Lee TWA / Pratt & Whitney work jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271349078220
This vintage work jacket was made by Lee, better known for its denim jackets and jeans. The jacket is a waist length style, and bears patches for Pratt & Whitney and for TWA (Trans World Airlines). It still has its original zip in quilted liner. The main zipper is a brass Talon. It has bi-swing shoulder, reinforced elbows, slash handwarmer pockets and adjuster tabs on the waistband.

Chest (pit to pit): 24-1/2″
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-1/2″
Length: 24″

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Score Sportswear blue leather cafe racer

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271307306053
This vintage leather jacket was made in Toronto by either Score Sporting Goods of by its successor, Shields Sportswear. Without the label, it’s hard to say which incarnation of Harry and Lorne Shields’s company made it. The jacket has the interesting collar of this maker- a short rounded stand collar with a single-snap chinstrap. Most makers made the snap tab as an extension of the collar stand, rather than a second piece. The separate chinstrap is more of a holdover from 1930s leather jacket design. Side adjuster belts are another early style holdover found on this design. The elbows are reinforced with a second layer of leather. There are zip sleeves to keep wind and dust out when riding. Zippers are mismatched, with Canadian made Acme and Lightning zips on the pockets and sleeves respectively. The front zipper is a replacement, with a YKK tape and a vintage Talon slider. The lining is long since missing. The blue leather of this jacket sets it apart in a sea of black and brown leather jackets, as if the distinctive and rugged design wasn’t enough.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length: 23-1/2″

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Melton Wintermaster two tone jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271306991316
This vintage jacket was made in the USA by Melton, under their Wintermaster line. The overall lines of the jacket, with its two tone styling, unlined construction, pocket setup and back belt adjusters all suggest the 1940s or early 1950s, but the hardware points to a date of manufacture no older than the 1960s. This is probably a model that was kept in their product line with no major changes for a long time.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″ (doubled = 46″)
Shoulder to Shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-1/2″
Length: 25″

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East West Musical Instruments style leather jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271306455788
This vintage leather jacket was made in the late 1960s – 1970s time frame, and is one of the coolest from that era I’ve seen in a long time. The western pictorial theme, with a desert landcape and a bird (or is that a “Gilded Palace of Sin” era Sneaky Pete pterodactyl?) put me in mind of Nudie’s rodeo tailors. The western yoking and brass studs on the front further that western theme. This style of jacket was pioneered by California’s “East West Musical Instruments” although this jacket isn’t nearly as complex as most of their output. There’s no, or evidence that there was one, so who actually made the jacket is a bit of a mystery. There is a standard style for the era “Medium” size tag. My guess would be it was made by a small custom leather shop. The jacket is leather, sewn rough-out. It has a snap front.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Waist: 18″ (doubled = 36″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length: 22″

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Mid-Western Sport Togs deerskin jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271306482905
This vintage jacket was made by Mid-Western Sport Togs, of Berlin, Wisconsin, probably in the early 1960s. It is a western style, with a fringed hem, sleeves and yoke. The jacket is made of deerskin. At some point, the original buttons were changed out for the current metal eagle buttons.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″
Shoulder to shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 22″
Length (not including fringe): 25″

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Green Hunting Vest

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281191411402
As someone who has been collecting and researching vintage hunting vests, this one strikes me as particularly interesting. It’s not as old as most of the ones I’m selling, probably dating from the 1960s, but it’s made in an earlier style. Although hunting vests were a purely functional garment and didn’t really change with fashion, certain details did change over time, largely with innovations in materials and hardware. By the time this vest was made, the closed bottomed canvas loops has largely been supplanted by elastic knit loops, which were easier and less expensive to construct, and lay flat when not in use. This vest has the older style loops, heavily reinforced at the bottoms. This vest is reinforced throughout with green textured naugahyde, making for extremely strong seams. Another unusual thing about this vest is its color. Most hunting vests of this type are in shades of brown canvas. This one is in a minty gray green with forest green trim. The vest has DOT snaps throughout, and a removable, vinyl lined game bag.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″
Length (with gamebag): 30″
Length (without gamebag): 22-1/4″

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Western Field Hunting Vest

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281191393899
This hunting vest was sold by Montgomery Ward under their house brand “Western Field”. It is made of canvas, and has a rear external game bag, a plaid lining, and a serval zipper. There are two large bellows pockets on the front, and elasticized pockets for sixteen shotgun shells.

