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| THE ORIGIN OF THE
JACKET: A legend was born 24 years ago...
"Who is Dennis Daigle?" has been a question posed by the makers of DennisDaigle.com for some time. It has been a conundrum of sorts; an enigma that many presumed would never be unravelled. 'Dennis Daigle' was reborn a few years back - resurrected from obscurity. His tan leather jacket was discovered (in a retro-corner of a small second-hand clothes' retailer in the United Kingdom, of all places!), along with his identity-tag label proclaiming "This jacket belongs to Dennis Daigle." This much we knew, this much you knew too... until now.  Evidence has come to light, in an amazing twist of fate, that has 'rocked' Dennis' world; the original owner of the infamous jacket - that inspired a writer's pen and brought about a web-empire - has finally come forward with the truth about the origin of the jacket. It is time to meet The Real Dennis Daigle! Dennis D. Daigle, or '3D' to his buddies, is alive and well and residing in the very place where the legendary jacket was made, Wisconsin, USA. Yes, Wisconsin: miles and oceans away from where the jacket would be found years later. Although, we weren't always far off the trail of the owner of the jacket; when following up leads many years ago, DennisDaigle.com tried the telephone number, printed on the coat's inside-label, in Florida, USA. It was a gamble but the digit code appeared to be North American. On this occasion, the number only led to a dead end, reaching a local bar. Nevertheless, the makers of DD.com weren't far wrong - if only they had looked a little higher up the coast... Near Howards Grove, Wisconsin, is the home of Mister Daigle, and the birth place of the jacket was just up the road. "I remember when that jacket was made. I actually took tanned hides from a local tannery in Sheboygan over to the tailor's home." This was back in 1978. Unbelievably - and ironically - Dennis came across DennisDaigle.com while searching the web. "About two or three months ago, the 'Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel,' in Wisconsin, ran a story in regards to a funky search-engine called 'Google.' It stated that if you type your name in parentheses and asked it to search, it would find any articles associated with your name on file. "So, a few months ago I did just that," 3D told DD.com. "Up popped your site! I read the story and took a look at the pics of the jacket. It looked very familiar because it was custom-tailored and I also remembered the initials on her tag." 3D then emailed our Dennis Daigle, and the rest was history. Imagine finding a site on the Internet inspired by you and - before that very second you clicked on the link - you weren't aware that anyone, except your friends and family, even knew your name. 3D tried to put his surprise in to words: "WOW! No Way! I think this is really cool. This is just too incredibly surreal to be true!" 'Surreal' and 'true' rarely go hand-in-hand, but if the Daiglemeister is involved, quite often the rules fly right out the window... Now you might be wondering how we are so damn sure that this guy is telling the truth. Couldn't he just be another publicity hound?! Well, of course, we can prove it. 3D knew intimate details regarding the jacket, including the never-released address of the original owner (himself) scrawled on the label. Keeping that info a secret guaranteed that we could one day screen potential Daigles. So, there you have it, The Real Dennis is the real deal.  Next, the people want to know: 'Who is the real Dennis Daigle?' Is he a teacher, mechanic, brain surgeon...?! 3D was all too happy to oblige the many questions that arose from this bizarre coincidence. "I'm in my early forties. I used to be a general contractor (residential construction). However, I'm currently working as a carpenter for a large commercial contractor in Wisconsin. Although, I wouldn't mind being a brain surgeon..." But, how did the jacket come to arrive in a little second-hand shop in the UK? "That's a great question! I have never been to the UK, although I would like to go there some day." When did you last have the jacket in your possession? "Well, in 1997, I remarried," 3D revealed. "In the spring of 1998, my new wife and I were moving and she had a moving/garage sale. What she really wanted to do was to get rid of anything that reminded her of my ex-wife, ie: old, out-of-style leather jacket. But much to her dismay, no one bought the jacket! "She then donated the jacket to 'Good Will' - a local charity-type thrift store. And that's the last I've seen of it..." In a cruel twist, the real Dennis has no memento of his old jacket. He was the victim of a flood in August of 1998, in which "almost all of my old pictures were washed away." Yet, the jacket's legacy is far from forgotten.  Dennis D. Daigle will always be the first owner of the jacket, but was there a second, a third...? How many owners have there been? In how many different countries and cities? How many wacky adventures and wild times has that old tan leather jacket been a part of?! Most importantly, will the current owner be its last? Who knows? All that is clear is that the mystery will never be completely solved until all of the jacket's previous owners have come forward with their stories. The story now has a beginning, an origin; and the writer behind DennisDaigle.com hopes you agree that we've only just begun. And more - email received from an interested reader - (1) From: "Nicole Daigle" Subject: crazy so anyhow i was bored one day and i just started typing in different people's names and i decided to try my dad's name. Well anyhow this site came up so i clicked on it, and crazy enough i think this is really my dad. The story i think sounds familiar, but anyhow i was just writing because i think it was pretty interesting that something like this could happen. Sincerely Nicole Daigle (Dennis's daughter) (2) Thanks for replying. Anyways i am like 99.9 percent sure this is my father. I talked to my mom (his ex wife) and we are going to look and see if she has any photos of him with the jacket that she gave him on. I'll see what i can do, but i bet we can find at least one picture. I am from Plymouth that is where my dad is orginally from but now he has moved and is living in Sheboygan with his new wife. I will try to remember to tell him hi when i see him. Have you guys talked or just emailed? How did he actually find out about this? Is that on the site? Anyways thank you for emailing me back it's kind of neat how this all happened. Have a wonderful day! Nicole If you thought that you were the proud owner of The Leather Jacket then Email the Editor now. |
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