“I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment will starve in the process.” Benjamin Harrison, President of the U.S., 1889-1893
Bloudini at work
MF® Cowboy blue denim Jacket, NOS Cone, made in USA Sportsman Fall 2015
Those familiar with some of my private after-hour rants will confirm that I’m not too big on consumerism (“the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy“), mass marketing, and wasting resources in general. I find the “Think/Own less/Pay more” motto quite convincing, and personally live in relative detachment from un-necessary material possessions, however subjective the concept of must-haves is. I do own more vintage records than I need.
If my disdain for the accumulation of ‘things’ is not necessarily evident to the visitor of the ol’ pile o’ rags at 7161 Beverly, these feelings hopefully transpire once in a while via my blog posts. Much to the consternation of the Mister Freedom® sales department, I’d rather confess to existential concerns in awkward write-ups than concoct the perfect sales pitch.
A moment of “relative detachment from un-necessary material possessions”…
The perfect sales pitch
I got da goods, wha ya need there, Nitz?
Whether shopping for groceries or auto parts, the amount of tantalizing junk and gadgets one sees sitting on store shelves and inside push carts never ceases to baffle me. Some of my fine Angeleno counterparts cruising while staring at their phone screen might not have fully noticed yet, but there is stuff eeeeeeeverywhere. Stuff, stuff, stuff… All that ‘stuff’ is getting to me, ‘Falling Down’ style, with Boris Vian rapping “La Complainte du Progrès” on the turntable.
So now, it never fails. With each Mister Freedom® garment release, a side of me sincerely feels guilty bringing yet another manufactured widget on the market. Besides the paycheck that helps relieve the angst, it has become quite challenging for me to intellectually balance a strong anti-consumerism inclination with a professional occupation that basically consists in relentlessly adding clothes to closets.
There’s not much to discuss in regards to the particular style of our accoutrement du jour. The Mister Freedom® blue denim Cowboy Jacket is another MF® twist on a classic, this time a ‘type III’ trucker jacket, a pattern briefly addressed with the release of its wheat recent predecessor.
MF® Cowboy Jacket in wheat denim
On the other hand, for those proclaiming a passion for denim like it’s the best thing since pizza, there’s always plenty to chew on regarding what manufacturing a pair of jeans involves. For instance, setting aside COO-related labor issues for a minute, our beloved blue jeans are not exactly Natures’s best friend when it comes to H2O… As compelling evidences of climate change keep pilling up, one doesn’t need to live in the Atacama Desert to realize the urgency to conserve and preserve water. This summer, complying California residents even had to refrain from hosing down the old SUV…
From the extensive industrial farming of the cotton crop, to the amount of water necessary for dye-houses to keep our rear ends wrapped in indigo, the tally appears to be around 2,900 gallons per pair. Add a few extra hundreds thanks to the combined efforts of an International band of geniuses who figured consumers would buy more jeans if only rigid denim was soft and distressed, and you can get that environmental footprint in super size. To complete the marketing ploy, the resulting stone-washed denim beauties tend to, surprise surprise, magically fall apart within a year, blown crotch and knees, and get dumped in landfills with no chance of being recycled. A vacuum for more demand has been created. All is well.
If MF®, as a small clothing brand, admits involvement in some stages of this not-so eco-friendly chain of events, just imagine what the garment-churning fashion giant conglomerates might have to confess…
Knowledge is out there, if you take the time to do a bit of research. Being aware of what goes on in your own closet, not just style-wise, can be depressing but is never a bad idea.
That is why I’m always grateful for documentaries and stories coming out of intelligent investigating journalism. If one can’t expect much from fashion publications, more preoccupied by not jeopardizing the flow of sponsors and advertisers than actually educating its audience, traditional news or entertainment media, on the other hand, do have scoops on the Garment Industry at times.
Randomly, Arte has some fine documentaries. Vice did an interesting bit a while back. The Guardian relaying this photo essay actually shed more light on Fashion than the latest issue of your favorite fashion magazine…
I recently came across an insightful Newsweek article, after watching a short French TV documentary mentioning the city of Tirupur, India. If you happen to wear clothes on a daily basis, that article is a must-read. Tirupur is better known as Knit City, playing a major role in feeding the avid consumer of fast-fashion with endless yardages of unbeatably-priced knitwear.
