romper esquire romper gq

A few months ago, the crazy fashion world dipped their toe into social media land to see if viewers would name the male romper friend or foe.  A few entrepreneurial guys wanted to start a fashion revolution through their new brand “ROMPHIM.” They set up a Kickstarter campaign with the attempt at raising $10,000 to make their first run of rompers and you all, IT WENT VIRAL!!!

All over social media people shared these pictures, from GQ and Equire, to any platform you can imagine. They smashed their original goal of $10,000 and people pledged $354,804. They sold out in less than a week. Can you even imagine? Their lives forever changed by a crazy idea.

I really thought it was all a joke and maybe those frat guys were wearing their rompers in jest, but now that I see the numbers, it doesn’t even matter.

It was about that time that our son signed up for his summer class and I shared this commentary below on my Facebook page.

Trust me, you’ll want to read the whole thing because the end is the best part.

Raising adult kids is SO MUCH FUN!!! We have a blast in real life and in our family text group.  When miles separate us, it keeps the bonding alive.

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June 29, the day of our #2 son’s 22 birthday. (Read the original  comments and reactions here.) And yes, I think we need to bring back HOME EC for everyone!!

“There are times when a mom has to share her amusing moments and I know you’ll all appreciate this.

Our rising senior in college (our 300 pound football player ) has to stay all summer for workouts/summer school.

Since he has nearly finished all his required classes, there were only two choices for him during June term. One was a super hard class he didn’t need and the other was a Drama/costumes class, so being a well rounded kid, he embraced the arts. He had no idea what the class was about, but thought it sounded interesting.

After the first day of class he left me a message to call him and proceeded to tell me it’s pretty much a sewing class and his required “text book” purchase was his own personal sewing machine.

Envision this HUGE kid with the fattest fingers ever threading that bobbin like a beast. This month has been so fun as he sends pictures through in our family group chat. He named his own “designer clothing line” and can chat stitches like it’s his job.

I AM DYING!! And now I am measuring our bedroom windows because he assures me he can whip me up some curtains in no time. 🙂

He has a ton of projects completed and his final exam is sewing his own outfit.

Liberal arts education for the win!! Go Furman! hahahaha

For your viewing pleasure and proof.  This makes me so happy and I can’t stop chuckling.  I’ll post the final project when it’s done. :)”

matthew's sewing class

That’s the end of the FB post and now for the update. 

Our family has had such fun laughing along with (and at) our special guy. He’s kept us updated with pictures along with all his sewing projects. My mom, the sewer in my family, is in heaven because her grandson has been calling her to chat all things stitches and fabric. hahaha

He tried to keep his final project a secret from his class because he wanted the big reveal to be dramatic.

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YOU GUYS!!! HE SEWED HIS OWN MALE ROMPER!! All by himself!! With tons of details.

We haven’t been able to stop laughing and the fact he is having so much fun with it makes it even better.

The night before it was due, he sent us pictures at 2:00 am as he added belt loops for a touch of style. Tears streamed down my face with delight from the fact that this 300 pound guy was pulling an all nighter for his “sewing exam.” How great is that visual?

Then he sent a quick pic of the final project from his classroom, but I told him, “NO WAY. I want a full model shoot.” Obviously, I was teasing, but oh, he made his momma (and the rest of the fam) so happy when he sent these because we can’t stop laughing.

Since most of you don’t know him, understand this is SO NOT HIM, which makes it all the better. He could care less about trends and styles. You pretty much only find him wearing athletic clothes 24/7, so I love that he’s owning this.

(He was too embarrassed to have someone else take these so he did them with his apple watch timer.)

Handmade Male Romper

IMG_2510Matthew's romper

romper

family group chat

The irony  is that our eldest son, the one with the whole crazy snake, Hedge fund internship story – (read about it here if you haven’t), recently took a job with VF Corp, a leading clothing manufacturer. (They own Lee, Wrangler, Timberland, Nautical, Vans, North Face and so many more brands.)

So now our sewing football player examines all the clothes from VF to determine quality control and he also thought it appropriate to name his new clothing label “KekoMateo” (Mateo was his Spanish class name) in case his older brother wants to acquire it. 😉 It’s been a fun month in our house and yes, I still want him to sew my curtains.

The icing on the cake? Yesterday, he received his romper back from the professor , so last night he decided to wear it downtown. I’ll really need to interview him live on my Instagram story because I can’t do the story justice in an attempted retelling, but needless to say, he confirmed that he has a starring role on every girls’ snapchat story in Greenville. (It may have taken the crowd a bit to warm up to the romper, but once they did, it was a hit.) Girls wanted to know where he bought it and you can imagine their reactions when they found out he made it himself. (He does now own a clothing label. ha) *No, he didn’t want their numbers. #fashiondesigner

Then this morning, he visited the Juvenile Detention center. I can think of no better role model/mentor for these guys than someone who is so humble with all his gifting, yet confident enough to wear a crazy male romper that he sewed himself and encourage them, “Don’t worry about what other people think. You don’t have to conform to the ways of the world or fit into someone else’s societal mold. Learn to be comfortable in your own skin.”

Matthew knows who he is in Christ and is confident in who God has made him to be. He shines that for everyone around, yes, even through his sewing class. I can’t wait to see what he does during his last year of college/football. I sure hope we have more stories for you on that topic. (And I can’t wait to get the update on what the kids at the center thought of his mad sewing skills.)

Raising kids is so hard and exhausting, but trust me, sweet mommas, it’s worth the effort to invest all you have. Put the time and energy in now so you have no real regrets because we are having such a great time with our “adult” kids.

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P.S. I wish he could have gone from $10,000 to $300,000 in a week. 🙂 From fashion to the field. There’s got to be something there.

Now I’m back to editing my book, so ignore any typos above. No time to edit. It’s like I’m back to my good ole blogging days. My favorite. 🙂

Feel free to browse my Mentor Mom posts. We all need to know we’re not in this alone.