The Tagua Palm.
Ubiquitous throughout costal South America, these wide, medium-height palms have a very peculiar fruit. Encased in the clusters of hard, spiny pericarps are 5-6 egg-sized nuts. During the 1800s shipping companies used these heavy, nonporous nuts as ballast in their ships, consequently transporting huge quantities to Europe. It is there that local craftsmen and artists began to use this waste product, finding that it had the same hand and heft as Ivory, but at a fraction of the cost. Its popularity continued to rise until the advent of mass-produced plastics in the 1940s.
Our Sportshirt uses corozo buttons for a number of reasons: It is sustainable, has the durability of plastic, and has the same luxurious, milky feel as Ivory.
Our buttons are carved in the same design from dustbowl era workwear, the "Cat's Eye".
