mtchfrnk

I was wondering--it's come up that your jeans company, Deadgrass Overalls, is named after one of the early color options offered by Levi Strauss & Co. Is that right?

I think I also remember you writing that when you found the tool-pocket pants, possibly early Levi's, you thought at first it was just a handful of dead grass. Or something like that?

Anyways the recurrence of that phrase, "dead grass," made me wonder if there was any connection to your company's name. Maybe just a coincidence?

great proportions as always mate ^^^ one superpower I guess is having great legs:torso ratio

As far as I know of every pair has the selvedge fly. I think they're all overlocked too, or at least mine is. Also, the one leg of my pair the selvedge line is barely noticable on the front, but definitely noticeable on the back. It kinda looks like the actual edge warp slightly as is covering the selvedge line.

I thought the overlocked selvedge fly was weird too when I saw it at SENY. I think it's because the fly piece is cut and folded along the selvedge. The one edge won't ravel, but the raw edge opposite it will. When the piece is folded in half to make the fly, the selvedge edge is on top of the raw edge and the two are overlocked together to prevent the bottom edge raveling, even though the selvedge doesn't need it. That is my theory.

great proportions as always mate ^^^ one superpower I guess is having great legs:torso ratio

As far as I know of every pair has the selvedge fly. I think they're all overlocked too, or at least mine is. Also, the one leg of my pair the selvedge line is barely noticable on the front, but definitely noticeable on the back. It kinda looks like the actual edge warp slightly as is covering the selvedge line.

I thought the overlocked selvedge fly was weird too when I saw it at SENY. I think it's because the fly piece is cut and folded along the selvedge. The one edge won't ravel, but the raw edge opposite it will. When the piece is folded in half to make the fly, the selvedge edge is on top of the raw edge and the two are overlocked together to prevent the bottom edge raveling, even though the selvedge doesn't need it. That is my theory.

Thanks for posting the o'alls, William! I am so stoked on seeing them again in person. Probably will pick them up this weekend, and take more pictures of them then.

Someone somewhere should use that primordial indigotin soup to make really interesting arts...I'm picturing a phantasmagorical sculpture of gray mud clay mixed w/indigo, or a big installation of a tank filled with turpentine and indigo (the two phases would stay separate, but ripple beautifully when agitated, and the indigo would degrade over time), or maybe just some kind of painting. And the indigo would fade under gallery lighting!

PS. Attentive viewers will note the difference in shape and scale between Tender Co 132s and the slimmer cut for SS'11:

Nice comparison culled from William's lookbook by denimaniac blog.

another tradition

Only bad part about Maine is it's too cold for venomous snakes. Laaaaaaame.

"Jungle Fever" theme IN AFRICA?!? That is warp-speed inappropriate. So inappropriate it travels through a wormhole backwards into totally perfect.

If you end up going to the upper midwest, swing by Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Welsh miners are cool and everything but give me a good Cornwall boy any day. The pasties are nice, too.

I had always assumed that fabric wouldn't survive the humid climate up there too well. Mines in the great lakes basin flooded regularly. However I can vouch that there are still dry goods stores up there with very very old stock.

In my experience, up there's a weird mix of cowboys and Carhartt country, so I would expect blanket lined duck and Wranglers.

Denim belt that we found. Mike assumed it was a belt, I would tend to agree. It looks like the perfect length to be able to tie around the waist. It is basically two long slices of denim from the leg of a pair of jeans tied together

That's a fisherman's knot. In the olden days, it was used to repair broken fishing line because it binds well and is easy to tie with wet/cold hands. It's a super easy knot--just two overhand knots, each tied around the standing end of the other line. The two knots pull together and bind up into a single knot. It's less useful now because it doesn't work well with plastic monofilament lines.

These days you see it more often on friendship bracelets.

The slideability (so to speak) of the two knots lets you adjust the size of the bracelet to fit your wrist. I bet it worked pret' much the same with that miner's belt. If it were me I'd've used two blake's hitches instead of overhand knots. But that's just me.

A few photos from my trip to MN last weekend.

Jim THome hit two home runs this game. Overtook McGuire I believe.

MN State Fair. This cow got borned just as we walked in. Very cool. After deep investigation, the vet announced it was a twin! Very rare for moo-cows. There was a round of applause, the cow spooked and tried to run away, and it took four strapping 4Hers to get the old girl to chill.

I really like livestock.

The Twins! (Fitting innit. Twin Cities &c.)

Freshly fried donuts get my deepest recommendation. Best Thing I ate all weekend.

I took essentially the same picture as -Z-, probably at exactly the same time. Gotta love light thru smoke. (I agree, his photo is better).