If someone you know owns a color T-shirt featuring a “Made in India” label, it was probably milled and dyed in Knit City, the reason why Wal-Mart could retail it for $10.00. The compulsive apparel bargain-hunter will find relief in learning that local farmers of that southern India region, as a motivation, have been enjoying the perks of purple-colored toxic rivers and invigorating water-borne diseases for decades.
Sorry ’bout that.
At this point, the aggravated consumer, claiming a limited budget, usually comes out with a quip along the lines of “But who the **** can afford a $70.00 T-shirt!?!”, to whom you can politely suggest that owning TWO instead of TWELVE might help.
Bottom line, most of you probably don’t need more clothes, let alone another denim jacket. And besides our commitment to supply fun projects to the small family-owned factory locally producing the Mister Freedom® Sportsman catalog, and a desire to keep our jobs in Los Angeles, we don’t even have much valid reasons for issuing one either.
So I thought I’d spare you the usual brand skit about how “awesome, superior, essential, authentic, second to none, blahh…” the Mister Freedom® blue denim Cowboy Jackets are, and leave you with the usual ‘vintage inspiration’ imagery instead.
Richard Widmark in Lee® (1958) Courtesy Getty Images.
EP in Levi’s® type III “Stay Away Joe” (1968) MGM
Brando in Lee® 101, Dick Cavett Show (1973)
Paul Zastupnevich’s costume design for Steve McQueen in “The Towering Inferno” (1974)
Bob in Lee®, (1976)
Life’s rough. Johnson Outboards ad (1975) “Skin Diver”
Above vintage photos are shown for educational purposes only. To the best of our knowledge, credits are as follows:
* Richard Widmark’s photo in “The Law and Jake Wade” (1958) and M. Brando on the Dick Cavett Show (1973) courtesy of Getty Images.
* McQueen’s wardrobe sketch by Paul Zastupnevich for “The Towering Inferno” (1974) courtesy of this website via that one.
* Robert Redford in 1976 courtesy of Rex Features.
Having said that, the MF® Cowboy Jacket is designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS:
PATTERN:
Inspired by traditional trucker-type denim jackets, aka third-type jackets.
FABRIC:
Limited New Old Stock Cone Mills indigo blue denim, 12.5 Oz., white/red line selvedge ID, sanforized. Milled in the USA.
DETAILS:
* Fairly trim silhouette, sixties vibe.
* Fabric selvedge displayed on inside front panels.
* Original MF® slanted flap chest pockets.
* Original brass cast MF® branded buttons.
* MF® yellow “M” stitching on pockets.
* Orange and yellow stitch combination.
* Blue 2×1 denim pocket flap lining.
* All cotton thread chainstitch construction.
* Buttoned cinch-waist side tabs.
* Copper rivet backed by leather washers for pockets and sleeve placket reinforcements.
* Debossed leather MF® original patch.
* Made in USA.
SIZING/FIT:
The blue denim Cowboy Jacket comes UN-WASHED and cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry. This specific denim shrinks quite significantly.
We recommend our usual method for raw blue denim garments:
* 30-40mn cold soak with intermittent hand agitation, in minimally-filled washing machine or bath tub.
* Spin dry cycle (if using a machine).
* Hang dry.
* As an optional step, wear the garment briefly when still not fully dry, in order to slightly shape it to your body and set creases. Hang and let fully dry.
When following this routine, the denim garment will dry quite stiff, due to the re-activated fabric starch contained in the cotton yarns. This is normal and will subside with normal wear.
I went for the Medium (38) in the blue denim Cowboy Jacket, my usual size in msfc garments, although I had opted to size down to a 36 with the wheat version.
Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements. Soaked = 30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry.
CARE: Wash when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
We recommend turning the jacket inside out to avoid marbling on the indigo side.
Hand washing can be a good option for those concerned with specific wear patterns and high-contrast colors fades. Otherwise, machine wash inside out with cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry.
Please note that the debossed graphic on the leather patch will naturally ‘flatten out’ when soaked in water.
Available RAW/unwashed
SIZES:
X-Small (34)
Small (36)
Medium (38)
Large (40)
X-Large (42)
XX-Large (44)
Perso Lot.74 blue jeans worn for about 2 months, laundered once.
Lot.74 Californian blue jeans, NOS Cone denim. “The Sportsman” catalog, made in USA, Fall 2015.
