April 30, 2019

One great idea. Executed to perfection.

Bailey Lauerman celebrates 30 years of partnership with the Lincoln Marathon with an authentic tribute to the man himself.

Building long-term relationships with our clients is always the goal. It creates trust and allows for creative freedom to do amazing work. This year’s concept to promote the annual Lincoln Marathon came from the 1860s. We wanted to pay homage to Abraham Lincoln as the 16th President and create a race bib representative of his time leading our country. We crafted and built a historic replica of how a race bib might have looked with exhaustive research and attention to detail, including finding the right vendor to help execute it flawlessly.

The suit photographed under the bib was from the 1920s, but we made sure that the buttonhole stitching and buttons were as accurate as can be with no plastic buttons showing anywhere. We used a Brooks Brothers shirt – a brand that prides itself historically as having been worn by Abraham Lincoln at his second inauguration and to the Ford Theatre where he was assassinated.

We hired a custom suit maker from New York to hand-embroider the bib for us. Researching the fabrics and hems that would have been appropriate for the time period, we landed on a slub-weave linen, a type of weave that has been around for centuries. To give it accurate coloration, the bib was aged in black tea.

The bib colors were inspired by the uniforms of the Union Army during the Civil War. The font for the bib was set in Clarendon, since it was born in 1845 and reflects the typography of the era and other Civil War printed pieces.

After thorough research, we learned the safety pin was patented in 1849 and the technology has not changed much since. The stylistic difference in older safety pins comes from the fact that they were used for more heavy-duty purposes at the time – pinning quilts, blankets, kilts and laundry. Pins today are made out of stainless steel, so we worked with a vendor to manipulate the silver material with extreme heat to age it and give it an iron appearance.

Actual bibs for the 2019 race feature the same information shown on our historical reproduction. For this reason, we thought it would be a clever nod to Lincoln to give him bib number 16.

We are committed to authenticity in our work on every level, for projects of every scale, and we’re proud of our 30-year relationship with the Lincoln Marathon.

To get in touch, email us at [email protected].