Duke Mantee

38 minutes ago, Geeman said:

At last I can shake off the shame of poorly matching belt and shoes...😉

Thanks @Duke Mantee I appreciate the effort you put in to get to the finished piece,  very much looking forward to receiving it. 

I very much appreciate you asking and the trust you put in me - thank you very much

33 minutes ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

You've been quite busy @Duke Mantee

Not as much as you think - the earlier ones were catch up I hadn’t got ‘round to posting because of one thing or another 

One for @Geeman

Abbey England brass buckle - last foundry doing this in the UK now I think - and Walpier Buttero Rocky

1 hour ago, smoothsailor said:

In Dutch we have a saying,

”shoemaker stay at your last” 

Same saying is used here 👍

16 minutes ago, smoothsailor said:

Beautiful work Duke, do make the Japanese coin into the stud?

 

Thanks Paul … I just buy the coins ready made - I don’t have your metal work skills

Stealth mode

Wickett & Craig Harness, iguana, black and antique nickel hardware, vintage jewels and antique Japanese coin

13 hours ago, MJF9 said:

The cardigan is another beauty... what's up... has global warming reached Scotland??

Manopause

3 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

Who copped this beauty?

It’s a secret 🤫 

… but any interest in this beauty? ….  noooo not the model, the snappily named cardigan thing

More Larkin Poe-esque stuff

J&FJ Baker oak bark, silver plate buckle and antique nickel studs

2 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

Maybe they're CSF ? Looks happy. Probably chuffed he got a pair to fit 😅

 

Probably ordered them during the war and they’ve just arrived 

Walpier Buttero, Cobra, Turquoise and brass hardware

Doing loads of Larkin Poe belts is good … right?

Hermann Oak, black studs, hand embroidered cloth overlays

Another wallet - new configuration 

La Perla Azzura - Tamponato Lux, hand buffered leather

Cash compartment, 3 card slots, 2 hidden compartments and 2 ID compartments 

17 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

Thanks gents - confirms suspicions - suppose it'd have to be Easter or December holidays then to fit with school here

Same humidity as where you live with added bonus of about 8-10 more sweltering degrees of temperature 

15 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

@Duke Mantee l don't suppose you would know if the 42 pair that FW copied were a used pair or deadstock? 

Never mind, found out they are a used pair 🙂

👍

Beat me to it

43 minutes ago, chicote said:

In thinking about this, I also consider the brands’ sewing machine operators.. I know that many brands here focus on extremely accurate reproductions, but perhaps this late trend to amplify stitching ‘errors’ is an emergence of the latent artistry of the sewers themselves. I know for myself as an artist, if you put me down in front of a flower and ask me to draw it, I’ll tend to over-emphasize the curviness of the leaves and the shading of the petals over all else. That’s my own deviance from realism that I’ve found emerged subconsciously from my own artistic practice over the years, and it’ll surely be different from that of the next artist who comes in to draw the same scene. I think you can make a strong case that the sewing work done for these brands is more like factory work than like art, but I do wonder if in designing these repros whether the people assigned to come up with the sewing pattern don’t relish the chance for a little extra wonkiness, their creative touch in an industry that for the most part seemed quite a bit more rigid in its techniques. Totally not basing this off anything, just a speculation!

… in that Levi’s operatives in 1942 most certainly didn’t have the time to be artistic 

2 hours ago, MJF9 said:

Yep I wouldn't disagree with you Marnard... though I'm not sure what you're not sure you agree with

To add... my FW WW2 era jackets are far more cleanly constructed (and a different fit) than my SC or Connors repros of similar era... though I'm not sure if that's FW's design choice or they were copying a cleaner vintage specimen from that time... 

It was FW choice. Sushi doesn’t agree with the ‘wonky’ stitching for much the same reason I do. It did exist, it always had, albeit new factories and therefore new operatives (as Doc rightly says) caused some issues which subsequently settled as those operatives gained experience.

Control standards were certainly lower because Levi’s were coining it in with increased output but as with every process a level of equilibrium is established.

I just think brands are looking for extreme examples to make their mark.

In any event FW didn’t see any reason to ask a high quality factory to produce low quality work so there was only a nod to the ‘wonkiness’ … that from the factory owner.

1 hour ago, MJF9 said:

I wouldn't want this thread to unravel...

Gold rep

4 hours ago, Talan said:

Care to add some wonky imperfections to your belts?😁

😂

NEVER!

47 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

This deliberate shoddy manufacturing style has been discussed previously at great length either early on in the CSF thread or Denimbro (or both) and is a bit marmite - folks tend to love it or hate it. It’s not for me but each to their own.

I don’t think it was ever something I loved or hated, but those old discussions are old and that just reinforces my lack of enjoyment for what’s being made now. We’ve seen it done … and probably done better.

It’s a tough one though, because every label just want to sell their product and if war denim and that era is the thing they want to push then who am I to complain? After all I make a mean 30s-40s belt 😉

Honestly, I’m just seeing these exaggerated ‘machinist errors’ as a bit of a joke now. Every new effort seems to want to outdo the last one.

I know I have a slightly different view to how this ‘poor quality’ might have manifested itself originally but these modern iterations just don’t convey the spirit of wartime efforts - more like they are ‘ripping the arse out of it’*
 

*reproduced from The Dictionary of Modern Scottish Language (current edition)

10 hours ago, shredwin_206 said:

@Duke Mantee @MJF9 yea I asked if the wwii denim for the 1942 is the same as the s601 and Hoosier said no it’s a different denim. 

I’ve not spoken to Seiichiro so maybe that’s the case mate - I just remember seeing something in the catalog 

Regardless, in the matter of shrinkage, no matter what version of denim I’ve ever had (which is all of them except this - potentially) has ever experienced residual shrinkage of any concern. So that’s the question to follow up with Seiichiro.

I’m pretty sure it’s the same denim as the s601 

My war denim was non-wash … which shrank to size and stayed there after more washing. All one-wash FW I have had never shrank noticeably with repeated washes, the usual ‘tightening’ and stiffness from freshly laundered denim aside.

I doubt very much there would be significant variation.

Freewheelers Lot K470 blanket lined Wabash - size 40

Sold to a great friend 🙏