and my friend who’s riding shotgun has to translate the whole conversation. She says to me, “He says to take
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 9:35 am
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Show Notes
Store: Teddy Stratford
Social Profiles: Facebook, Twitter Instagram
Recommendations: Klaviyo (Shopify app), Return Magic
Shopify Fulfillment, Inventory Planner (Shopify app),
Judge.me (Shopify app)
How a run-in with a Thai police officer inspired a business idea
Felix: The idea behind the business came from a story about getting pulled over by the police. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Bryan: I was in Thailand–I had run to Thailand to get away from a hectic business situation. I had opened and closed a restaurant in Miami and I needed a break, but I was broke after the business. So I went to Thailand where things are less expensive. One day I’m driving my friend’s car through Bangkok, and this police officer steps out into the middle of the road and motions me to the side of the road. I pull over and as he’s approaching the car, I notice that his uniform looks really cool. The shirt was this slim-fit shirt. Even though he wasn’t particularly fit himself, he looked really sharp. I’m thinking, I have got to get one of these shirts.
He comes up to the window,200 baht, which is about seven bucks, fold it up, put it behind your austria phone number data license, and hand him your license.” I said, “Tell him, I’ll give him 400 Baht if he tells me where I can get one of these uniforms.” The guy of course agreed to that. I folded up 400 Baht, put it behind my driver’s license, and handed it to him. He pulled out his notepad and instead of writing me a ticket, he wrote the address to his tailor down on the notepad. It turns out the tailor was really right around the corner from where we got pulled over.
We go into the tailor and again, there’s no English. My friend is working as a translator. The guy sizes me up and realizes that I don’t look, Thai. He thought this guy can’t impersonate a police officer so yeah, I’ll make you a police uniform. He’s going through the paces of, “Do you want cuffs on your pants? Do you want this? Do you want that?” He gets to this point where my friend can’t translate, she says, “He says, do you want buttons or do you want something else?” I said, “What do you mean something else?” The guy goes into the back and he brings out two examples of shirts. One of them is a regular button-down. The other one looks like a button-down but actually has a zipper behind the buttons and I’d never seen this before.
Founder of Teddy Stratford, Bryan Davis in a blue dress shirt with the zipper design that his brand is known for.
While being pulled over in Thailand, Bryan Davis was mesmerised by the officer’s dress shirt and wanted to recreate it for the North American market. Teddy Stratford
I thought, “this is interesting. I’ll take the zipper.” I placed the order. A week later, I go in to pick up my police uniform and I’m trying it on in the fitting room and the pants fit great, but I’m really disappointed as I put the shirt on because it’s so tight. It was like a wetsuit. I was bummed out because I was looking forward to wearing my new shirt when I got back to the United States. It was so tight that there was no way that I could wear it as anything other than a Halloween costume, which actually is what I did that Halloween. One of the things that I noticed was that it’s so tight, but there’s no gaps between the buttons.
This is actually a problem that I had had wearing slim fit shirts–t
Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to Shopify Masters.
Show Notes
Store: Teddy Stratford
Social Profiles: Facebook, Twitter Instagram
Recommendations: Klaviyo (Shopify app), Return Magic
Shopify Fulfillment, Inventory Planner (Shopify app),
Judge.me (Shopify app)
How a run-in with a Thai police officer inspired a business idea
Felix: The idea behind the business came from a story about getting pulled over by the police. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Bryan: I was in Thailand–I had run to Thailand to get away from a hectic business situation. I had opened and closed a restaurant in Miami and I needed a break, but I was broke after the business. So I went to Thailand where things are less expensive. One day I’m driving my friend’s car through Bangkok, and this police officer steps out into the middle of the road and motions me to the side of the road. I pull over and as he’s approaching the car, I notice that his uniform looks really cool. The shirt was this slim-fit shirt. Even though he wasn’t particularly fit himself, he looked really sharp. I’m thinking, I have got to get one of these shirts.
He comes up to the window,200 baht, which is about seven bucks, fold it up, put it behind your austria phone number data license, and hand him your license.” I said, “Tell him, I’ll give him 400 Baht if he tells me where I can get one of these uniforms.” The guy of course agreed to that. I folded up 400 Baht, put it behind my driver’s license, and handed it to him. He pulled out his notepad and instead of writing me a ticket, he wrote the address to his tailor down on the notepad. It turns out the tailor was really right around the corner from where we got pulled over.
We go into the tailor and again, there’s no English. My friend is working as a translator. The guy sizes me up and realizes that I don’t look, Thai. He thought this guy can’t impersonate a police officer so yeah, I’ll make you a police uniform. He’s going through the paces of, “Do you want cuffs on your pants? Do you want this? Do you want that?” He gets to this point where my friend can’t translate, she says, “He says, do you want buttons or do you want something else?” I said, “What do you mean something else?” The guy goes into the back and he brings out two examples of shirts. One of them is a regular button-down. The other one looks like a button-down but actually has a zipper behind the buttons and I’d never seen this before.
Founder of Teddy Stratford, Bryan Davis in a blue dress shirt with the zipper design that his brand is known for.
While being pulled over in Thailand, Bryan Davis was mesmerised by the officer’s dress shirt and wanted to recreate it for the North American market. Teddy Stratford
I thought, “this is interesting. I’ll take the zipper.” I placed the order. A week later, I go in to pick up my police uniform and I’m trying it on in the fitting room and the pants fit great, but I’m really disappointed as I put the shirt on because it’s so tight. It was like a wetsuit. I was bummed out because I was looking forward to wearing my new shirt when I got back to the United States. It was so tight that there was no way that I could wear it as anything other than a Halloween costume, which actually is what I did that Halloween. One of the things that I noticed was that it’s so tight, but there’s no gaps between the buttons.
This is actually a problem that I had had wearing slim fit shirts–t