Checker denim shirts - A look back to the wild 80s
Imagine: The air is electrified by the sounds of Mike Oldfield, Alan Parsons and Foreigner storming the charts. It's 1982, and while these musical titans are rocking the stages, an Italian called Mario Antonio Mazzola has a completely different mission. He wants to shake up the fashion world. With the aim of creating the most comfortable and stylish shirt of all time, he founded the Checker brand. Originally, it was to be called Compass - a name that would make an international impression. But fate has its own playlist: During a phone call from Germany, Mazzola learns that Compass is already taken. In a taxi in New York, in one of those magical moments, he spontaneously asks if the name CHECKER is available. And lo and behold, it is. A new fashion phenomenon is born.
The Checker shirt, with its eye-catching mother-of-pearl press studs and cool topstitching, sparks a real fashion craze in Europe. Nobody can escape the trend. The term "it-piece" may not have existed at the time, but today the checker shirts would undoubtedly be considered as such. Quality had its price, and so parents were begged, grandparents pleaded and pocket money saved until the coveted item was hanging in the wardrobe - or better still, could be taken out to the trendy clubs, then known as discos.
In the evening, when you undressed, you casually clicked the press studs open, or - even better - someone else did it for you. It was a wild time. No mobile phone cameras, no social media. "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." You had to be there to experience it - live and in colour. Speaking of colour: these shirts came in almost every colour imaginable, not forgetting the cool denims. While the shirts got soaked from dancing, the mums cursed the unruly seams when ironing them. It really was a wild time.
But as with many trendy brands of the 80s, Checker also reached its zenith at some point. After selling half a million shirts a year in high-end boutiques, buyers' tastes gradually changed.
gradually changed. The former cult denim shirts turned into business shirts. Olive became white, two open buttons gave way to ties. And, as it happens, Raider became Twix.
Mario Antonio Mazzola finally retired and enjoyed the sun on his nose in his new home on Mallorca. For a few years, it was all very well. But the longing for the shirts, the brand and the lifestyle didn't die down. On the contrary, the calls got louder. So loud that they even reached the distant Spanish island where the fashion icon Mazzola was enjoying his retirement.
Another person who heard this call was the fashion entrepreneur Jörg Messerschmidt from Essen. Together with the Italian visionary, the German manufacturer of customised clothing dreamed of reviving the Checker brand. The charm of the past with modern cuts and top quality - that was their vision.
A new start in 2023
In 2023, the time had come: the duo Mazzola and Messerschmidt brought Checker back onto the fashion stage. The cult brand of the 80s returned to European wardrobes with an exclusive, high-quality collection of selected styles. The Checker success story? It continues, now more vibrant and stylish than ever. It's a return to the roots, paired with the best that modern fashion has to offer. The rebirth of a classic - ready to conquer the next generation.
Checker denim shirts - A look back to the wild 80s
Imagine: The air is electrified by the sounds of Mike Oldfield, Alan Parsons and Foreigner storming the charts. It's 1982, and while these...
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Checker Denim Shirts
Checker denim shirts - A look back to the wild 80s
Imagine: The air is electrified by the sounds of Mike Oldfield, Alan Parsons and Foreigner storming the charts. It's 1982, and while these musical titans are rocking the stages, an Italian called Mario Antonio Mazzola has a completely different mission. He wants to shake up the fashion world. With the aim of creating the most comfortable and stylish shirt of all time, he founded the Checker brand. Originally, it was to be called Compass - a name that would make an international impression. But fate has its own playlist: During a phone call from Germany, Mazzola learns that Compass is already taken. In a taxi in New York, in one of those magical moments, he spontaneously asks if the name CHECKER is available. And lo and behold, it is. A new fashion phenomenon is born.
The Checker shirt, with its eye-catching mother-of-pearl press studs and cool topstitching, sparks a real fashion craze in Europe. Nobody can escape the trend. The term "it-piece" may not have existed at the time, but today the checker shirts would undoubtedly be considered as such. Quality had its price, and so parents were begged, grandparents pleaded and pocket money saved until the coveted item was hanging in the wardrobe - or better still, could be taken out to the trendy clubs, then known as discos.
In the evening, when you undressed, you casually clicked the press studs open, or - even better - someone else did it for you. It was a wild time. No mobile phone cameras, no social media. "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." You had to be there to experience it - live and in colour. Speaking of colour: these shirts came in almost every colour imaginable, not forgetting the cool denims. While the shirts got soaked from dancing, the mums cursed the unruly seams when ironing them. It really was a wild time.
But as with many trendy brands of the 80s, Checker also reached its zenith at some point. After selling half a million shirts a year in high-end boutiques, buyers' tastes gradually changed.
gradually changed. The former cult denim shirts turned into business shirts. Olive became white, two open buttons gave way to ties. And, as it happens, Raider became Twix.
Mario Antonio Mazzola finally retired and enjoyed the sun on his nose in his new home on Mallorca. For a few years, it was all very well. But the longing for the shirts, the brand and the lifestyle didn't die down. On the contrary, the calls got louder. So loud that they even reached the distant Spanish island where the fashion icon Mazzola was enjoying his retirement.
Another person who heard this call was the fashion entrepreneur Jörg Messerschmidt from Essen. Together with the Italian visionary, the German manufacturer of customised clothing dreamed of reviving the Checker brand. The charm of the past with modern cuts and top quality - that was their vision.
A new start in 2023
In 2023, the time had come: the duo Mazzola and Messerschmidt brought Checker back onto the fashion stage. The cult brand of the 80s returned to European wardrobes with an exclusive, high-quality collection of selected styles. The Checker success story? It continues, now more vibrant and stylish than ever. It's a return to the roots, paired with the best that modern fashion has to offer. The rebirth of a classic - ready to conquer the next generation.
