Hearne: ‘Negro Leagues’ Fashion Lineup to Debut Saturday

I know, I know, it’s early…

Still there’s something eerily familiar about the Kansas City Royals being in last place again already.

Don’t get me wrong; I know that the conventional wisdom is this is the team’s year. Finally. It’s just that it’s too good of an excuse as a segue into some non-baseball baseball talk.

Baseball fashion, to be exact.

And who isn’t pretty much always up for a bit of chat about the Negro Leagues and Buck O’Neil?

Which brings us to tres hip Crossroads men’s clothing manufacturer Method. By the way, it’s no accident that I ended that last sentence with the company’s name. Because Method. is how the three year-old “Kansas City Haberdashery” has chosen to spell its name. Kinda like the band Fun.

See, I did it again.

And to – figuratively speaking – throw out the first pitch this spring, Method. has unleashed a Negro Leagues Collection, “Designed exclusively for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.”

Method. describes the line as a take on the “off the field style of Negro Leagues Baseball players and the 1920’s” and will donate “a portion of sales” to Kansas City’s the Negro League Baseball Museum.

And this Saturday, Method. will travel to Lawrence, Kansas and debut the collection at trendy downtown fashion retailer Hobbs from noon to 4 p.m. Which should give baseball fans plenty of time to make it to a television set in time to catch the Royals play the Phillies at 6:05 p.m.

“We’re doing a launch of Method.’s Negro League Collection here in Lawrence,” says Hobbs buyer Shauna Swanson. “They are a store in Kansas city that does real minimal stuff and they collaborated with the Negro Leagues Museum and the Buck O’Neil Foundation to bring out this line of clothing and we’re going to carry it here in Lawrence.

“For example this year the team of inspiration is the Kansas City Monarchs. And we’re carrying a reversible vest that on one side has a purple lining and the other side is khaki. So it can be worn either way and has the traditional Monarchs logo on both sides.

“The cuts of their clothes are based on what the styles were when the Negro Leagues were hot in the 1920s. Overall, I would classify it as a modern day collection that pays homage to the Negro Leagues.”

Again, the Method. wilding goes down at 700 New Hampshire this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

Hey, you never know. Maybe Method. model Jabulani Leffall  – the tres strange and now estranged KCUR FM host will show up and slap on a pair of those $65 Negro Leagues khaki shorts.

Stay tuned.