Dirty Coast brands its fans

Posted by The Times-Picayune July 24, 2008  5:34PM

Categories: Living: Fashion

By Susan Langenhennig
Fashion writer

Dirty Coast, makers of those down-home, sweet and satirical t-shirts ("Soul is Waterproof," "Iraq Needs a Contraflow," "Onward Upward 9thward") sure have some devoted fans.

In its e-newsletter on Thursday, the company offered to pay for 10 people to have its Acadiana Self-Reliance symbol tattooed on their bodies. Within minutes of posting it, 15 people had already volunteered, "including a reverend," said Dirty Coast owner Blake Haney.

As with many of Dirty Coast's ideas, this one came about organically. "It started almost as a joke, we threw the idea out there, and it made sense," Haney said. "All you have to do is imagine if it would work out, and we projected that there probably be a good response and luckily for us there has been."

"After I sent out the e-letter, I received some very enthusiastic responses from people donating various body parts."

Haney may even join the group. "I've never had a tattoo, but I possibly might volunteer as one of the 10."

Haney and Dirty Coast manager Patrick Brower now plan to scout out a tattoo artist and document the volunteers before, during and after their inking. The video will be uploaded to a new web portal they're starting this fall at www.humidbeings.com. Haney describes the new site as a "publishing platform for people who care about the city. It's not a social network; we're not a comprehensive listing service. It's a portal for the city where the majority of the content will be driven by the users themselves. We're going to give everybody the keys to the car and see where it takes us."

Probably to a tattoo parlor.