Y'all been noticing the natural chromexcel shoes popping up? They look really interesting to me but I'm not an early adopter kinda guy. I want to see whether the leather has merits beyond newness.

But anyways it's all over the place. Theshoemart has several makeups. Leffot recently got press for an indy boot in natural chromexcel, and I found this photo, attributed to them, floating around Styleforum:

Also Unionmade is offering preorders on natural chrmxl indy shoes. Anyone know of any others?

Floyd, the NE sales rep from Alden, came into the shop I work in last week. I talked his ear off. He had a swatch of the leather on him. I would describe it as dusky tan. Pull-up as hell. Very unformal. To my eye, it looks like a color that should be suede...but isn't. Still on the fence whether I like it or not. Seems like it may be the Alden "thing" this year, like barrie-last "work" boots were last year. Or the ranger moc / indy shoe might be. Who knows.

prepare the neg rep:

Is it just me, or is most of Mr. Freedom stuff really ugly, anti-fit un-classifiable non-repro-repro?

I guess I would say that it's not just you. But then I would say (even though it's never not pretentious to say this) that maybe you don't get what he's trying to do.

I think that the fits are an important part of MF's outsider-art aesthetic. Not that Loiron is an outsider, but that the characters who make his collections are outsiders (in many ways).

Many of the fits have plenty of historical precedent but aren't especially fashionable right now. For instance the 1940s trouser silhouette of the Rider dungies. Not too diff't to Bill's Khakis or the Dickie's 1922 work chinos that are floating around the internet.

"Non-repro-repro" is exactly what Mr.F is about. I have never been able to find this exact quote after first reading it, but in an interview Loiron said that he wants to make "historically plausible" clothes, but not historical reproductions. Hence all the song and dance about a merchant sailor having tailors make his clothes at every port, or a group of brothers starting a motorcycling apparel line. The uncompromising faithfulness to these characters and accurate historical production makes me respect the line as a piece of art and Mr. Loiron as an artist. Even if I never buy a piece of the collection I still appreciate that.

Also, that same stubbornness about period-accurate fits and construction make it MUCH more believable when Loiron talks about "classic style," as opposed to all the companies that make "classic clothes with updated fits." If it's already classic, why change it? (I'm objecting to the rhetoric, not the practice.)

And finally--some of the clothes are really weird, I totally agree. Really, really weird. But interesting!

I woke up at 5:45 this morning from an anxiety dream. I had dreamt that my vintage Foremost type-1 style jean jacket was actually made by Bugle Boy in the 90s.

noooooooooooooooo

Love the over-the-shoulder glares. "What did you just say to me, cowboy? You lookin to get your ass kicked?"

EDIT: go to Eltopo's blog, www.banditphotographer.com, to see excellent construction & denim pictures. Outstanding work, man!

I am so there.

Xpost from what are your jeans doing...

My Warehouse 484 were at the ER.

Are you elevating the injured member, or pointing at that annoying kid behind you?

That bump you heard was the price dropping to $200.

^^Looks like D'artisan. Are you pitching some kind of soft sell here, Switch? If so, I am interested.

I want to give some love to probably the best workshirt I own, this popover made by Steven Alan. Although SA is a major part of the untucked-shirt axis, they really made an effort to do this one right.

Note the low, moderately sized pockets.

IRL the chambray is significantly more gray/violet. Best detail IMO are concealed collar buttons--after a wash, they leave circular imprints like the collar snaps on a worn A-2 jacket. I will try to take pictures of this some time.

I really love Alden and workboots and workboots by Alden. But I hope that this doesn't become the "Alden & Boots" thread. Surely people wear shoes besides these?

Being a poor workingman, I don't wear anything but boots, really (or else I would put my money where my mouth is). Although I do need to buy some shoes to wear for my brother's wedding. Any non-wingtip suggestions are welcome!

I'm totally not criticizing all of the boots and Alden shoes, and I'm definitely not calling out anyone in particular. I just think this thread could use some biodiversity.

That fool's trousers are great. Do we think they're denim? [Edit: the fool I am referring to is the first steelworker on the prev. page]

Also here's a third (or fourth or whatever) voice chiming in to say, "I think that's just how they made 'em." All my old Ohio-farmer-thrift-store shirts have 'low' pockets. In fact I've thought it's kinda weird how chest pockets seem to be creeping up towards the shoulders. Cf. 3sixteen work shirts--very, very high pockets. Not bad, just noticeable. I think I have also noticed that period cowboy shirts tended to have higher pockets than steelworker shirts. I wonder what the functionality was, there.

And jake431 writes in the vintage/military thread that these are a reproduction by MASH. Thanks Jake!

