Cashing In On Kerouac

While the literary set continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the fashionistas are joining in on the fun. Neatly tucked in to every post-college kids backpacking across Europe adventure bag -- and most likely on your bookshelf -- the dharma bum bible just keeps on giving.

Now it's giving the tres chic SoHo shop, Hogan, a new way to cash in on nostalgia. The store, an Italian leather company, is "celebrating" the anniversary with their Jack Kerouac Project. The Project offers beatnik-inspired fashion for prices the author himself would never pay, putting this on par with the equally absurd Kerouac Bobblehead of '03. The Village Voice reports that a travel bag goes for $1290, work boots for $475 and a leather bomber jacket for $1,590. The company explains the line is "a clear reference to Jack Kerouac's mood and sensibility to which Hogan strongly relates, captured in the rugged and original preppy nomad appeal."

If you think Kerouac is rolling over in his Lowell, Mass grave, the Voice assures us that given his "late-in-life embrace of capitalism" he'd actually be more likely to endorse the Hogan line. They also remind us that in comparison to the $15K Johnny Depp paid for an old raincoat of owned by the author -- this Hogan stuff is pretty cheap! This also isn't the first time Kerouac and fashion have mixed (see: Gap ad at left).

If you want a more authentic, and inexpensive, way to revisit the novel -- as we mentioned last time the original scroll will be on display at the New York Public Library from November 9 to March 16 as part of their Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road exhibit.