Immediately following its recent New Old Stock wheat denim release, the new Mister Freedom® Lot.74 swept the nation overnight…
Rumors of ferocious shopping stampedes have been relayed by the media, said rumors now backed by strong unequivocal photographic evidence.
Salut les filles…
“OOOMG, the Lot.74 has arrived!!” (Courtesy “Confessions of a Shopaholic” 2009 Walt Disney Studios)
To mark the addition of the Lot.74 blue jeans pattern to the Sportsman catalog for Fall 2015, we thought of simultaneously issuing a compañero to our wheat denimamigo. Fresh-off a coveted California factory, this run is made from a handsome 12.5 Oz blue denim, limited yardage of NOS from Cone Mills found in a local warehouse. This righthand twill denim is of an attractive shade of indigo blue, featuring a white and red stripe selvedge ID.
The Californian Lot.74 is not just another iteration of previous Californian lots, and departs quite a bit from its Lot.64 or Lot.654 predecessors. For one, the fit has been trimmed significantly for a 60’s McQueenesque vibe, with a fitted top block and a straight leg from the knee on down. The Lot.74 are no jeggings (aka denim tights for the connoisseur) however, those being readily available elsewhere, raw and in all kinds of fierce and desirable chemical washes.
The lot.74 might be a good option for ‘smaller frame’ fit individuals looking for a period-proportioned seat/thigh/calf silhouette.
The keen eye will notice that McQueen, at an alleged 5’9 ½ and a waist 32 according to Western Costumes, opted to have some of his classic dungarees taken in from the knee down to achieve that specific visual balance. During his Johnny Strabler days in “The Wild One” (1953), Brando, at 5’8 and in a body-type league of his own, had the Columbia Pictures’ Costume Department alter his 501® from the knee down as well. Part of the popularity of the traditional five pocket jeans pattern, through decades of ever-changing fashion, might reside in its easily-altered outseam.
Mc Queen in jerry-rigged denim (photo William Claxton 1965)
Brando in altered denim (1953) Courtesy Getty Images.
The addition of an old school “Gripper Zipper” to our Californian is a nod to the supposed improvement that zip-fly jeans were over their button-fly model counterparts. If H.D. Lee® introduced his 101z slide-fastener fly cowboy jeans in 1926, and the Levi’s® suits-controlled design team started playing with them around 1951, it is not until the 1960’s that zippers evolved into a popular feature on most blue jeans. Today, zipper jeans are in general considered unfashionable and usually pooh-poohed by denimheads, somewhat of a convincing argument in itself to release a MF® version.
The rear pockets of the Lot.74 have been subjected to an overhaul, and are inspired by 60’s-70’s denim pocketing rather than the 1950’s influence of our original Lot.54. If the rear pockets top reinforcement stitching is still there, we have removed the hidden rivets, saving the Planet one copper rivet at a time.
The denim fabric selvedge is still inconspicuously featured on the outseam, the watch pocket fold and the overlocked fly placket. Our choice of pocket bag fabric for this season’s Lot.74 Californian is a solid navy blue 100% cotton pique, part of a NOS grouping of French workwear fabrics scored a while back.
The Sportsman “Californian” LOT.74 blue jeans are designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS:
PATTERN:
Inspired by traditional five-pocket type 1960′s-1970’s era blue jeans, traditional slim fit, straight leg from the knee down. The Lot.74 is our slimmest five-pocket jeans cut, and is as slim as we’ll go, with a silhouette similar to that of the Malibu’s and a mid-high rise.
FABRIC:
Limited New Old Stock Cone Mills indigo blue denim, 12.5 Oz., white/red line selvedge ID, unsanforized. Milled in the USA. Pocket bags: French NOS navy blue cotton pique, from an old stock of French workwear fabric lot.
DETAILS:
* Five pockets.
* Zip fly, vintage-style brass ‘Gripper Zipper” pull.
* Twelve types of 100% cotton threads (gauge and color combination) used for construction. Main colors are yellow and orange.
* Re-designed rear pocket shape, featuring MF® original “M” stitch in banana yellow.
* Original debossed leather MF® patch on rear pocket.
* Top pocket reinforcement zig-zag stitching.
* Original brass cast MF® branded waist button.
* Unmarked copper riveting for pocket reinforcement.
