NEW ORLEANS — Once upon a time a Tulane law school student who didn’t want to pursue law decided to enroll in a business class.
From there, the young entrepreneur decided to create a limited edition Jazz Fest poster that he could turn in to collectors’ items, back in 1975. That young entrepreneur created one of the staples for Jazz Fest fans to collect.
“In 1991, we did a poster of a guy wearing a shirt and Quint Davis said to me, ‘Ah the poster is O.K, but that shirt is really great!’ And I said, You know I can’t really find a shirt I like, because in those days it was all polyester and it’s a little hot for polyester out there, so I said, ‘You know what, I’ll make the shirt!”
Now, 42 years later, Bud Brimberg has one of the biggest products at the fest, with customers worldwide. Shirts evolved into dresses, blouses, skirts, aprons, and umbrellas.
“We sell about 1,000 items a day! That is a huge volume for a one week period,” said Brimberg.
“Each one is kind of triggered by whatever is going on at the time. So in this case, this year’s classic Jazz Fest poster was The Meters! So The Meters had their hay day in the 60s and in to the 70s, and of course in those days there were no C.Ds, there was no streaming. There were records, vinyl records. So the design sort of followed the concept of the poster, but it doesn’t always,” said Brimberg.
Bayou Wear is all made in the U.S. with the exception of the fabric. Brimberg collaborates yearly with artists who can bring his visions to life. The products can be found at Jazz Fest in Congo Square at the vendor village, or online.