1950s Aero Wesco hunting jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271773064045
This vintage mackinaw coat was made by the Aero Brand from wool from the Wesco Wool Pullery of Ellensburg, Washington. The jacket is a double mackinaw, with caped shoulders and double sleeves. It is made of heavy red and black plaid wool, with a plaid lining. The label has a four engined prop plane logo, which appears to be an early 1950s model. The jacket has snapped pockets and an internal game pocket, accessible through snapped vertical flaps on the side seams. The snaps are figural, with the image of the Spirit of St. Louis.

Chest (pit to pit): 24″ (doubled = 48″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 25″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length (base of collar to hem): 29″

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1930s German sleeved leather vest

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281596561896
This vintage jacket is made in a sleeved waistcoat style, with a five button front, turnback lapels, and four flapped pockets. It has a belted back and snap cuffs. The style of snaps used are typical of German manufactured leather jackets. It is fully lined, and is tagged a German size 54, which is equivalent to a US size 44. With a 45″ chest, I would say this would best fit a size 40-42

Chest (pit to pit): 22-1/2″ (doubled =45″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 27″
Length (base of collar to hem): 21″

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1950s camel colored Land-N-Lakes western jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281596569572
This vintage western jacket was made in the late 1950s by the Herman K. Lavin Company of St. Paul, Minnesota under the Land-N-Lakes label. The jacket is made from a blend of Wool, Nylon and Cashmere in gray. The jacket has peak lapels, and fancy western yokes front and back. It has bi-swing shoulders and saddelbag pockets.

Tagged size: 38 Long
Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length (Base of collar to hem): 33″

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1950s plaid Land-N-Lakes jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281599241370
This vintage western jacket was made in the late 1950s by the Herman K. Lavin Company of St. Paul, Minnesota under the Land-N-Lakes label. The jacket is made from a blend of Wool, Nylon and Cashmere in an attractive muted plaid. The jacket has peak lapels, and fancy western yokes front and back. It has bi-swing shoulder.

Chest (pit to pit): 24″ (doubled = 48″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-1/2″
Length (Base of collar to hem): 32-1/2″

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1950s blanket stripe Ario’s Western jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281601270188
This vintage jacket was made in the 1950s for Ario’s of Great Falls, Montana (serving the stockman since 1897). Ario’s was founded by Victor Ario as a saddlery, and developed into a full outfitter. Ario’s son, who took over the business, retired in 1957 and the company became the H Bar O saddlery. From the styling of this jacket, I would put it in the mid 1950s timeframe. It has the typical styling of a western jacket, heavy weight fabric, peak lapels, bi-swing shoulders and a square bottom. This one is made of striped blanket material. The pattern is similar to Pendleton’s Glacier National Park blanket or a Hudson’s Bay point blanket, though the stripes are out of order from the arrangement found on those mills, so I’m not positive what company produced the fabric. The yoke work is some of the most detailed I’ve seen, with sharp cutaways, and is mirrored on the design of the pocket flaps. The jacket is fully lined, and has a model tag reading, Montana.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length (base of collar to hem): 29-1/2″

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1940s Saddle Sturdy Brand gabardine jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281601299399
This vintage jacket was made in the late 1940s by Glenshore of Denver, Colorado under their Saddle Sturdy Brand label. It is made of wool gabardine, in a western flavored waist length utility jacket style. It has curving seams front and back, well integrated handwarmer and breast pockets, side adjuster tabs and a long collar. It has a zipper front with a no. 3 Talon zipper, with a squared corner slider with rectangular hole, and unmarked wide rib stopbox, which help nail down the late 1940s date.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″
Shoulder to shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-1/2″
Length (Base of collar to hem): 24″

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1960s McCrackens Jackets

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271778031894
This vintage sportcoat was made in the early 1960 for McCracken’s of Bozeman, Montana. The jacket is green, with narrow lapels and a three button closure. It has a center vent and is half-lined.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 17-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff):24-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 29-1/2″

This vintage sportcoat was made in the early 1960 for McCracken’s of Bozeman, Montana. The jacket is blue, with narrow lapels and a one button closure. It has dual vents and is half-lined.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″
Shoulder to shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff):24-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 29″

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1930 dated US Army Tunic

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281585059436
This vintage army jacket was made in September of 1930 (inspected Sept. 17). It is made of olive drab wool, with fishmouth lapels and a four button front. It has the fitted silhouette and seams of a WWII tunic. It has royal blue panels inside, which appear to be original, but which I have not seen on other tunics of this era. This one was at some point, probably in the later 1930s, de-militarized for civilian usage by removing the epaulettes, the sam browne belt hooks, the two breast pockets and by adding different buttons. Then as now, army surplus was popular as inexpensive and high-quality outdoor wear and workwear.