Chest (pit to pit): 24-1/2″ (doubled = 49″)
Length: 24″

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JC Penney straw cowboy hat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271278326127
This vintage straw hat was made in the late 1960s- 1970s and was sold by JC Penney. Penney’s was known for their hats, formerly retailing their store brand “Marathon” hats. This one is made simply under the JCPenney label. It is made of straw with an open weave, and blocked with a squared off cattleman’s crease. The sweatband, as was the case of many straw hats of the period, is an imitation leather, and has hardened, but is still in solid condition, with no cracking. The hat looks like it was barely ever worn, a rarity for straws like this.

Size: 7-1/8
Brim Width: 3-1/4″

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1960s Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271246948755
This vintage coat was made by the Hudson’s Bay company from their iconic point blanket material. It is in their “Olympic” pattern, a double breasted style, with handwarmer pockets and flapped patch pockets. In this particular example, the points of the four point blanket are on the inside of the coat on the wearer’s right. The coat is fully lined.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″ (doubled = 46″)
Shoulder to Shoulder: 19-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 26″
Length: 36″

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Extra Large Hudson’s Bay Blanket Coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271246957324
This vintage coat was made by the Hudson’s Bay company from their iconic point blanket material. It is in their “Olympic” pattern, a belted double breasted style, with handwarmer pockets and flapped patch pockets. In this particular example, the points of the four point blanket are on the inside of the coat on the wearer’s right shoulder. The coat is fully lined in gray. It is tagged a 46, but I would say it fits more like a size 50 or 52.

Chest (pit to pit): 29″ (doubled = 58″)
Shoulder to Shoulder: 21″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 27″
Length: 34″

A bit about the Hudson’s Bay Blanket Coat:
The Hudson’s Bay Company introduced their distinctive striped “point” trade blanket in 1780. The blankets were used in the fur trade, traded in exchange for pelts. The “points” represented the size and weight of the blanket. The blankets were soon being tailored into hooded, belted “Capotes”.
In 1811, 40 greatcoats were commissioned for soldiers stationed at Fort St. Joseph in Jocelyn, Ontario. They were made under the direction of John Askin, fur trader, and keeper of the King’s Store at that fort. Running short on proper supplies and in need of adequately warm coats for the men, Askin had the coats sewn from point blankets. The modern mackinaw was born.
The Hudson’s Bay blanket material was advertised for its, “warmth, durability, retention of color, non-shrinage”, for being “non-hardening when exposed to the elements”, and for their water resistant qualities. Combined with its heavy weight, and thick fluffy nap, the Hudson’s Bay Blanket made for ideal material in a harsh environment. They remained popular with fur traders through the 18th and 19th centuries. Along with their mackinaw-cloth relatives, they also proved popular with Lumbermen on both sides of the border.
Coats made from Hudson’s Bay point blanket material were truly investments, costing significantly more than identical coats in other fabrics. Some examples: In 1937, an Albert Richard coat in heavy mackinaw cloth cost $12.50. That same coat in the HBC fabric cost $22.50. In 1936, a different manufacturer was offering 32oz melton coats for $5.95. To upgrade to point blanket fabric doubled the price.
These coats were the ultimate in rugged, high-end outdoors garments. At the top of the price range for short coats, they were sold by such high-end outfitters as Abercrombie & Fitch and Von Lengerke & Detmold. By the 1930s, sportswear companies like Albert Richard and Maine Guide by Congress had joined the act. The Hudson’s Bay blanket coat enjoyed a surge of popularity on the United States market in the mid through late 1930s. Mirroring the Mackinaw craze of 1912-1915, the style was brought over the border to the US by tourists and seasonal workers who had seen the coats in use in Canada and been impressed with their warmth and durability. They briefly became a university fad in the 1930s, but really stuck with sportsmen who could afford the best.
Hudson’s Bay blankets were originally made in England. In the middle of the 20th century, they switched manufacture to Canada. Currently, they are again produced in England, by John Atkinson. Former competitor Woolrich Woolen mills has the contract to import Bay Blankets to the US, and other former competitor Pendleton now makes the blankets used in the coats sold by HBC.
As the 20th century wore on, the Hudson’s Bay point blanket coat remained a Canadian icon. It was the Canadian team uniform at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics.

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