* Fabric selvedge featured on leg outseams, zip fly placket and coin pocket fold.
* Original MF® ‘smoke-free Johnny’ pocket paper flasher.
* Made in sunny California, USA.
SIZING/FIT
The Californian LOT.74 comes UN-WASHED and cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry. A tagged W32 x L34 “Californian” actually measures about 34” x 36½” when raw, and will shrink to approx. 32” x 34” after soak/dry.
Although some opt to wear their jeans raw and never wash them, a more practical and sensible option seems to be the cold soak/line dry/wear-when-damp to set creases protocole.
Which size works for you depends on how you like your jeans to fit. I wear a slim-fitting but comfortable tagged W32 in the Lot.74.
We recommend getting your usual waist size, although proper fit is a subjective matter and everyone has their own idea of what looks good.
As with all denim twill, shrinkage and stretching will occur for a while and will depend on the wearer’s body, activities and initial fit.
Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements. Soaked = 30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry (ie. minimal shrinkage).
CARE: Wash your jeans when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
When cleaning is required, machine wash inside out to avoid marbling. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. Please note that the debossed artwork on the leather patch will naturally ‘flatten out’ when soaked in water. As devastating as it is, this is normal.
Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear.
Available RAW/unwashed/Un-sanforized
Sizes
W28 x L32
W29 x L32
W30 x L32
W31 x L32
W32 x L34
W33 x L34
W34 x L34
W36 x L34
W38 x L34 Retail $299.95
If cabaret extraordinaire and Art Deco muse Josephine Baker’s banana skirt instantly raised eyebrows in 1925, her apparently innocent frivolous rendition of “Petite Tonkinoise” in 1930 would take many more years to spark controversy and criticism. In the song, she interprets Mélaoli, an Annamite damsel enamored with a French soldier deployed to the Tonkin region. For the wordplay-in-French amateur, Mélaoli is a not-so-clever phonetic quip involving bed (lit) activities.
Ms. Baker’s version of the song, although rewritten for a female singer and stripped of its original 1906 lyrics popularized by the jovial Polin, an army barracks’ favorite, still carried its risqué colonial tone. Nothing yet politically incorrect for the France of the 1930’s however, and the song was a huge success. By popular demand, an updated version was even recorded by the artist in 1953.
With enough sexual innuendoes to make Wynonie Harris blush, the original “Petite Tonkinoise” is a chanson of its time, today mostly remembered for its stuttering verse “ma Tonkiki, ma Tonkiki, ma Tonkinoise”. Don’t listen to it twice or you’ll be humming it in the morning.
Annamite traditional attire (1800s)
Tonkinoise
“Petite Tonkinoise” 1906 music sheet, strangely featuring a Japanese lady.
Josephine Baker, Folies Bergère,”Folies du Jour” revue, Paris (1926-27). Photo Lucien Waléry
Josephine Baker and Chiquita, her cheetah pet (1930)
Josephine Baker collecting clothing for Japanese American babies, Los Angeles (1952 Toyo Miyake Studio)
Not forecasted in the song was the fact that some of the fruits of those exotic military campaign idyls would one day stroll the French countryside, in refugee camps such as the CAFI of Sainte-Livrade-Sur-Lot (Camp d’Accueil des Francais d’Indochine in the Southwest of France), anecdotally located a few miles from where I spent many summers as a kid. Vietnamese families of veterans fallen during their Indochine campaign also joined the camps ranks.
Following the Geneva Accords of 1954, Franco-Vietnamese families who supported the French occupation of Indochina, and gained from it, started fleeing the homeland to escape communist retaliation. The French government, juggling with its first post-colonial hot potato, relocated the refugees in hastily-built facilities. The communities’ fate often fell into bureaucratic oblivion.
Neglected for decades, the CAFI of Sainte-Livrade-Sur-Lot was being renovated when we drove by in 2014. Some still called it home at the time.
Incidentally, and unrelated, about 60 miles from the CAFI, stands the majestic XIV Century Château des Milandesonce the home of, by then decorated WW2 veteran, philanthropist and activist Josephine Baker, and her ‘rainbow tribe’. She, her husband, and their international adopted family of twelve lived there for years. I remember visiting the castle some 35 years ago.