Tagged size: 36
Chest (pit to pit): 19″ (doubled = 38″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-3/4″
Length (base of collar to hem): 28″

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Swedish Army tanker / motorcycle jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271761628954
This vintage jacket was made for the Swedish army. It is an asymmetrical pattern, with a large fold-over map pocket on the center of the chest. It has a cafe-racer style band collar with an adjustable strap to cinch it down. The jacket has a waist belt, adjustable cuffs and reinforcement at the elbows. It is made of very heavy green canvas, with a removable green pile lining for warmth. This is tagged a european size 52, which works out to a US 42. The pattern for these jackets is extremely oversized, as this, along with the matching overalls that would have originally been issued with it, were meant as an top layer with other winter gear underneath.

Tagged size: 52 (equivalent to a US 42)
Chest (pit to pit): 31″ (doubled = 62″)
Waist: 24″ (doubled = 48″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 23″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 27″
Length (base of collar to hem): 26″

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1950s Albert Richard mouton collared jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271761437968
This vintage jacket was made in the early 1950s by Albert Richard. It is made of dark blue-green gabardine, with a gray collar. It is made in a surcoat style and has flapped patch pockets. The jacket has a style of Talon zipper stopbox which I have not seen before in this application, but a standard early ’50s no. 5 zipper tape and slider. The jacket has a quilted lining. With a buyout in 1953 and a label change, this jacket dates from around 1951-52. This model is pictured in an advertisement from Albert Richard from 1951, see below.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 16″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length (Base of collar to hem): 30″

A bit on the history of Albert Richard:
Fried-Ostermann was founded c.1902 as a glove manufacturer. They bought out their competitor, Price Gloves, and relocated production of that company’s products to their original factory, located at 617-645 Reed Street, Milwaukee, WI. By 1915, the company had gained a partner, and was known as the Fried, Ostermann, Meyer Co, but that looks to only have lasted until 1917. As the company grew, they relocated to 1645 S. 2nd Street, Milwaukee, WI. Fried-Ostermann diversified out of gloves and into outerwear in the late 1920s with the formation of a new division of the company, called Albert Richard. The leather jackets, mackinaws, overcoats and sportswear produced by Albert Richard would soon come to eclipse the glove-making side of the company. Pre-war advertising stressed health and sports, with endorsements from college football players. These ads also talk about bringing items of clothing which were previously thought of as workwear, like mackinaws and leather jackets, into the realm of ordinary streetwear, citing their comfort and durability. During WWII, the Albert Richard factory made A-2 (contract AC 23383), M-422A (contract 1406A), M444A and M445A flight jackets under the name of their parent company, Fried-Ostermann. They advertised leather jackets, overcoats and sportswear heavily during WWII, giving their jackets model names like the “Spitfire” and the “Meteor”. During the war, the company gave away wall-sized posters showing a range of american military airplanes. 850 workers were employed by Albert Richard in 1946, with plans to hire another 400. The company was one of the first to use fiberglass insulation in coats, a technology borrowed from b-29 bombers. Sheepskin collared “storm coats” became a signature model after the war. President of Fried-Ostermann, Richard Fried, sold their Albert Richard Division to the Drybak corporation of Binghampton, NY in late 1952. Drybak, a maker of canvas hunting clothing was looking to diversify their line. In the deal, they got the licensing, branding, patterns, dealership network, but other than the Vice President and designer for Albert Richard, all of the employees and equipment stayed at the plant in Milwaukee. Fried-Osterman re-focused the attention of their plant on the production of gloves, and on producing leather jackets under house labels for mail order and department stores. Starting in 1953, under Drybak’s ownership, Albert Richard clothing was once again produced, this time under contract at a factory in New Jersey, which Drybak declined to name. The plan at that time was to have production moved to New York by 1954. Labels were changed in this period to read “Albert Richard by Drybak”. In 1955, Drybak acquired the Martin Mfg. Co. in Martin, TN. They closed their Binghamton operations in that same year and relocated their hunting clothing manufacturing and their Albert Richard division to the Tennessee plant to take advantage of the lower labor costs in the south.

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