Jeans of the Old West: A History

[Rivet Head]

I think the white labor is more geared towards anti-asian sentiment in the west. It is much like anti-hispanic sentiment now.

I agree, but still pretty openly racist....of course, alot of the people wearing them felt the same way hence their marketing campaign. Saw the same thing on a pair of Can't Bust Em' recently:

http://www.vintageworkwear.com/2011/05/early-1900s-cant-bust-em-overalls.html

[killer b]

people were openly racist in the 19th century. i suspect such a tag would be as uncontroversial then as 'made in the USA' now...

[Paul T]

I agree, but still pretty openly racist......]

Yup, but it's very different from the attitude towards African Americans whose political advances after the Civil War were soon rolled back - itinerant men, away from a plantation, were likely to be thrown in jail. With the Chinese, the concerns were different, more about wages being undercut.

For instance, what does Union Made mean? Does it mean not exploited by the management? Or does it mean One Of Us - and therefore not Chinese?

[cheapmuthafukr]

With the Chinese, the concerns were different, more about wages being undercut.

sounds oddly familiar...

[Paul T]

sounds oddly familiar...

Indeed. You guys probably get it all the time with the Mexicans. I get it all the time with the Poles. and I'm like, Hello, wtf do you think my surname came from?

[flatpattern]

hello, enjoyed these forums, also enjoyed the book. I worked in the Barbary Coast area and would always look for receipts in the different shops. I enjoy the handwriting and seeing what people were purchasing and for how much.

While reading your book I noticed I have a receipt that was close to the Levi's store that you might be interested in seeing. Its a cigar shop dated 1888. they must have moved to this location because there is a label affixed over the other address which you can read as 200 + 202 Battery St. N.E. corner California.

cheers

[Sansome1877]

Thanks for sharing your billhead flatpattern. My wife and her father, were turned on to this book while visiting a Neustadter family member, up in S.F.

The illustration shows where the cigar shop would have been. On a side note, our new book will have the 1903,1905, 1906 and 1908 Levi catalogs... Thanks to the Bancroft Library.

[Sansome1877]

Note... Levi's expanded offices in 1895.

[Sansome1877]

[flatpattern]

thanks for posting and photographing the book pics. very interesting, looking forward to the next book.

[bluegoldblues]

Sorry to butt in on this so late, have been away...

I am almost certain that the 'made from white labor' tags are not racist at all,

It was an ethical standpoint to promote the fact that they did not take advantage of slave/cheap labour.

Great pics Mike Thanks! Also noticed your book for sale in Present.

When is the next inventory mag with your stuff getting released?

[Paul T]

Sorry to butt in on this so late, have been away...

I am almost certain that the 'made from white labor' tags are not racist at all,

It was an ethical standpoint to promote the fact that they did not take advantage of slave/cheap labour.

If only that were true.

THe claim was widespread, across many industries in California. One newspaper stated using Chinese labor "“will prove destructive to the general welfare, and retard the advance of civilization and the manifest destiny of our country.” Later the Chinese Exclusion Act attempted to ban Chinese immigration, in furtherance of such overt racism.

For an overview of this issue in the cigar trade, click here.

The Smasher. Check out the artwork...

[bluegoldblues]

lol. fair play... A Levi/ex Evisu designer told me that it wasn't as racist as first glance would suggest.

Talking about books Paul, saw a couple hardbacks of yours in London College of Fashion Library the other day! Enjoyed reading them!

[rnrswitch]

Sorry to butt in on this so late, have been away...

I am almost certain that the 'made from white labor' tags are not racist at all,

It was an ethical standpoint to promote the fact that they did not take advantage of slave/cheap labour.

You give corporations too much credit. While employing "white" labor promotes "better" working conditions, this is not why they would do it. They did it as a marketing tool to get white workers in the mines, etc. to purchase their jeans.

If corporations could pay "white" workers what they could pay chinese workers, they would have.

Ain't shit changed. Same stuff going on today. If we could pay white folk to pick strawberries for the same price as mexicans, we would do it.

