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Mister Freedom® PODIUM Jacket, Rayon-Cotton Satin. This one comes straight out of classic Americana athletic wear. We opted for a 1950s-style traditional 50% rayon/50% cotton shell (rayon side out, mid-luster), backed with a fancy cotton flannel body lining and traditional cotton “kasha” sleeve lining. We left our PODIUM jacket un-branded on the outside, no back embroidery, chest logo or anything, and left it up to the wearer. We believe the solid version is plenty, but if so-inclined, reach out to the many talented custom chainstitch artisans out there, or patch your jacket up with the high school chenille letter of your choice etc… The bay is a fun source for NOS letterman letters, if you’re looking for your initials. What we spent time on however, is the specific “heather” rib knit. This type of athletic stripe “melange” ribbing can be found on some of the most desirable vintage club jackets out there, mostly pre-1960s specimen. Thinking production of heather ribbing might only be a thing of the past, we sent a few vintage samples to our friends at Toyo Enterprise for reference anyways, crossing fingers. As expected, such athletic knit ribs were not commercially available from manufacturers, but after some challenging R&D, Toyo’s textile experts managed to get our color combinations custom-milled. And they nailed it! This special ribbing is old-school too, 100% soft wool, unlike the polyester/polyurethane blend of contemporary sport gear.
For the front closure, we opted for mfsc painted metal snaps, a bit more practical for sports than 1940s-style buttons. The hi-luster rayon contrast arm inserts and soutache (braided piping), along with the contrasting pocket trims, all ad to the vintage sporty vibe. Whether you’re feeling all Stanley “Streetcar” Kowalsky, 1950s street gang hoodlum, in a Wanderers or “Electric Eliminators” Warriors kinda mood… or simply on an old-school kick for vintage athletic wear for the gym, our PODIUM jacket got your back, Jack!  “Crime in the Streets” (1956) lobby card. Courtesy Allied Artists The MF® PODIUM Jacket in rayon/cotton satin is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in Japan in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co. SPECS: FABRIC: DETAILS: SIZING/FIT: CARE: Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles brick & mortar store, and fine retailers around the World. Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom® “ARISTOCRAT” Shirt, selvedge oxford cloth. The Mister Freedom® ARISTOCRAT is our humble attempt at a straight-up stylish dress shirt, made in USA. This original pattern was initially introduced to our Sportsman catalog during Fall 2020, a fancy selvedge Oxford cloth release in two classic color options, white and blue. The all-original design of our ARISTOCRAT was inspired by several vintage American and European classic dress and sport shirts from our archives. We wanted the chest pocket design to be all ours and serve as outside branding, rather than an embroidered logo. Our R&D team got extra cups of brain juice to reinvent the wheel, one that would spin our own yarn. Sketches were drawn-up, prototypes made from scratch, and a eureka moment came sometime in February 2020 when an all-original pocket finally surfaced from the drafting table. We had our ARISTOCRAT classic chest pocket: a simple diamond shape with an elegant curved fold and streamlined stitching.  Original Mister Freedom® ARISTOCRAT chest pocket design, early proto and how-to ©2020 Knock yourself out, Bob Dong. The specific off-set shirt tail cut, front button placket construction, and double button rounded cuffs, were also thoroughly considered and tweaked until it all worked out for our aesthetics. To our delight, the US factory did a remarquable job with the stitch count, closely following tech pack for the magic high number, matched by a fine thread gauge. Because of obvious productivity issues, it is often a challenge to convince factory owners of committing to higher-count stitching settings. This can almost double production time (= double production cost), but the results are stunning and always make a garment stand-out next to a more hastily-constructed one. Anyone able to spot a cheap suit will notice the difference. The ARISTOCRAT is complimented by genuine mother of pearl buttons, another reference to traditional European bespoke tailoring, while the chainstitch construction (using MF® signature green contrast stitching) brings it down a few notches with a workwear touch (bespoke shirts often feature French seams, not chainstitch.) For this FW2021 release of the ARISTOCRAT, we scored some yardage of a fancy New Old Stock Dobby Stripe fabric. The Dobby weave vertical stripe pattern is textured, a combo of grayish blue and gold stripes on an off-white background. This elegant 100% cotton shirting fabric has a probable Italian origin, and a definitely fancy textile pedigree. The MF® ARISTOCRAT Shirt is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in the USA in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co. SPECS: SIZING/FIT:
