayon blends. Our beginning in the Culinary designs were the Chile, Sushi, and wine prints.
TVFoodFan.com: First, can you just tell me a little bit about how you got in touch with Chris and how you came to be his shirt "provider of choice" for the show.
Terrill Agnew: Chris has been a customer for at least 5 years. He started buying from us I guess because we are the one of the few companies that makes cool culinary designs and they also fit his personality. After a few years he sent us articles of what he was doing with the paper and we began to sponsor his efforts. Long before he got the TV show he was “working his beat” with the same enthusiasm he does on the show. He said he was working on trying to get a show on the Food Network and asked if I would provide shirts if he got the show. I said yes and a few months later he was successful in getting the show and they got the pick of the showroom.TVFF: Can you tell me a little about what it was like to see your shirts on the show?
TA: Actually my first thought was that I was impressed with the production quality of the show. It was great to see the shirts on the show especially because it is in association with Chris’ show on the Food Network which has quite an enthusiastic following. I also think he shares the same philosophy as us in terms of spending time to uncover the hidden gems and also he steers clear of the hype and focuses on the authenticity and quality which is what we strive for in designing our products.
TVFF: Third, how much interest in your shirts have you seen since the debut of The Hungry Detective?TA: It is hard to tell because people don’t always tell where they have seen our products. Chris has said that he and the networks have been receiving e-mails which is exciting and some friends have called as well.
TVFF: Finally, are there any plans to do any sort of "signature line" or "As seen on The Hungry Detective" promotions for the shirts that Chris wears?
TA: No, not yet. At this time they are still busy filming and we haven’t talked of anything yet. It would be an interesting line though because he likes a wide range of styles.
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So, there you have it. As I said, if you’re interested in seeing the full line of shirts available, be sure to check out the High Seas Trading Company site.
But…High Seas doesn’t make all of the shirts that Chris wears on the show. There’s an interesting story there, so be sure to keep an eye out for that post soon.
Labels: Chris Cognac
