http://www.ebay.com/itm/281191023485
This vintage hunting vest was made in the 1930s. It no longer bears a label, but it is typical of the products of some of the smaller companies making vests at that time. It has a high button stance, broadly cut shoulders, 32 shotgun shell pockets, a plain back and lightweight canvas, worn soft over the years.
Chest (pit to pit): 20″
Length: 17-3/4″
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″
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″
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″
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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/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271286311294
This vintage hunting vest was likely made in the 1930s or 1940s. It has a five button front, belted back and thirty four loops for both 10 and 12 gauge shotgun shells. Later vests had generally switched away from the closed bottomed canvas loops, and to easier to produce knit loops, as well as switching from belted to plain backs. This example is made from fairly lightweight, breathable canvas.
Chest (pit to pit): 23-1/2″ (doubled = 47″)
Length: 21″
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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″
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/271277514189
This is a rare early variant of the classic Woolrich hunting coat. Most Woolrich coats you see are from the 1950s or 1960s. Coats of that era have snaps withe the “Woolrich” name on them. They have labels with a slimmed down sheep and a (R) registered trademark symbol in the corner. This one dates from the late 1930s, and has a number of details which differentiate it from the later, more common versions. The pocket snaps on this one are of the style used in the 1930s and before, with a meander pattern encircled by dots. The label is of the style used from the mid-late 1930s, with a blocky sheep, green text and a green border. Woolrich was an early adopter of zippers on their hunting garments. This one has twin double-marked Talon zippers on the game pocket. This is the style used in the late ’30s- early 1940s, with a beveled edge puller with a small hole, the Talon name on the component which attaches the slider to the puller, and the full “Made in U.S.A.” text on the back of the slider. By the 1940s, Woolrich had abandoned the use of zippers on their game pockets, in favor of a simpler and more easily repaired (though less secure) single button. With purely functional workwear and hunting items such as this, they were passed down for generations and worn hard, as there was no regard for changing styles, and a deer is unlikely to call the fashion police. The coat has a fair bit of mothing to the shell, but is in better shape than most I’ve seen from this era. Although there is some, there is also much less wear and staining than usually seen to the liner, the neck and the cuffs, the areas generally most heavily hit.
Tagged size: 42
Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Shoulder to Shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-1/2″
Length: 30″
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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″
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281160337309
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 28 shotgun shells, a high buttoning neckline to protect the wearer from the elements, and a buckle back to adjust for a comfortable fit. The buckle used on the back bears the patent number “819180”, which shows that this buckle design dates from 1906. The vest has a six button front, and all the buttons bear the DuxBak name.
Tagged Size:
Chest (pit to pit): 18-3/4″ (doubled = 37.5″)
Length (neck to hem down back):18″
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