CAFI Sainte Livrade original facilities before demolition, (July 2014)
B&W Rainbow Tribe and colorful Château des Milandes
Josephine Baker, husband Jo Bouillon, and partial Rainbow Tribe.
Josephine Baker, Légion d’Honneur ceremony (1961)
Before we drift even further off-topic, let’s mention that it is not as an homage to the song risqué verbiage or nostalgic colonial content that we have chosen to call our latest Saigon Cowboy shirt “La Tonkinoise”, but as a reference to bygone days of exotic advertising, and to that shirt plausible origin as a 1930’s-40’s Tonkin tailor made garment.
Our Tonkinoise is loaded with details gathered from several vintage shirts. Most of the details are concealed but a stand-out feature of the Tonkinoise is its specific collar pattern. It was adapted from a wind-protectant high neck flippable collar, the fancy feature of an obscure vintage US military wool shirt from our archives. Militaria experts might be able to easily ID this shirt model, but I admit not being familiar with it. We reduced the size of the original collar, which looked too much like a crackerjack flap to my liking.
Our own Champollion, Cristian ‘Champ’ Dascalu, is responsible for identifying the barely readable woven label of that vintage shirt as saying “REYEM, Meyer’s Military Shops, Washington D.C.”. It is likely that Jean-François himself would not have figured out that Reyem is Meyer spelled backwards, so we consider the Champ’s finding one giant leap for Mankind.
Champollion at work
To spice things up, we opted for a contrasting rainbow chainstitch on the inside of the shirt, a nod to an old stunt we pulled years ago, and a reference to the multicolored embroidery often featured on vintage Vietnam ‘Party’ jackets, and not necessarily to Doritos.
As with our recently released Garrison Shirt, the Tonkinoise buttonhole placket is another example of tailoring prowess, courtesy of Toyo Enterprises pattern maker Mr. Fukutomi. The intricate pattern of the elbow and cuff section is yet another nod to an old flame. The arcuate shape of the back of the collar is an attractive feature lifted from vintage French shirts of the 1920’s-30’s.
The two fabrics we chose for the Mister Freedom® Tonkinoise are two old acquaintances. The first one is the ‘snowy’ Lot.A 2×1 selvedge slubby denim of the MF® Appaloosa Shirt, this time milled in Japan to the exact specs of the original NOS fabric we had used in 2013.
The second option is the Buzz Rickson’s USN-type blue chambray, previously featured on two mfsc garments, the Chambray Patrol Shirt and the “Cholon” Continental.
The MF® Tonkinoise is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in Japan by Sugar Cane Co.
Note: Featured in some of our photo rigs are a well-worn pair of MF® x Palladium “Palladenim“, inspired by vintage French jungle boots.
SPECS:
FABRIC: a) “Snow” denim: Dark and slubby 10 Oz. 2×1 indigo blue denim, White/yellow line selvedge ID, milled in Japan. b) “BR” blue Chambray: Buzz Rickson’s all cotton blue chambray, 1940’s USN mil-specs, selvedge with white/blue line selvedge ID, milled in Japan. The Chambray version of the Tonkinoise is only available in the US.
DETAILS:
* An original mfsc pattern, inspired by 1930’s-40’s military uniform shirting. * ‘Windproof’ high button-up collar. * Arcuate pattern on back of collar. * Tailor-made type buttonhole placket construction. * Selvedge button placket. * Intricate sleeve cuff/elbow reinforcement pattern. * Concealed rainbow colored chainstitched accents on the inside. * Selvedge side gussets, self fabric. * White corozo wood buttons, aka ivory nut. * 100% cotton thread stitching. * Made in Japan.
SIZING/FIT:
The MF® Tonkinoise shirt comes raw/un-rinsed and will shrink to tagged size after the initial rinse/dry process. We recommend a ~30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry. This shirt is true-to-size, with a fitted yet comfortable silhouette. If you are generally a Medium in mfsc shirts, you are a Medium in the Tonkinoise.
Both shirt options will shrink to approximately the same size.
Please refer to sizing chart for measurements. Please note our measurements reflect a 30mn cold soak/spin dry/line dry process, resulting in minimal shrinkage.
It is obvious that the raw measurements are given for reference only. If they reflect the difference in shrinkage of both raw fabrics, the measurements that actually matter are the post soak measurements. We do believe that shirts, as most washable garments, should regularly be laundered according to use.
