FAYETTEVILLE — Jesse James arrived in Fayetteville on Thursday for two days of Bikes, Blues & BBQ and plans to promote his clothing lineSunday afternoon at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on West Sixth Street.
James said Wednesday he'll be riding a custom Harley-Davidson in Fayetteville this week and is looking forward to a cruise to Eureka Springs. The founder of West Coast Choppers said hethinks he's attended eight rallies here.
His wife, Sandra Bullock, isn't coming along, James said, as "one of us has to stay home and work." There won't be a Choppers booth at the rally this year; James said the booths don't provide adequate space for a full display of bikes.
James builds custom motorcycles and cars, is a restaurateur and is known for television series such as "Motorcycle Mania" and "Monster Garage" on the Discovery Channel. He appearedon the second season of "Celebrity Apprentice." His show "Jesse James is a Dead Man" premiered on Spike TV in May and features his death-defying stunts.
He also launched a clothing line at Wal-Mart featuring long-wearing, affordable work clothes called Jesse James Industrial Workwear, which is part of the reason for his trip to Fayetteville this week. He'll display the newest clothing items.
James is proud of the clothes and wears them himself.
"I'm a clothes destroyer. My name's on the pocket, and I wear this stuff every day and get filthy. It's taken seven or eight years to get to this point, where it's fine, heavy-duty, industrial-quality clothing at a Wal-Martprice," he said.
Manufacturers and vendors want to give minimum quality, putting extra pennies in their pockets by making an inferior product - and that wasn't acceptable, he said.
The line's industrial-wear men's pants, for instance, are triple stitched, have a gussetted crotch, glovestyle pockets and wider belt loops and are made with an especially thick 8.5-ounce fabric.
"I've been wearing Dickies for 25 years, and I asked, 'How can I make them better?'" he said. The pants have a Teflon coating, "so you can spill stuff on it and it slides off. And they're priced so well."
A couple of weeks ago, James went through his own closet and donated 37pairs of Dickies to a shelter near his Long Beach home, so he's fully switched to his own brand.
The full clothing line can be found on the Internet at jessejamesworkwear.com.
A new line of industrial workwear for kids is also available.
"It's the cutest stuff I've ever seen, kind of like old Toughskins when I was a kid. These are clothes that last and can be passed on to the next child," he said.
James is also working on cuts to fit women.
"I've gotten an earful from ladies, saying they work hard, too. These will make women proud to be hardworking," James said.
James will also appear at the Siloam Springs Wal-Mart Supercenter on Saturday afternoon.
News, Pages 1, 11 on 09/25/2009