1930s Red Head Brand green canvas hunting vest

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271287384189
This vintage hunting vest was made in the 1930s by Red Head Brand. It has 34 closed bottom canvas shell pockets on the front, and 16 on the back, for a total of 50. The vest has a five button front. It has an early style Red Head label, the small square version with “Reg. US Pat. Off”, and “Fits the Sport” above and below the main logo. The jacket was obviously worn hard, and as is often the case with items like this, which are purely functional, was probably passed down and worn for multiple generations. It is unusual to see one of these hunting vests in this green colored canvas, usually you find them in brown.

Chest (pit to pit): 18″ (doubled = 36″)
Length: 17-1/2″

1930s Marshall GameMaster hunting vest

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281177331596
This vintage hunting vest was made in the 1930s by the Marshall Clothing Manufacturing Company of Butler, Indiana, under their “Gamemaster” label. The Marshall Clothing company was a well regarded manufacturer of sportswear- letterman jackets, basketball uniforms, gym shorts and the like. This vest has a five button front, with a high neck closure, reminiscent of early Brown’s Beach vests, also marketed towards the hunting market. This one is made of brown canvas, with closed bottomed loops for 32 shotgun shells. These loops are all covered with flaps to protect the cartridges from the elements. This vest also has a flapped bellows pleated breast pocket.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Length: 21″

Red Head Brand hunting vest

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271286283056
This vintage hunting best was made by Red Head brand. The vest has a densely woven brown canvas duck shell. It has a five button front and knit loops for twenty four shotgun shells. Behind the buttons is a mid 1930s Talon zipper, a rare transitional model between the hookless style grommet zips of the early ’30s and the “deco” zips of the later 1930s. As you can see, the sunburst stopbox on this one has the “foot” of the earlier riveted model. The label’s somewhat perplexing, in that it bears the registered trademark symbol. The Lanham act of the 1940s regulated who could use this symbol, and generally you see it on garments of the 1940s and newer. I have seen other Redhead clothes with this version of the label attributed as being from the 1930s, and the zipper is fairly definitively datable to the middle of the 1930s. So- either Red Head was an early adopter of the symbol, or a 1930s zip was installed a decade after it was made.

Chest (pit to pit): 20-1/2″
Length: 18-3/4″

1930s Duxbak Vest

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271286288652

This vintage hunting vest was made by the Utica Duxbak Corp. of Utica, New York in the 1930s. This one has the 1930s style label, which reads, “Duxbak Rain Proof Sanforized Sportsman’s Clothing”. It has a five button front and thirty two closed bottomed loops for shotgun shells. This particular model has a plain back (other options included an additional row of shotgun shells, and a belt-back). The canvas is densely woven and has acquired a great wear pattern over the years.

Chest (pit to pit): 20″ (doubled = 40″)
Length: 20″

Please also see these other Duxbak vests:

https://vintagehaberdashers.com/2013/09/16/1920s-duxbak-vest-size-42/

https://vintagehaberdashers.com/2013/08/31/1920s-duxbak-hunting-vest/

1920s Duxbak vest – size 42

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271278932633
This vintage hunting vest was made in the 1920s. The DuxBak line was started in 1906 by Bird, Jones and Kenyon, and had a factory located at 1 Blandina St., Utica, NY. Prior to the 1920s, Duxbak used the slogan “Duxbak Sportsman’s Clothing” in their advertisements and on their tags. During the 1920s, they switched to ” Duxbak Rain Proof Sportsman’s Clothing”. By the 1930s, they had changed their label to include a graphic of a hunter, and to emphasize “Utica”.

This shell vest design changed very little from when it was introduced in the early 1900s until this one was produced. As it was a garment of pure function, it was not beholden to the whims of fashion. A good design was a good design, and they stuck with it. It has loops for 32 shotgun shells on the front and 16 on the back, for a total of 48. The loops have a canvas top and an early rubber elastic bottom. They are of an open bottomed design, and have leather reinforcement tabs at the end of each row of loops. The vest has a five button front and all buttons bear the duxbak name. This vest was sold originally by the Ambrose Sporting Goods Co., which was located at 132 South Main Street, Memphis, TN. The company seems to have had their peak in the late 1920s, although they did make it through the depression.

