 Apache dancers, circa 1925
(Photo Boris Lipnitzki © Roger Viollet) Mister Freedom® ROADSTEADER Cap
NOS selvedge denim edition
SS2018 Sportsman catalog
Made in USA
The Mister Freedom® ROADSTEADER Cap is the latest addition to our Couvre-Chef Department, consisting of a selection of vintage-inspired headwear, revisited à-la MF®.
The line-up already includes our classic Casquette “La Deffe” and ”Scuttler” Cap, both regularly issued in an assortment of vintage New Old Stock fabrics. The full released range of these two popular models can be seen at our Los Angeles HQ, and some can be spotted atop Jack Sparrow’s head.
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JD (Mark Seliger GQ 2015)
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JD Japan (2016)
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JD 2017 (Photo Ian Gavan Courtesy Getty Images EU)
Looking at photos of our new pattern, one will notice that the MF® ROADSTEADER is not a vintage replica, but rather a combo of old-school styles, a mix bag of references to bygone fashions and Costume History, all blending into an irresistible piece of accoutrement for the 21st Century snappy dresser!
We drew pointers from the early fashion of the Apaches of the Belle Époque, the flamboyant ruffians who had inspired a Mister Freedom® collection back in 2011. Late 1870’s illustrations of the infamous Parisian gangsters invariably depict their trademark hat, the Casquette Desfoux, aka ‘deffe‘. Originally a black wool or silk cap with a leather visor (casquette à pont), the style was allegedly borrowed from the Maquignons, livestock traders with a reputation for unscrupulous practices. During the 1880’s, bands of Apaches of the Ville des Lumières also seem to have adopted the Maquignons’ traditional pleated indigo blouse (the biaude or blaude, familiar today to the finest hunters of antique European textiles), along with the wide-wale corduroy trousers favored by wood-workers and farmers.
It may sound quite ironic that, considering how much these french OGs loathed physical work, rather favoring absinthe, pander and larceny, they opted for vestimentary styles so associated with the working class… Might-this have been an underworld well-thought strategy however, one that would facilitate blending in the crowd when chased by a squadron of grippe-coquin (literally “grab-rascal”), aka Gendarmes? Another case for Inspector Clouseau. On a side note for the traveller, don’t go around today addressing a Gendarme as “Monsieur grippe-coquin”, things might get out of hand, and holidays cut short.
All these fine threads could conveniently be stolen from boutiques on the crowded rue Mouffetard (5th arrondissement of Paris), retail destinations such as “Maison Panet”, workwear outfitters and novelty goods purveyors since 1829. On that same street, at number 65, stood another fine establishment belonging to a certain Auguste Bénard, local tailor and… ’inventor’ of the original fashion flares! The flared-bottom trousers that he designed in the 1870’s (“pantalon à pattes” or “pattes d’eph” -literally elephant leg- narrow at the knee with bell-shaped leg opening) were a big hit with the Apaches of the early days, as featured on Théophile Steinlen‘s amazing period illustrations. Speaking of inspiring graphics, check this vintage sheet music blog.
Today, for an older french generation who has no idea who Pikachu is, the street slang term “bénard” stills designates a pair of pants, and “deffe” a generic casquette.
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Maquignons cutting a deal with a farmer (1894)
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Horse market in Chartres (circa 1910)
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“Goualantes de La Villette et d’ailleurs” Émile Chautard (1929)
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Apaches vs. Grippe-Coquins (Petit Journal, 1904)
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Street market Rue Mouffetard, 1900’s
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Rue Mouffetard, 1930s
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(Courtesy “Images Musicales Stories)
Besides this colorful Parisian influence, our Roadsteader design obviously borrows from the traditional Greek fisherman’s cap, and recreational ‘captain’ hat styles, in-turn inspired by military naval covers. This external blog post is a fun illustrated read if you’re into nautical headgear history.
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Elvis in Girls Girls Girls (1962)
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Gary Cooper in Souls At Sea (1937) – Thank you Mr. Sam Cox!
