FAYETTEVILLE — Jesse James arrived in Fayetteville on Thursday for two days of Bikes, Blues & BBQ and plans to promote his clothing line Sunday afternoon at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
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 he thinks he's attended eight rallies here.
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 appeared on 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 histrip 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 everyday 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-Mart price," 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 and glovestyle pockets, 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 and it slides off. And they're priced so well."
A couple of weeks ago, James went through his own closet and donated 37 pairs of Dickies to a shelter near his Long Beach, Calif., home, so he's fully switched to his own brand.
A new line of industrial work wear 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 hard-working," James said.
James will also appear at the Siloam Springs Wal-Mart Supercenter on Saturday afternoon.
News, Pages 1, 6 on 09/25/2009