Hamilton Shirts doesn't always go for the emaciated model type

Even with the era of "heroin chic" left in the dust of the 1990s, it's still de rigeur for an apparel brand to book a card-carrying Beautiful Person to wear its clothes for an advertisement. (Never mind that the model is usually half naked anyhow.) So, kudos to Houston-based Hamilton Shirts for leaving that tradition under the tires. The model in this promotional piece, recently mailed out to announce the launch of the company's new 1883 collection, may lack Xavier Carrar's chiseled jawline (and his 30-inch waistline) and Jamie Dornan's pecs, but who cares? This dude—R.H. Hancock is the name, son—has something none of the pretty boys can hope for: authenticity. "We were looking for a real customer," says Hamilton's owner David Hamilton. "Hancock was a rice farmer, and a customer of ours in the 1950s." (On the larger image here, you'll notice the monogrammed initials—they appear below the shoulder because Texas rice farmers used to work with their sleeves rolled up to the elbow.) The lesson: Brand differentiation wears many faces, and sometimes it takes an XXL.

—Posted by Robert Klara