Cross-posted w/the vintage denim thread. Trying to get some knowledge thrown at these pants.

I bought these denim trousers on eBay. I assumed they were Buzz Ricksons or some other reproduction, due to the apparent similarity to BR Officer Chinos.

But now that I got them, I think they may be the real deal. There is no label besides this, sewn above the back right pocket:

And these sewn-on metal buttons:

As per this website, 1941 was the last year that denim work uniforms were used in the army (phased out by HBT). The tag has two dates: "Dated Aug. 8, 1941" and "Dated 8/8/40." So that adds up.

Additionally, the back pockets have selvedge edges:

Which led me to notice the significant gray cast to the denim. It seems that the weft threads are either pure gray or marled gray/white.

This reminded me of two vintage denim aprons from my collection, both of which have gray or marled wefts. Dungaree selvedge on left; apron on right.

Dungarizzle on left, apron on right. Note the broken weft thread, obviously quite gray.

I'm not suggesting that the trousers' denim was milled by the same people as the aprons', just that grayish denim was common in the period. (Is it still? I don't know.)

So it seems like these could actually be from 1941. That would be pretty cool.

On the other hand, they are in such good worn condition that I find it hard to believe they're 70 years old. In my experience, vintage pants are either deadstock or worn to pieces; much rarer to find blue jeans gently used. Also, the date on the tag could obviously be fabricated; and gray-weft denim could be much more common and contemporary than I know.

Any experts care to weigh in? Did these pants fight nazis?

One last picture. These are the right front pockets. The side pocketbag is on top, watch pocketbag on bottom. The watch pocket is so big! If you look at the first picture, you can even see its outline through the front of the pants. What did GIs need to fit in there? Also note the indigo stains on the white cotton.

In any case, they fit me like spanish boots of spanish leather, so I'm'a wear them out to buy groceries right now.

I know, right? So killer. Serial killer. Probably too good to be true.

Another point for period-correctness: I have also noticed that many repros have selvedge ID lines even when it isn't period-appropriate. I guess people want to see the "redline." You don't see much ID-less selvedge except from the period.

Hope springs eternal...

I bought these denim trousers on eBay. I assumed they were Buzz Ricksons or some other reproduction, due to the apparent similarity to BR Officer Chinos.

But now that I got them, I think they may be the real deal. There is no label besides this, sewn above the back right pocket:

And these sewn-on metal buttons:

As per this website, 1941 was the last year that denim work uniforms were used in the army (phased out by HBT). The tag has two dates: "Dated Aug. 8, 1941" and "Dated 8/8/40." So that adds up.

Additionally, the back pockets have selvedge edges:

Which led me to notice the significant gray cast to the denim. It seems that the weft threads are either pure gray or marled gray/white.

This reminded me of two vintage denim aprons from my collection, both of which have gray or marled wefts. Dungaree selvedge on left; apron on right.

Dungarizzle on left, apron on right. Note the broken weft thread, obviously quite gray.

I'm not suggesting that the trousers' denim was milled by the same people as the aprons', just that grayish denim was common in the period. (Is it still? I don't know.)

So it seems like these could actually be from 1941. That would be pretty cool.

On the other hand, they are in such good worn condition that I find it hard to believe they're 70 years old. In my experience, vintage pants are either deadstock or worn to pieces; much rarer to find blue jeans gently used. Also, the date on the tag could obviously be fabricated; and gray-weft denim could be much more common and contemporary than I know.

Any experts care to weigh in? Did these pants fight nazis?

One last picture. These are the right front pockets. The side pocketbag is on top, watch pocketbag on bottom. The watch pocket is so big! If you look at the first picture, you can even see its outline through the front of the pants. What did GIs need to fit in there? Also note the indigo stains on the white cotton.

In any case, they fit me like spanish boots of spanish leather, so I'm'a wear them out to buy groceries right now.

Yeah! Cuteness incarnate!

I've added the following photo for its historical interest.

Rock fans will know the guitar work of James Williamson...

And here he is, having shared tea at the Dorchester with the nipper...and whether david Bowie or Iggy Pop was a better dad. It was hilarious.

So who came out on top in that discussion?

[Quite a diff't question from "who was on top..."]

[Referring of course to the rumored affair between the Igster and Bowie]

I agree...I really don't have anything against Jake Rew (although I understand the people who do). It's more to do with the fact that I'd rather give experience points (ie $$) to the "good guys." Of course, I wouldn't kick the green one out of bed for being on sale...

POSTSOAK (and hemmed)

I'm getting a little tired of cuffing, so i hemmed these to fit me exactly.

What a great fit mein bruder. Looks so good.

Say moi to Bono for me.