The big dollar at work. Go america and big business. Marketing at it's best.

[robbie]

This thread is great, I feel like I am in class I am constantly learning things.

[Paul T]

lol. fair play... A Levi/ex Evisu designer told me that it wasn't as racist as first glance would suggest.

I think in their This Is A Pair of Jeans book they did hold their hands up and admit guilt. Of course, Levi and Jacob themselves would have met with their own share of discrimination, being Jewish.

[entertainment!]

Farhad posted this in several other threads, but it deserves to be posted here too. I am still hoping for a signing in NYC. Why does the left coast get all the fun events?

Mike Harris is having a book signing tomorrow at the Levi's Malibu store. Ill be there and would love to see some Levi's aficionados.

[Farhad]

Thanks, was going to post it this morning but you beat me to it.

[Sansome1877]

If only that were true.

THe claim was widespread, across many industries in California. One newspaper stated using Chinese labor "“will prove destructive to the general welfare, and retard the advance of civilization and the manifest destiny of our country.†Later the Chinese Exclusion Act attempted to ban Chinese immigration, in furtherance of such overt racism.

For an overview of this issue in the cigar trade, click here.

The Smasher. Check out the artwork...

Brilliant Paul, this captures the attitude towards Chinese, in a number of industries. I think rnr was correct in saying... made by white labor, was really a marketing tool. On a side note, my father-in-law told me that the cigar industry...was the first to use, a union label.

Farhad- see you tonight.

entertainment- I am trying to get out your way?

[Joseph Hill]

The CMIU was once one of if not the most powerful union in the country, and Samuel Gompers of AFL fame got his start in the cigar unions. Cigar making was one of the early examples of breaking the high pay and power of skilled craftsmen by instituting the breaking of craft into a series of semi and unskilled processes that could be performed by cheap and easily manipulated labor.

[eltopo]

LVC pullover/Rising Sun/Mike Harris Neustadters

Congrats on the book signing Mike!!!!

www.banditphotographer.comhttp://www.banditphotographer.com

[Paul T]

Pullover looks great.

Been wearing mine a lot - a third layer comes in handy in the British "summer".

[roy6]

Sansome- I was thinking I has seen a picture of something like your pack-rat chewed wool Levi's shirt before, and I finally tracked it down. This is from Levi's 1904 catalog. Look at the third shirt from the left. I wonder, though, if the Sunset line had Levi's branded buttons like your example.

Incidentally, the far right shirt looks like a close match for LVC's 1912 Sunset Henley from last season.

[Paul T]

When did manufacturers start using photos in their catalogs? Could be wrong, but I would have thought that's a pretty high-tech production for 1904.

(edit: I was thinking the main shirt illustrations, but not the pants were photos rather than engravings, correct?)

[killer b]

there was various photo printing processes by the turn of the century, some fairly widespread. i imagine a company like levis would be early adopters too...

[bluegoldblues]

Yeah i was thinking just that too, does seem a bit early for photos!

Any denim photo's in their? or even that pullover?

[killer b]

offset litho was in common use by 1904, it isn't that early.

[roy6]

^Its my picture of an entry in a Japanese vintage magazine of pictures provided by Levi's. The text is all in Japanese. Your interpretation is as good as mine, but I think the images are from the actual 1904/05 catalog. There are only four pages reproduced, which I've posted before:

[Sansome1877]

Sansome- I was thinking I has seen a picture of something like your pack-rat chewed wool Levi's shirt before, and I finally tracked it down. This is from Levi's 1904 catalog. Look at the third shirt from the left. I wonder, though, if the Sunset line had Levi's branded buttons like your example.

Incidentally, the far right shirt looks like a close match for LVC's 1912 Sunset Henley from last season.

Pretty sure, my shirt date's from the late 1870's, I believe the shirt I have, has hand sewn button holes. Not sure about the buttons on the sunset shirt ( I will ask around)

[Sansome1877]

[iM

These are W.N Moore of San Francisco, they should date from 1922-24. I will post some pictures after they are cleaned up.