The design process to nail the pattern and construction of our Roadsteader Cap has been quite challenging for our in-house atelier, as attest the many prototypes made. Panels size, seams, stitching, dimensions, leather grade, trims, …, were endlessly tweaked during R&D. Our aim was not to rival with mil-specs hat makers Bancroft Cap Company, or traditional yachting cap specialist Lancaster Hat Co , but we still wanted a hat worthy of being featured in the ever-growing Mister Freedom® Sportsman catalog…
The MF® Roadsteader eventually passed the final exam and survived field-testing.
So there it is.
The MF® Roasteader Cap is designed and manufactured in California, USA, by Mister Freedom®.
SPECS:
An original MF® pattern, inspired by an assortment of vintage nautical covers and 1900’s french traditional working-class hats.
FABRIC:
Shell: NOS 2/1 indigo selvedge denim, about 8 Oz. (for reference, similar to the weight of a classic lightweight western denim snap shirt or vintage US Army barrack bag, as opposed to the 12~15 Oz. weight of traditional 3/1 denim 5-pocket jeans.)
Lining: Vintage NOS glazed 100% cotton fabric, silkscreen.
Leather trims: cowhide headband and visor, with genuine kangaroo hide headband lining.
DETAILS:
* Fancy old-school construction.
* Unstructured crown. (no plastic frame)
* Fully lined with NOS black glazed cotton, featuring original MF® silkscreened label.
* Cowhide leather headband.
* Unlined cowhide leather visor with indigo HBT tape piping.
* Genuine kangaroo hide headband facing, with red/white/blue bow.
* Traditional chinstrap was replaced by a riveted strap, featuring concealed denim selvedge ID.
* Made in USA.
SIZING:
The headband size in measured in centimeters. The headband will not stretch altogether, but the kangaroo lining will soften with wear and ‘loosen-up’ the fit a bit.
Size 58 (cm) roughly equates to a 7 ¼ hat size.
Size 60 (cm) roughly equates to a 7 ½ hat size.
Note that the crown of the Roadsteader is unstructured (no plastic frame) so that it will ‘slouch’ naturally with wear. We recommend cocking it to one side, and a bit to the back, for the old-salt vibe.
CARE:
Do not attempt to wash/dry the MF® Roadsteader Cap. Professional spot-cleaning only, if needed. With normal repeat wear, this cap will start to ‘slouch’ and the denim fabric begin to drape naturally. Both the indigo denim twill and leather will acquire a natural patina overtime.
We do not recommend trying to artificially hasten the normal aging process. Just wear and enjoy.
Available Raw/unwashed.
SIZES:
Size 58 (cm) (approx. 7 ¼)
Size 60 (cm) (approx. 7 ½)
Retail $249.95
Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles brick & mortar store, and fine retailers around the World.
Email sales@misterfreedom.com or call 323-653-2014 with any questions unanswered above.
Thank you for your support,
Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom® 2018
 Suggested extra noise-canceling set-up, pending USPTO approval.  Some MF® Oki Covers in their new environment. Mister Freedom® Oki Cover.
Recycled from 1940’s USMC ponchos.
Sportsman 2015, made in USA.
Recycling is green but the MF® Oki Cover comes in frogskin camo.
