That’s right, he’s back and he’s ready to dole out some holiday punishment!
The Krampus 2.0 fez features the nefarious strong arm of St. Nicholas' good behavior racket on the front and a basket-bound pair of adolescent ne’er-do-well marks on the back.
Now, I personally loath the premature Holiday exploitation that has become so common - I can often be found screaming obscenities at Christmas products on display in mid-October – and this is why I have normally been resistant to making Holiday fezzes as the design work would have to be done so far in advance if there was any hope of getting the fezzes out in time for the celebrations. I can barely plan a week in advance let alone months ahead.
However, against all odds, back in 2009 we introduced our first "Holiday" fez, and being the cynical bastards that we are, it of course featured the Krampus, the Victorian devil associated with St. Nicholas. It was initially done on a lark and we only had it available for about a week that December but the fez made an impression and it has continued to be one of our most asked about designs each year as the days begin to get shorter.
After 3 years I felt it was time to return to the sketch book and update the Krampus. I wanted to maintain the basic idea of the original graphic but with a fresh take, so I decided to do a new sketch from memory instead of digging up the original. You can see how my embroidery style has changed over the years and the new Krampus is a great example of that.
The new Krampus 2.0 will be available for pre-order until Krampusnacht on December 6th at which time he will take his birch branch, his rusty chains and a basket full of naughty children and scamper back to the netherworld until next year.