"Stevie Nicks is no longer relevant"

[Tango]

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/7...ubaz15.article


FASHION | Remember those zebra-striped workout pants? Well, Zubaz are back in gyms again



January 15, 2008
BY LISA DONOVAN [email protected]
Chicago radio sports guy and pitchman Chet Coppock was working out at the East Bank Club a few weeks ago when he spotted a man wearing those zebra-striped balloon pants popular with scores of personal trainers circa 1989.

Certainly he wasn't in some time warp where it's 1991 and he, Scottie Pippen and Jesse "The Body" Ventura are standing around some weightlifting gym, dressed in their Zubaz and talking about the release of "Thelma & Louise."

Believe it or not, the sporty Zubaz (pronounced ZOO-buzz) are back on the market.

"By God, if they are back, the first time I see a pair, I'm going to buy one," Coppock said in a recent interview. "The other day when I saw that guy wearing the Zubaz, I wanted to say, 'With all due respect, "Miami Vice" is no longer on the air and Stevie Nicks is no longer relevant.' "

It isn't clear if the man at East Bank was wearing the new Zubaz or the old; the only way to tell these days would be to look at the ankle cut of the pants. The old-school pants have a severe taper, while the new have been let out by 2 inches for a looser fit.

"We used to hear that as a complaint by some people -- that it's something they didn't care for," Zubaz co-owner Dan Stock said of the ankle cut. Stock and Bob Truax started the business in 1988 from their Roseville, Minn., weightlifting gym. They gave the pants the name Zubaz -- '70s gym slang for "in your face."

"It started out as a gym piece of clothing. It was for big guys -- guys with big legs who couldn't find a pair to fit them," Stock, 48, said during a recent phone interview.

The elastic-waist, drawstring pants grew in popularity and took off once Stock and Truax obtained the licensing to use NFL, NBA and college team colors and logos. By 1991 it was a multimillion-dollar business.

Even Billy Joel's crew, in town for a performance in the Twin Cities, loaded up on Zubaz way back then. Stock recalls sending a box of them either in the late '80s or 1990s to Coppock, a radio sports personality.

Stock calls Zubaz a type of fashion, but is not blind to the snickers they draw.

"We know people make fun of them. We'd hear people come in and say 'they're hideous.' We're not trying to set the [fashion] world on fire; we just sell these crazy pants and they're fun."

Adds Coppock: "I kind of see them as what bell bottoms were to the late '60s."

But he admits the pants are more than a little cheesy.

"They're almost camp. I mean, were they a little outlandish? Yeah. And I think they made a statement when you walked in a room."

Their popularity had waned by the 1990s, but Stock and Truax decided last fall they would introduce Zubaz via the Internet, where you can now get the the unisex, zebra-striped pants, in six colors, exclusively at www.zubaz.com. They're priced at $29.99.

Stock says they've had enough success that hats, T-shirts and shorts may be available soon.

Even though he's excited about the prospect of getting a new pair, Coppock, who wore the pants everywhere from the gym to Gibsons back in the day, says he won't be digging through the closets to find an old pair.

"As big as my butt has gotten over the last 10 years, I doubt I could fit in them," he said. "And my girlfriend says she'll leave me if I wear them."