The name “Oki” is a reference to Okinawa, the home of the Counter Insurgency Support Office for a while, as we already mentioned while introducing the MF® Experimental Camouflage Utility Trousers during Spring 2015. To pretentiously quote ourselves, here is a bit of that interesting slice of History again:
“…To more efficiently handle logistics, the highly-classified Counter Insurgency Support Office is established on the island of Okinawa, Japan in 1963. Headed by a mysterious individual working for the Department of Army by the name of Conrad Benjamin Baker, CISO was “assigned the mission of supporting the Special Forces programs through triservice depots and local procurement sources (…) Many items of clothing and equipment, for example, had to be obtained from markets in other countries because of size problems, composition of material, and equipment which had to be tailored to Montagnard measurements.” (source)
CISO acquired or produced ‘sterile’ (untraceable if captured) weapons, along with unmarked clothing and equipment to outfit US Special Forces or advisors heading out to South Vietnam. Locally screen-printed tiger stripe camo fatigues, “bowie” knives, VC-style black pajamas, rations, machetes, Seiko watches for recon teams, black 1-0rain jackets, North Vietnamese Army-inspired rucksacks…
Basically, if it proved needed in the field, CISO sourced it out in Asia, or designed it and manufactured it locally. At a fraction of the price compared to US-made mil-specs issued gear, and quicker delivery than its state-side bureaucracy-laden official channel alternative. What exactly went on is not well documented, but Ben Baker’s account of his involvement in the original design and R&D of the famous SOG knife is available for download in pdf form here…”
In the tradition of local-made garments using recycled Government-issued equipment and fabrics, we have decided to ‘sacrifice’ a few NOS WW2 USMC ponchos scored recently to make some hats. These un-issued shelter halves are authentic and originate from different military contractors of the period. They were still craft paper-wrapped and stored in talc powder. They are all dated 1944.
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Original US Gov’t issued USMC ponchos, dated 1944
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Originally, these ponchos were mainly issued to GI’s in the Pacific theater of operations (PTO), as the frogskin camo pattern proved too close to the German’s variety of field concealment to avoid confusion in Europe (ETO). From Tarawa to Iwo Jima, island-hoping Marines made good use of these reversible rubberized canvas shelter halves, also turning them into floor mats, blankets, tents… Rarely pictured worn in combat situation probably due to obvious impracticability, these ponchos can still be spotted on period photography of the Pacific War.
 USN or USMC Camo poncho in action. GI’s unloading USN landing crafts, Iwo Jima 1945 (Courtesy LIFE) The pattern of our Oki Cover is of a generic engineer cap type, a cross between the Choo Choo Charlie hat and a 40’s UMSC cover. Our cap is pretty much reversible, and can be worn jungle side out or beach side out, although, for those understandingly allergic to branding, the green camo side features the MF® sportsman woven label.
DISCLAIMER: This NOS rubberized canvas fabric, although thin, feels quite stiff and starched, making crinkly noises even after being thoroughly washed. For argument sake, it can be said that once sitting on top of you head and shaped to your liking, the MF® Oki Cover should remain quiet if your hair grows less than a foot per day.
One can also look at the Oki Cover as a low-tech noise canceling hat.
The very limited MF® Oki Cover is made in California by Mister Freedom®, from recycled 1940’s USMC frogskin camo ponchos.
Also featured in the photos is the MF® Jump Scarf, recycled from authentic vintage 1950’s US military spot camouflage canopies.
Credits: Some historical references courtesy of this US Militaria Forum thread.
SPECS:
FABRIC:
Recycled NOS 1940’s USMC frogskin camo ponchos, original US Government issue, dated 1944. This batch of rubberized fabric is quite stiff and noisy. Each cap was washed thoroughly after completion and the fabric feels like dry fabric and not rubber.
We do not guarantee the waterproof quality of the fabric anymore, but applying some type of weatherproof fabric dressing might help, and prove more productive than suing the original 1944 contractor. We have yet to test, but the wax might also help with the crinkling noise.
Due to the nature of this 70 year-old vintage fabric, each hat might show wear from washing and abrasion, and feature tiny holes and minor fraying.
DETAILS:
* Engineer cap-type pattern.
* Reversible.
* Low-tech noise canceling technology.
* Limited Edition.
* Made in USA.
SIZING/FIT:
The Oki Covers come thoroughly washed and machine dried. No further shrinkage is to be expected.
They are sized by measuring the headband in centimeters. The sizing is discreetly stamped in black on the jungle side.
CARE:
Hand wash when needed. Shape and hang dry.
Available washed only.
Size:
59
60
Retail $129.95
Soon available from www.misterfreedom.com, and from our Los Angeles brick & mortar store.
Email sales@misterfreedom.com or call 323-653-2014 with any questions unanswered above.
Thank you for your support,
Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom®
Mister Freedom® original “Scuttler Cap”
After our Apache casquette, “La Deffe“, from our previous “Les Apaches” collections, here is another nod to bygone underworlds from across the pond. Not an apologia of violence or hooliganism by any means, just vintage pop culture inspiration.