Tagged Size:
Chest (pit to pit): 21-1/2″ (doubled = 43″)
Length (neck to hem down back):19-1/2″

1930s American Field hunting jacket

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281168068268
This vintage coat was made in the late 1930s by the Hettrick Mfg. Co. of Toldeo, Ohio. This was their signature model, the “Gun Coat”, with “free swing” shoulders, a corduroy collar and cuffs, roughout horsehide shoulder reinforcement, a gun pad on the right shoulder, large pockets, and an interior game pocket. The water-resistant game pocket does up with bell shaped Talon zippers. At the end of the listing are a couple of ads for this model of coat, dating from 1936 and from 1940.

Chest (pit to pit): 23-1/2″ (doubled = 47″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-3/4″
Length: 28″

Summit Town and Country Coat hunting vest

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281140400237
This vest was made in the 1910s. It is made of brown canvas, with holders for 36 shotgun shells. The manufacturer, Guiterman Bros., pioneered the knit collar this vest bears. They began using it on leather jackets in 1912. By the 1920s, it would find its way onto the A-1 leather jacket. In Guiterman’s 1915 catalog, this model is identified as the M1206, and is described as a “Vest with Cartridge Holders”: “Dead Grass duck shell vest, four rows of cartridge holders for carrying thirty two cartridges, detachable buttons, adjustable strap in back; sizes 36 to 46. Each $10.”

The tag identifies the patent of the “Summit”, as Jan 30, 1912. The tag on the back identifies it as “Dri-Bak Rainproof”. The collar has extremely early U.S.F. snaps. The buttons are sewn, not detachable as the ad indicates. They have a wonderful lined pattern to them.

A bit about the maker: Guiterman Brothers was founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1904. They began using the Summit “Town & Country” name in 1904. In the early 1910s, Guiterman Brothers pioneered the attached soft collared shirt. They also called it the Summit. The company had a plant at 352 Silbey Street, St. Paul, MN, which still stands. They enjoyed prosperity during the 1910s, riding the Mackinaw boom of 1912-1915. They were supposedly the first company to coin the name “windbreaker”. As shown above, their “Town and Country” Coats and vests shared the distinctive double snap Knit-Nek. During WWI, Guiterman Bros. were one of the larger contractors for flying coats for US aviators. In 1928-1929, the company was purchased by Gordon and Ferguson.

Chest (pit to pit): 20-1/2″ (doubled = 41″)

factory

1922 ad

M1206 – from the 1915 ad

More vests from 1915

1940s cotton duck canvas hunting pants

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281132694828
These vintage pants are made of heavy brown cotton duck. They have a button fly and a stitched seat reinforcement. They have been somewhat crudely hemmed, and I do not believe there is much to be let out.
Waist: 20″ (doubled = 40″)
Inseam: 31″
Outseam: 43″
Rise: 12″

Blue European Workwear jacket

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281096463565

This German work jacket has some very interesting detailing. When you first put it on, you’ll notice the buttons. They’re on the left side of the jacket instead of the right. They button through one set of buttonholes on the right placket, then through a second set, on a fly on the right side, bringing them back to where they belong, and entirely sealing the front of the jacket up from gusts of wind and dust. The jacket is caped, with the cape forming the pocket flaps of the breast pocket. The lining of the cape is rubberized. Underneath, in the front and back, are a set of pass through slits, possibly for a harness of some kind. The collar has a button throat latch underneath. The cuffs are an unusual design, again allowing for a tight seal with no gaps. It has elbow reinforcements, an internal waist adjuster drawstring, and interior cargo pockets.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length: 27″

Belknap hunting jacket

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271175537380
This vintage field coat was made by the Belknap Hardware and mfg co of Louisville, KY. It is a standard field coat, with a large came pocket, corduroy collar, action back and multiple front cargo pockets. It is made from heavy water resistant duck canvas. It is partially lined in plaid flannel.

Chest (pit to pit): 27″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 20″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 22-1/2″

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