ABOUT BENT BANANI
Bent Banani tailor-makes to order 100% cotton floral shirts for men, ladies, & kids. Simple.Everyone has a story, so if you really want to know 'about us', sit back relax and enjoy the read, otherwise at anytime please refer to the first line. Job Done!
Bent Banani doesn't take your hard earned cash and blindly stuff shirts into an envelope 'off the shelf', no way! We only stock the 100% cotton fabric from which your floral shirts are tailored with loving care and attention before being warmly packed and posted to wherever in this wide bright world you live. That's the end of it, but it all started with that lovely colonial game of cricket!
I have followed Australian Cricket around the world since 1995 to every country the team have competed. Having seen almost 300 matches, the game has taken me to amazing people, cities, cultures, and societies of 6 continents. My life has been priceless (metaphorically speaking) without mentioning the affordably brilliant shopping in the markets of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka where on each yearly visit since 1996 I've had two floral shirts tailored. As bright and colourful as they were, none compared to the shirts crafted in Bangladesh. With more than 200 incredible fabrics to choose from I had 30 shirts created on my first visit to Bangers in 2006 and 30 more in late 2008. Wearing these around the world, people stopped me in the street, on trains, at the cricket, in airports, on bars, outside pubs, and lazing at the beach to ask where they too could get one. Too many people asked for this not to be an opportunity in the stitching so to satisfy public demand and save you a lengthy and testing trip to Beautiful Bangladesh, I ventured to Bangers late 2009 and created Bent Banani. Besides the awesome fabric, what makes Bent Banani unique is that we don't have a factory mass-producing shirts that everyone can buy ('thank god for that' I hear you say), instead your shirts are hand-tailored from fabric bought from the same market I bought my originals in 2006 & 2008 with the longest fabric stretch only producing 12 mens' shirts, and only if I can buy that much. Sometimes a new fabric will make only two shirts.My fabric gurus in north Dhaka venture to the wholesale markets of Islampur in Old Dhaka once per week to buy the newest floral fabrics created for the colourful Bangladeshis, and I buy it from them at full retail price. Admittedly some fabrics aren't what I would wear (as they are just too damn quiet), but I just want to give you a choice of something to love or hate and if you like it then that's made it all worthwhile.
Sometimes we run out in a flash and sometimes one fabric will stick around longer than we'd like but there will always be plenty of choices for your rare shirt. And you'd also be happy to know your shirt stays rare because when a print colour is sold out we can't get anymore! Bangladeshi fabric makers simply punch out whatever psychadelic hallucinations enter their design programs week after week, and you wear the result!
Knowing all this you should also be pleased to know each shirt keeps six of my Bangladeshi friends employed, including the 3 jovial lads that work the market stall I buy your fabric from, the outstanding Shima & Uttam whom collect & lovingly dispatch your shirts, and the wonderful master tailor of Devtech Associates.And so you know we operate outside the commercial box, Devtech Associates only employ disadvantaged artisans whom beautifully hand craft cotton (such as your shirts), silk, jute or leather using traditional handicraft skills. Devtech offer their artisans healthcare, education, advance payments and a saving scheme thus your shirts do more than just colour your wardrobe! Saying this, please read how we help other charities and if you need further encouragement to buy our shirts, please read these awesome testimonials.
I believe that covers the pre-history of Bent Banani so without further, as I have the awesome fabric I just need your size to create your colourful and casual cotton shirts (and pyjamas, boxers shorts, ladies sleep shirts, ties, and staff uniform if you ask nicely!), all cut, stitched, and dispatched to order. Awesome!
So all this said, check out our fabrics and please do Get Bent (Banani), Luke
Oh yeah, so what's in a name? My cracking brand combines the term BENT defining the patterns and colours, which are not so straight down the line, with BANANI, a suburb & lake in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
