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Seeing
Ghost
A 15-year-old local punk design company launches a new fall menswear line --
and finally gets to sell its clothes in Philly.
by Alex Richmond
Philly punk-rock clothier Dennis McHugh is sweating. Itís hot down in
the Northern Liberties basement that houses his T-shirt production company.
The heat thrown off by the screen press is considerable, but McHugh laughs it
off. "It's only this hot in August." Senior staffer Andrew Clark isnít
even sweating as he cranks out five-color Sex Pistols shirts like an automaton.
You never heard of McHugh's company, East Coast Ghost? Look on the labels of
some of your favorite T-shirts. Got a New York Dolls one, or a Sham 69? Maybe
a Clash T-shirt, or VU, or Lou Reed? Chances are that it's from ECG. You may
not know the name because until very recently, you couldn't find ECG in any
Philly stores. As of last week, ECG designs became available at South Street
staple Zipperhead.
Don't worry, though; even before the Zipperhead deal came through, McHugh wasn't
exactly hurting for business. He's always been realistic about the local market.
"Trying to make it as a designer in Philly is as hard as trying to make
it as a band." He sells to stores in New York, including six on punk mecca
St. Mark's Place. Trash and Vaudeville is the store that does the most ECG sales.
Then there are the overseas markets he's hot in, including Japan. He has a London
show in the works this year, too.
McHugh, 41, founded the company in 1988, after he worked at Skinz for a stint
in the early '80s. He recalls a batch of T-shirts that motivated him to strike
out on his own. "They had the best prints in the world, the best bands,
but they were terrible T-shirts. They fell apart after two washings. So I got
into cutting and sewing. I thought it was really cool to make a shirt that looked
like Johnny Thunders would wear it, or Keith Richards."
Some ECG shirts are reprints of Vivienne Westwood designs from the '70s, but
lots are original, like their Jolly Roger series, or the beautiful "Homeward
Bound" design, created by Topper Benton, a tattooist at Philadelphia Eddie's.
The old-school pirate ship and star design also appears on the new gauze dress
shirts with buffalo-horn buttons for fall 2003.
Yeah, that's right. Dress shirts. McHugh is also making Johnny Rotten-inspired
bondage shirts, in black and natural cotton gauze. The light, airy fabric is
offset by silvery rings in the shoulder seams. The shirts come unadorned, or
with a De Niro Taxi Driver print or a skull and crossbones. They retail for
$88 -- real punk rock clothing at boutique prices (wholesale price is $44 for
dress shirts, $9 for T-shirts). He also has butt flaps (a punk-fashion staple,
wherein a square of material is attached to the back of one's pants) in the
same gauze as the shirts for $9 and dress ties in black silk tartan. There are
kilts too, in black tartan and camo print.
Even though ECG's designs are made for the people, punk-rock icons know about
them, too. Look for Iggy Pop wearing an ECG bondage shirt in his newest video.
Joe Strummer autographed a Clash shirt for McHugh right before he died. Look
for a commemorative shirt, or at least a tribute, on the anniversary of his
death.
As if Iggy and Strummer weren't iconic enough, there are some (relatively) new-school
punk rockers that wear ECG with pride. Scruffy Wallace, bagpipe player for Dropkick
Murphys, will be wearing an ECG kilt as the band opens up for the Sex Pistols
latest (and surely not last) tour. Also new on the horizon are licensing agreements
from U.S. Bombs and Seattle rockers The Briefs.
ECG remembers their friends, too. McHugh cites Paul Green School of Rock as
a favorite local charity. He made and donated 350 shirts in natural cotton,
with an old-time pachyderm design trumpeting the school, and let them keep all
the profits. McHugh has an 8-year-old son, but he's more into karate than playing
guitar right now, even though his favorite bands include The Ramones and Explosion.
The new ECG logo is a crown flanked by swords in pewter ink -- it's regal and
beautiful, like the people who dare to wear it.
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