HUF X SPAM | Introduced in 1937 by Hormel Foods, SPAM luncheon meats gained worldwide popularity during World War II as a staple component of the U.S. and allied soldier’s diet when more than 100 million pounds of Spam were shipped abroad to feed troops. As it needed no refrigeration and could be served cold or cooked in any number of ways, Spam earned much praise for feeding the starving US, British, and Soviet armies, as well as civilians of the American and British homefronts during wartime rationing. Beyond its role as a food product, Spam was also important to soldiers for its use as grease for guns, its can-packaging as scrap metal, and its popularity as a trade-item among fellow troops and locals. During the war, the canned meat was also introduced to the Pacific Islands and Asia where it was absorbed into native diets, becoming a prominent part of the region’s cultural food sustenance to this day.
Since its inception, the Spam label has become a ubiquitous icon of the American landscape. Immortalized through popular culture references as wide ranging as its appearance in American-artist Ed Ruscha’s 1962 painting Actual Size (an image of a flying can of Spam beneath the Spam logo), its basis for a 1970 Monty Python sketch called “Spam,” and to its more recent adoption as a surrogate term for unsolicited emails, Spam has undeniably infiltrated the national—and perhaps world—psyche.
HUF has teamed up with SPAM this Spring 2016 to create a capsule collection celebrating this iconic label. Highlights of the collaboration include a jacket modeled after the US military-issued Marine Corps P44 Jacket produced during WWII, as well as a mesh football jersey displaying the number “37” as homage to the year of Spam’s origin. The collection also includes a 3/4 raglan, l/s tee, hat, and sock.
A war-time delicacy.
–Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister
Without Spam we wouldn't have been able to feed our army.
–Nikita Khrushchev, former Soviet Premier
During World War II, of course, I ate my share of SPAM along with millions of other soldiers.
–Dwight D. Eisenhower, former US President
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