I visited an exhibition in Paris a while back, featuring mugshots by French anthropometry photography pioneer Alphonse Bertillon, from the archives of the “Police Nationale” (from the 1880’s on). From a Costume History perspective, it was interesting to see outfits of the ‘everyday’ folks who had fallen on the wrong side of the Law. Snap shots of what they wore on the fatal day, caught in the act. Quite often a departure from silver screen wardrobe from period movies. There are a few interesting ‘mugshots’ books available today, from International origins.
While Paris of the Belle Époque had its ‘Apaches’, Manchester enjoyed the ‘Scuttlers’. While Paris of the Belle Époque had its ‘Apaches’, Manchester enjoyed the ‘Scuttlers’, all victims, misfits and drop-outs left by the wayside of the Second Industrial Revolution…
In “Teenage, Creation of Youth 1875-1945”, British writer Jon Savage describes their attire this way:
“…the “professional scuttler” wore “a puncher’s cap”, “narrow-go-wides” trousers, narrow-toed brass-tipped clogs, and heavy customized belts with designs, picked out in metal pins, that included serpents, stars, and pierced hearts. The “boy expert” Charles Russell observed that the Mancunian variant wore “a loose white scarf”, with hair “well plastered down upon his forehead”, “a peaked cap rather over one eye”, and trousers “cut – like a sailor’s – with ‘bell bottoms’”
More here or YouTube short doc here, for those interested.
Our version (again, nothing literal) of the “Scuttler Cap” is a eight panel ‘newsboy’ style hat, with an original Mister Freedom® pattern. It can be worn and shaped in several fashions, straight, tilted to the side or back, un-snapped, backwards, tilted to the front to hide a shiner…
Designed in California by Mister Freedom®, and hand made in small batches in our Los Angeles atelier.
SPECS:
* Assorted vintage selvedge New Old Stock fabrics, 100% cotton or cotton/linen métisse. Limited availability per styles. Textiles of assorted origins, 1930’s to 1960’s. See detailed fabric photos for plain weave indigo dyed, woven plaid, grey HBT, covert twill, woven stripes etc…
* Kangaroo leather inner headband.
* Matching fabric covered top buttons, hand made (yes, that was a task enough to be mentioned!)
* NOS cotton biased tape seam piecing.
* Snap brim (A-2 pockets type metal snaps, mil-specs)
SIZING:
Most caps have been cold soaked (to get that ‘torque’ fabric effect) and line dried. The head band will very lightly stretch back with repeat wear, and ‘mold’ to your head. Cap sizes are measured AFTER rinse, to the best of our abilities.
57cm (~ US 7 1/8)
58cm (~ US 7 1/4)
59cm (~ US 7 3/8)
60cm (~ US 7 1/2)
61cm (~ US 7 5/8)
62cm (~ US 7 3/4)
Professional cleaning when needed. Do NOT boil or machine wash.
Available rinsed or raw.
Retail $199.95
Call (323) 653-2014 or Email sales@misterfreedom.com to get yours while they last. We ship internationally. Thank you Lads for your support.
Mister Freedom® CASQUETTE La “Deffe”
No, I didn’t find the secret coveted stash of New Old Stock French 1920’s-30’s caps in an abandoned Parisian storage room… (where ARE those caps??? Every single gent owned at least one back then, but they are nowhere to be found today, as any vintage hound knows.)
What I did find last year was an awesome batch of NOS French wool/tweed & linings, a rare 20’s-30’s grouping of fabrics. All coming from an haberdashery manufacturer from Northern France, that had been around since the early 1920’s and closed its doors in the mid 1960’s.
We have some of the amazing clothes (mainly suiting) that came with this loot at the MF® store now. Some of which are now seen on screen (HBO Boardwalk Empire…)
So. We figured out how to make them, the same way they were made back then. The pattern is inspired by early french men’s casquettes, different from the newspaper boy cap, the US version of it.
