40th year anniversary of Ramon Puig Guayaberas
Thursday June 28, 2012, 6:00pm to 9:00 pm
24 W Flagler St.
Miami, Fl 33130
RSVP to gpineres@creativasgroup.com

Louis Puig cordially invites you and a guest to the 40th year anniversary of Ramon Puig Guayaberas and the unveiling of the new Ramon Puig Guayaberas store in Downtown Miami.There will be music, open bar courtesy of Bacardi, catering by Mena Catering and Cigars by Oliva Cigar Co.

6:00pm Ribbon Cutting presentation by Mayor Tomas Regalado

Featured Charity Partners
Neat Stuff for Kids-Sharing Smiles- GMCVB

This month marks the 40 year anniversary of the Ramon Puig brand here in South Florida. Established by the now late Mr. Puig, the legacy continues with his son Louis Puig. The reputable and world famous clothing brand will not only celebrate four decades of style, but also a new location this Thursday June 28th 2012, from 6:00-9:00PM. The festivities will highlight the revamped brand via a by-invitation Grand Opening of the new Downtown Miami store location and include a presentation by Mayor Tomas Regalado.

Ramon Puig opened his first guayabera store in Cuba in 1943, in the ancestral home of the garment, Sancti Espiritus, the city of his birth. Since he was a child, Puig showed an interest in tailoring and once of age, he learned and developed his skills under a local tailor, and opened up his first shop at the age of twenty-three. Soon after, he married a local woman, Juana María, and taught her the skills he had developed so she could assist him in his burgeoning business.

His attention to detail, cut, and style soon led customers all over Cuba, the Caribbean and South America to coin him “el mago de guayabera” (The Guayabera Magician). The guayabera shirts he designed made of crisp white linen, slimmed customers’ waistlines and added to their appearance a look of elegance. As his reputation grew, Puig drove to the major cities in Cuba to take client’s measurements, and then made the return trip to personally deliver his custom fitted guayaberas.

In 1968, Puig departed his country and arrived in Miami, with his wife Juana María and his then eight-year old son, Louis. In 1971 Puig was able to open his first shop in Little Havana, next to Versailles restaurant and thereafter a larger one, further west on Southwest eight street. Rapidly making connections in Miami’s Cuban and Latin community, he built his business into an International success with client celebrities, actors, athletes and musicians such as Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia, Alex Rodriguez, Alonzo Mourning, Ice Cube as well as every US President since Ronald Reagan who began sporting Puig’s authentic guayaberas. Reagan toured Miami wearing Puig’s garments and rechristened “El Mago de las Guayaberas” as “El Rey de las Guayaberas” (The King of the Guayaberas).

Due to the precision folds, cuts, and attention to detail, the Ramon Puig Guayabera has become synonymous with cool. The comfortable and versatile garment, appropriate for business meetings, social gatherings, family events, and daily casual- wear gained current day popularity. Maintaining traditional value of their ancestral homelands, the younger Miami sector, being the pulse of fashion, has embraced Puig’s authentic garments as the style for social activities, including nights out on the town at Miami’s trendiest spots, and even as a fashion for wedding ceremonies, with “guayabera weddings” becoming the recent trend in the nuptial scene.

This uptake of the guayabera into the fashion world has led to renowned publications like GQ Magazine to name Ramon Puig “the master of the guayabera” and the “greatest guayabera maker”. Beginning on June 28th, an exhibit at History Miami will pay homage via ”The Guayabera: A Shirt’s Story”. This exhibit will explore the changing uses and significance of the guayabera and the guayabera’s evolution from a guajiro shirt in the late 1800s, into a fashionable piece of contemporary menswear. On display will be historical examples and photographs of the shirt that highlight its changing uses and significance over time, its construction and the tailors, fashion designers and tradition bearers who have played an important role in its stylistic development. Puig’s scissors which he smuggled out of Cuba and his original 1940’s guayabera will also be on display.

Today, Louis Puig is carrying the legacy of his father. “We must embrace the past and understand the direction of the future in order to be successful. We have added updated styles, fabrics and colors to further expand our existent inventory and please our wide customer base. This new store exemplifies the new direction we are taking our brand while remaining true to the dedication and pride my father had for his craft. For almost 70 years we have made the best and most authentic guayaberas in the world, I am proud to continue my father’s legacy.”