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Meshach Babcock is getting his vest back.
Last week, the 23-year-old metal bassist from Oregon City found the prized piece of clothing he lost three years earlier behind glass in a Ralph Lauren display at Macy's flagship store in New York. Metal blogs picked up the story, then KATU and Rolling Stone. And now, The Guardian is reporting that the vest is coming home.
After a photo of the display surfaced on a Facebook page dedicated to Nasty Savage, one of the bands whose patch adorns the vest, Babcock contacted Macy's to negotiate its return—which the store agreed to do, provided he could authenticate ownership.
"Basically, I just told them all the patches that were on the back—that was a clear indication because there's no pictures [of the back] online," Babcock told The Guardian.
A spokesman for Ralph Lauren confirmed that the vest has already been taken down from the display, and will be returned to Babcock next week.
There is still no confirmation on how it even got there in the first place—the spokesman would only say it was purchased from a third-party source.
Now that he's getting it back, though, Babcock might have to make good on a promise he made, if he were to ever reunite with his sacred garment: to skydive naked, wearing only the vest.
Willamette Week