The name “Deffe” is one of the many colourful Apache slang for headgear. Originally, a hat manufacturer called DESFOUX (located near Pont-Neuf, Paris) made silk caps favored by butchers, pimps and gangsters since 1878. ” Une Desfoux” became “une deffe” in french argot…
Some documentation can be found in the amazing 1930’s underworld studies written by Mr. Emile Chautard, who apparently spent more time in dives drinking absinthe with unorthodox characters than behind a desk sipping tea (“La vie étrange de l’Argot“, 1931). Many of Chautard insightful accounts have influenced our latest MFSC Apaches collection.
The casquette was worn slouched on the side of the head, straight was for squares. Bold fabric patterns, contrasting colours, mismatching weaves were the thing.
Calico shirt, red silk scarf, pied de poule deffe… you get the picture (or Brassaï did, when he shot la bande du Grand Albert in 1931…)
For the few who managed to read this far down, much obliged, so here are the specs of Mister Freedom® Casquette la “Deffe”!
SPECS
PATTERN: Original Mister Freedom® single panel pattern, typical of 1920’s-30’s French gents’ caps.
FABRIC: 100 year old New Old Stock (NOS) French fabrics. Variety of all wool patterns, weave and colours. Solid, tweeds, herringbone, houndstooth in very limited quantities. (See last photo for an idea of how the fabric rolls looked like when found.)
LINING: NOS 1930’s sturdy black rayon and/or moleskine, printed with Mister Freedom® original artwork.
DETAILS:
* Kangaroo leather sweatband
* Decorative crown strap, secured by 1900’s french NOS glass buttons
* Snap-up brim (vintage United Carr snap).
* All hand made in MF® Los Angeles atelier, by happy skilled artisans, while listening to good music.
SIZE: The can of worms…Few random sizes available, from about 57 cm to 60cm.
We use only one pattern, and due to variation in fabric thickness, fluctuating seam allowance, the crown size also varies sligthly +/- a few milimeters. No two casquettes are exactly the same.
57cm is close to US hat size 7 1/8
60cm is close to US hat size 7 1/2
CARE: Professional Hat cleaner Dry Cleaning ONLY, if needed. Do NOT wash.
Designed by Mister Freedom® and made in California in a limited edition.
From +/- 57 cm to +/- 60cm
Retail: $ 199.95
Call John or Jordan at (323) 653-2014 or Email sales@misterfreedom.com to get yours while they last. We ship internationally. Thank you for your support.
Courtesy of Monsieur Patrick Segui, the artist behind the paintbrush of our Apache collection boxtops artwork, check out this amazing photo of Grand-Père Segui (left) in 1931.
Photographed in “Alger-la-Blanche”, Algeria, then a French colony, this shot conveys the local street style of the Pépé le Moko generation. Deffe & all! A rare photograph of a young man who went on to join the ranks of the famed Zouaves and bravely fought his way through WW2.
Patrick’s original post here.
 
Another arrival from the Mister Freedom® x Sugar Cane Fall 2009 “Speed Safe” Collection:
Inspired by 1920’s and 1930’s workers, new paper boys…and motorcyclists head gear, the MFSC “Greaser” should keep ’em ducktails covered this winter…
You don’t need to pull off the Johnny BRMC look, this hat looks great with a Peacoat, tweed suit or your own combo. Many period photos show dockers and other factory workers sporting similar leather hats.
Can be shaped like a casquette, Apple hat, slouching to the side etc…and will look it’s best worn often and broken in.
SPECS:
* An all original MFSC® pattern
* Limited Edition
* Made of genuine Black front quarter Horsehide leather, USAF type A-2 Jacket grade. Exclusive MFSC® hide finish/treatment. Guaranteed to age and wear like beautiful vintage leather does. No ‘fake distressing’.
* 100% cotton NOS plaid fabric lining
* Manufactured in Japan by Sugar Cane’s specialized Hat Makers
* One size fits all (the head band can be lined with newspaper to make the head size tighter, as was often done back then)
(Unissued condition. Retail $329.95)
Call (323) 653-2014 or mail john@misterfreedom.com to order yours. We ship world wide.
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