Workshirts

[Duke Mantee]

Just now, julian-wolf said:

Missed this post, somehow. Beautiful! Thanks for searching this out. What's the best way to contact Desolation Row? I've never actually ordered from them before, and their web shop doesn't seem to have much inventory listed.

The gold Hammersmith is one that’s available from Hoosier 

[Duke Mantee]

Freewheelers Trackmaster

[JDelage]

New workshirt day. This is made by Belafonte, and it’s quite lightweight.

 

[redragon]

^

Collar style on point for both.

[Duke Mantee]

Freewheelers Electrician 

[JDelage]

Cross post FW - Freewheelers skid row in cotton x linen chambray. Very happy with it!

 

[lance]

Well I wore my Buzz Rickson chambray workshirt today and it’s time for retirement. Owned it for 10-15 years and got my money’s worth. The chambray is so worn, is is starting to fray just from handling the shirt. Time to break out the new one. 



 

 

[JDelage]

9 hours ago, lance said:

Well I wore my Buzz Rickson chambray workshirt today and it’s time for retirement. Owned it for 10-15 years and got my money’s worth. The chambray is so worn, is is starting to fray just from handling the shirt. Time to break out the new one.

Was that the blue chambray shirt? Impressive!

[SLAB]

what! that's the craziest evo i've ever seen on a non-vintage chanbray shirt!

 

@JDelage great fit on that Freewheelers skid row shirt

[Flash]

@lance did you wear it for a manual job , if it's at all possible I'd get it repaired and continue wearing it , that's the type of wear we should all be striving for with our clothes 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Flash

[bartlebyyphonics]

beautiful shirt @lance

[lance]

@JDelage thanks and yes, it’s the same blue Buzz chambray, a classic  see last photo above, label says it all, see below

@SLAB thanks

@Flash thanks, no, not for manual labor, desk job. Presently, particularly in high stress areas, the chambray has the consistency and strength of tissue paper so it’s retired and the new (same) Buzz blue chambray workshirt is on deck

@bartlebyyphonics thanks

Thanks for the rep everyone!

On Deck

[MJF9]

@lance echoing, awesome shirt, much credit due on keeping on

Noticing pocket placement on new a touch higher than on old...

@Iron Horse look what you’ve done 

Edited May 8, 2020 by MJF9

[bartlebyyphonics]

4 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

@Iron Horse look what you’ve done 

he is the workwear equivalent of hardy amies giving us all kinds of histories and rules to live by...

[oomslokop]

just before lockdown began i managed to resist buying this uniqlo chambray, now with my new @Iron Horse eyes, look at those pocket placement! *kicking self

[MJF9]

@oomslokop ha made me laugh... I ran up stairs immediately yesterday checking pocket placement on my humble two chambrays... Roy bang on placement (big cheer), RMC a touch above (scratched chin before rationalising to acceptable tolerance with possible factory wonky lines but, dear me, probably never again )

@bartlebyyphonics and you our esteemed literary equivalent... I’m adding ole Hardy (a new acquaintance) to my look-up list for this afternoon...

@lance has set a stretch aspiration for wear there

[Maynard Friedman]

Checked last night and all my Flat Head, Mister Freedom and Iron Heart workshirt pockets all slightly above 3rd button (down). Same on Duke’s Freewheelers wholesalers (Freewholers!).

Edited May 8, 2020 by Maynard Friedman

[bartlebyyphonics]

@MJF9 you are too kind sir...

button placement on my old Eddie Bauer (no idea of the date: made in Hong Kong so not that old...) is spot on... and the fabric is heavy heavy: some details...

... on an old dickies shirt (m.i.u. but cotton / polyester blend - presumably made 80s?) - a half button width off...

and on new anatomica big yank; pleasingly just over and the other just under; a lovely repro shirt, just exact enough and yet off kilter enough to get all alignment obsessive compulsive tendencies in a spin...

and, from the lightning book on workwear; even big yank didn't keep to the rules in the 40s...

but one from the 30s perfectly below!

Edited May 8, 2020 by bartlebyyphonics

[Iron Horse]

I’ve created a monster! 

Bartle, you’re right about the ‘40s and this is one of the reasons I mostly stick to pre-war workwear. Once the ‘40s hit a lot of stuff seems to either go out the window or go sideways, so I’ve pigeonholed myself to about 1910-1939.

But speaking of that Buzz ‘40s-style USN chambray, here’s an original for reference:

[Iron Horse]

2 hours ago, bartlebyyphonics said:

he is the workwear equivalent of hardy amies giving us all kinds of histories and rules to live by...

Now now, I’m no authority or the self-proclaimed Pope of workwear.  Feel free to break the rules, but do it with poise.