I opted for a Medium for a trim, yet not too tight fit, my usual size in mfsc shirting. I am 5’7 ~150 lbs. We recommend getting your usual size in MF® shirts, if you like a trim fit. Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles brick & mortar store, and fine retailers around the World. Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom® CALIFORNIAN LOT.64-JC, indigo-dyed 14 Oz. Jungle Cloth edition. Alert the media, the MF® Californian is back, and this time in non-selvedge fabric! “Jungle Cloth” is a trade name for heavy warp-faced corded fabric, in which the cords run in the warp (vertical) direction. This all-cotton grosgrain fabric of the corduroy family is high density, rugged, water-repellent and windproof, and has roots in 1920s civilian flight gear. It is commonly associated with US Navy foul weather deck personnel clothing, with the iconic N-1 and its many iterations in Heritage fashion. Why it was called “Jungle Cloth” remains a mystery to me, and the earliest mention of the fabric I could find is in a 1914 book titled “Hunting in the Arctic and Alaska”, in a chapter listing the author’s personal outfit of choice for a cruise in the Arctic:
Jungle Cloth is described as “Modified Bedford Cords” in a volume of “Standard Commodity Classification” from 1945. Its US production ramped up during WW2 due to large US Government contracts for the US Navy. The Crompton-Shenandoah Plant in Virginia handled a large chunk of the wartime production, having adapted its long-established velveteen-milling machinery to meet the mil-specs Jungle Cloth demand.  Excerpt from US Senate hearings on Trade Agreements, 1955. This interesting 1955 “Trade Agreements” US Senate official document discusses the struggle of the American fabric milling industry, overwhelmed by cheaper labor competition from Italian and Japanese factories at the time. During the hearings, a Crompton-Shenandoah representative mentions “the average hourly earnings in the cotton textile industry are about $1.35 (in the US) , the Italian textile hourly average wage is 24 cents, the Japanese 13 cents… The best Japanese velveteen, and it is good, is for sale in New York, duty paid, at 21 cents per yard lower than our manufacturing cost…” Our premium Jungle Cloth is milled in Japan and indigo-dyed by Japanese experts to a dark shade of indigo blue. This vintage mil-specs fabric initially developed by Buzz Rickson’s is an old MF® favorite. It has been previously featured on our Riders, N-1Z Deck Pants, M-17 Parka, and Mulholland Master. It ages beautifully and the patina of indigo-dyed Jungle Cloth is quite impressive. For pocketing, we opted for some older NOS olive green HBT. To keep a low profile, we went for tonal stitching and, due to the Jungle Cloth heavy ounce, chose cotton-wrap poly thread for sturdy construction and seam resistance. The Californian LOT.64-JC blue jeans “Indigo Jungle Cloth” edition are designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co. SPECS: DETAILS: SIZING/FIT:
I went with a W31, for a snug top block and straight leg silhouette. I am about 5’7, 150 lbs. This fabric hardly stretches but softens with wear, and is very comfortable. Disclaimer: Color crocking (temporarily bleeding onto other lighter-colored textiles) is to be expected and will temporarily ‘stain’ light color garments worn as under layers. Indigo rub-off should wash-off eventually. However, expect blue legs for a while. CARE: Do not use a heat dryer, hang dry instead. Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear. Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles red brick HQ, and fine retailers around the World. Christophe Loiron
 Mister Freedom® DESPERADO Brush Jacket, sulfur-dyed selvedge denim (Raw) ©2021  Mister Freedom® DESPERADO Brush Jacket, sulfur-dyed selvedge denim (Rinsed) ©2021
Mister Freedom® DESPERADO Brush Coat, 13 Oz. black sulfur-dyed selvedge denim. Hot on the trail of the recently-released Californian “Outlaw” and Ranch Blouse, in matching black sulfur-dyed selvedge denim, comes the Mister Freedom® DESPERADO Brush Coat. The pattern of this latest addition to our made-in-USA Sportsman catalog was inspired by a blend of vague childhood memories of western-wear from screen characters (maybe James Stewart in “The Far Country” 1954, or Robert Fuller on “Laramie”?), visuals from old Marlboro ads, and vintage duck canvas chore coats I’ve come across through my rag-picking years.
