45 Is a Special Number

45 is a special number at Club Med.

The first full working week of the year is drawing to a close, so I feel like talking a little about holidays…

I have written several times about how much my wife and I enjoy staying at Club Med resorts. One of my posts was about the unusual neon dress code often used for Club Med’s nightly parties. Another common dress code is built around the number 45. So what is that all about?

In 1995, Club Med celebrated its 45th anniversary in grand style. Among other things, it released a limited-edition range of T-shirts featuring the number 45. People loved them, and they flew off the shelves. Management decided to produce another batch, then another, and another…

The names of individual resorts began appearing on the T-shirts, and people started collecting them. Over time, the range expanded beyond T-shirts to include shorts, caps, bags and much more.

In 2000, Club Med tried launching a collection of T-shirts featuring the number 50, but it was not nearly as successful. People saw it as a copy of an inimitable original and kept buying the 45 shirts instead.

P.S. T-shirts with the number 45 are not popular at Club Med resorts in Asia because the digits 4 and 5 are considered unlucky. A separate collection featuring two eights—88—was created for the Asian market.

P.P.S. I own five or six T-shirts with the number 45 from different Club Med resorts. The one I treasure most is the shirt I bought at Club Med Turkoise in the Turks and Caicos Islands.