Franco Pants

The “Franco Pants” are one of the more memorable pieces of surplus for Banana Republic, first listed in 1983 and resurrected in 1985. The story told in the text is that the pants were designed by the Spanish dictator himself and the distinctive bullseye pattern stitched into the rear end was there so he could distribute swift kicks to the ass of his soldiers. Whether this is true we cannot say, as Mel Ziegler was a fan of tall tales regarding Franco, all the way back to the founding of Banana Republic and the famous “Short-Armed” shirts.