After some detective work Texas Rangers-style, I realized that “South Texas Brush Jacket” is how this short and boxy unlined canvas coat style is often referred-to. A favorite amongst horsemen in thorny Brush Country terrain, the style became a staple piece of gear for Texas buckaroos and ranch hands, and was largely adopted by the gritty vaqueros from Northern Mexico such as the kineños, the OG cow-boys hired to work on King Ranch in the mid 1800s.  Courtesy of LIFE “The Vanishing Cowboy” (1949) Below is a collage of some old 1930s-70s photos published in a “Vaqueros of South Texas” public FB group, some of the vaqueros sporting Brush Jackets.  Period photos courtesy of Vaqueros of South Texas FB group. The typical “Brush Jacket” as we know it was often cut from brown duck or, less-commonly, from bone white canvas, and readily available from saddle shops, dry goods stores and ranch supplies COOPs. Brands like FINESILVER Mfg. Co, a now-defunct workwear and military uniform maker, produced them for years in its downtown San Antonio factory in Texas. Carhartt probably had its own version, along with the brand’s iconic ¾ length barn coat classic and other duck canvas models.  Vintage 60s FINESILVER Mfg Co Brush Jacket, courtesy of Vacation. Besides the signature cropped length of original Brush Jackets, one striking feature is the characteristic contrast corduroy trimming (collar, pocket openings and cuffs). It is said that the corduroy-lined collar was initially-intended to be easier on one’s sunburned neck… An old-school vaquero also mentions dipping his Brush Jacket in the horse trough in the hot summer days, and wearing it wet as a cooling layer. Comes in our DESPERADO… The keen eye will note that we added a slight curve to the arcuate on the corduroy pocket trimming, on the patch pocket bottom shape, and on the cuff piecing. This is in contrast with the common straight lines typical of purified utilitarian fashion, intended to be easier and faster to cut & sew. This subtle tweak, along with the single needle pocket construction add an elegant early workwear touch to the jacket.  Mister Freedom® DESPERADO Brush Jacket early R&D pocket prototype ©2021 For the fabric, we opted for the same fancy twill featured on our CALIFORNIAN Lot.64 “Outlaw” and its matching RANCH BLOUSE: a premium mid-weight 13 Oz. selvedge denim combining a black sulfur-dyed warp yarn (fabric face) with a black sulfur-dyed weft (fabric reverse), produced on traditional shuttle looms by vintage textile experts in Japan. Why DESPERADO? Partly because of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & lefty”, a fine classic tune about a bandit and his partner (we are working on some MF® Spotify playlists for your listening pleasure btw, Pancho & Lefty is on Truck Stop Jukebox), and also because this is our friend Tom “Sugar Cane” Tanaka’s favorite Eagles’ album! The MF® DESPERADO Brush Jacket in black sulfur-dyed selvedge denim is designed in California by Mister Freedom®, and manufactured in USA in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co, from denim fabric milled in Japan. SPECS: FABRIC: DETAILS: SIZING:
The DESPERADO is considered true-to-size. I opted for a 38 (Medium) for a comfortable fit (5.7’’ / approx. 150 lbs). The 36 (Small) felt too tight for the silhouette I was going for, although I had opted for a 36 in the navy HBT Frogman jacket. Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles red brick HQ, and fine retailers around the World. Christophe Loiron |