“The only thing more important than style is poise.“

Edited May 8, 2020 by Iron Horse

[Duke Mantee]

2 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Checked last night and all my Flat Head, Mister Freedom and Iron Heart workshirt pockets all slightly above 3rd button (down). Same on Duke’s Freewheelers wholesalers (Freewholers!).

How many buttons on the placket? What length is the shirt? What size are the pockets?

You need to measure all of this - get back to your checking and complete the task properly.

must do better/10 

[bartlebyyphonics]

@Iron Horse - you are too modest - your pronouncement on shoulder measurements should be carved in stone and hung in all rugged-dandy-menswear outlets...

for those who haven't looked at the freewheeler's thread: Iron Horse's excellent contribution below [which already makes the point about 40s shirts buttons a-wandering]. For anyone who hasn't seen them: I would also point to his two excellent histories of work shirts; here and here

as @SLAB has said elsewhere: we anxiously await revelation of zipper pullover once in action... 

On 5/6/2020 at 11:17 PM, Iron Horse said:

Warning: Thread derailment, feel free to move this to another (new?) thread if it's too much.

Bartles is right, these are many details that are often wrong on modernized work shirts like the kinds you’ll find at the mall or department stores, the latter being ironic, and also sometimes in repros.

Shoulders should fit at or below the shoulder; speaking personally, if I buy a shirt the only measurement I look at closely is the shoulders. If the pattern is correct then all other dimensions should fall in line, though obviously in the past, and for various brands, one orders by neck size.

Re: pockets, and cigarette pockets, the button on the pocket should never go above the third button on the placket. On vintage shirts it varied, but the pocket button can match up with the third placket button, sit slightly below, or even 3/4s of the way down, almost to the fourth button. This is good if you find yourself stopping over regularly and don’t want things to fall out of flapless pockets. Cigarette pocket shirts generally get this wrong, even from big repro brands.
 

Shirts were almost always advertised as being cut full for freedom of movement:

 

Here’s an example from the 1930s, shoulders slightly low, pockets slightly below third button:

 

Shoulders should V shape down decidedly, pockets lower than they are high. Think of the third button as the horizon in a perspective drawing and you’re a bird flying down the road with the buildings at or below eye level:

Some more examples:

Note the thin, high back yoke:

Big Yank cigarette pocket shirt (standard version, not the premium Flyer version); the left-hand (from our vantage point) pocket, the larger one (meant to hold a pencil/pen as well as the ability to store a looseleaf tobacco tin) should be level with the third button in 1930s-style cig pocket shirts. In the '40s the large pocket was raised above the third button:

Big Yank Flyer and standard versions:

This, for example, is not right in my eye:

Back to the originals: Most likely J.C. Penney Compass shirt:

1920s pullover as worn by Gary Cooper:

A pullover in the '30s:

Double front chest shirt, similar to the Cast Iron shirt, most likely Wards Pioneer though; note the double shoulders:

 

And for good measure, a vintage 1930s chambray shirt I have:

 

[JDelage]

Are the sleeve width in modern repro accurate to that of their forebears from before 45? Asking because I generally find them near impossible to roll more than twice, unless I roll them a third time before putting it on (and then it's rather tight). I don't have very big arms...

[Iron Horse]

7 hours ago, JDelage said:

Are the sleeve width in modern repro accurate to that of their forebears from before 45? Asking because I generally find them near impossible to roll more than twice, unless I roll them a third time before putting it on (and then it's rather tight). I don't have very big arms...

Generally speaking the sleeves on most repros are more tapered than on vintage originals by anywhere from 1.5 to 3 cm midway down the sleeve, for example. Armholes vary; I have repros that have armholes that are wider than vintage originals, some the same, and some that are smaller. But even if they’re the same or larger, the sleeve will still have more taper.

Hmm, something else to mull over. To add an extra 1cm or 1.5? 

[mlwdp]

What is the name of this style collar on shirts?

 

[Broark]

@mlwdp camp collar I believe.

[Ar_thor]

All this talk about pockets is very interesting indeed. It has also raised a question about a Momotaro shirt I have with a pocket detailing I quite like - I think they call it a jail pocket. Is this something that has an historical reference or is it something they made up?

The shirt in question:

[Duke Mantee]

I always understood a jail pocket to more, erm, somatic ...

[unders]

I think Momotaro have got creative with the naming. 

The pockets were on US army issue pullovers through the 30s and 40s. The denim uniform was replaced by the green cotton, wool and twill etc, but they remained in service as a work uniform by the U.S. Army and Civilian Conservation Corps during the war. 

They were issued to POWs. 

Pics courtesy of Mr Freedom:

 

Orslow have a repro out at the moment that is very tempting. 

[lefty]

I haven’t worn mine in a while.