Tonkinoise Chambray
Tonkinoise Denim
CARE: Launder when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
Machine wash. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. We recommend turning indigo blue/denim garments inside out to avoid marbling when washing. Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear. Please note that the dark indigo blue denim Tonkinoise ‘bleeds’ a lot at first, and color transfer will temporarily stain light-colored garments and furniture.
Worn Californian LOT.54, featuring the same NOS Cone Mills denim than the LOT.654
Mister Freedom® “Californian” LOT.654, made in USA. The Sportsman Fall 2015
To the ocean of five-pocket jeans flooding the creative world of apparel, we will be adding a few MF® drops this Fall.
The first splash is somewhat a reedition of our MF® “Californian” LOT.54 blue jeans, introduced in 2010. We have modified the pattern a bit to blend the specs of the original LOT.54 with the slightly more tapered leg of our popular LOT.64. After an intense board meeting, we all agreed on calling them 654.
Besides the updated silhouette, the rest of the 54’s bells & whistles are still there, from the rear pocket Batman-meets-McD’s “M” stitch, to the combination of 12 different cotton threads, to the painstakingly debossed leather patch.
“Debossing is a team effort. It is fun and I like it.” Cristian Dascalu (2015)
The fabric we chose for this Fall 2015 edition of the LOT.654 is a different batch of the same New Old Stock denim we had scored for the LOT.54, a nice 12 Oz. denim twill from Cone Mills, white/red line selvedge ID. This denim fabric fades nicely overtime.
The pocket bags are made of NOS fabric as well, solid and unassuming white HBT pocketing.
The Sportsman “Californian” LOT.654 blue jeans are designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.
Please note that the photos of the worn Californian LOT.54 above are for denim evolution reference only. The Californian LOT.654 blue jeans are only available raw, and we do not offer a “Worn Californian LOT.54” wash. The “CL perso” wash is still not available either. You’d be surprised…
SPECS:
PATTERN:
Inspired by traditional 1950′s-1960’s era blue jeans, traditional fit, slightly tapered leg.
FABRIC:
NOS Cone Mills blue denim, 12 Oz., white/red line selvedge ID, unsanforized. Milled in the USA. Pocket bags: NOS white HBT fabric.
DETAILS:
* Five pockets, two legs.
* Button fly.
* Selvedge leg outseams…
* Original white “M” stitch design on rear pockets.
* Debossed leather MF® patch on rear pocket.
* Twelve types of 100% cotton threads (gauge and color combination) used for construction. Main colors are yellow and orange.
* Coin pocket with concealed selvedge.
* Hidden back pocket reinforcement rivets, with top pocket reinforcement zig-zag stitching.
* Rear pocket partial lining.
* Original silver-color ‘oxidized’ MF® metal cast waist/fly buttons.
* Unmarked copper riveting for reinforcement.
* Original MF® paper pocket flasher.
* Made in USA
SIZING/FIT
The Californian LOT.654 comes UN-WASHED and cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an original cold soak/line dry. A tagged W32 x L34 “Californian” actually measures about 34” x 36½” before wash. It will shrink to approx. 32” x 34” after rinse/dry.
Which size works for you depends on how you like your jeans to fit. I wear a comfortable tagged waist 32 in the Lot.654
We recommend getting your usual waist size, although proper fit is a subjective matter and everyone has their own idea of what looks good.
As with all denim twill, shrinkage and stretching will occur for a while and will depend on the wearer’s body, activities and initial fit.
Although some opt to wear their jeans raw and never wash them, a more practical and sensible option seems to be the cold soak/line dry/wear-when-damp to set creases protocole, and subsequent machine wash when cleaning is required.
Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements. Soaked = 30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry (ie. minimal shrinkage).
Californian Lot.654
CARE: Wash your jeans when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
Machine wash inside out to avoid marbling. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. Please note that the debossed graphic on the leather patch will naturally ‘flatten out’ when soaked in water. As devastating as it is, this is normal.
Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear.
Available RAW/unwashed/Un-sanforized
Sizes
W28 x L32
W29 x L32
W30 x L32
W31 x L32
W32 x L34
W33 x L34
W34 x L34
W36 x L34
W38 x L34 Retail $299.95
Utility Trousers, Denim
“Saigon Cowboy” mfsc spring 2015
utility
u·til·i·ty
yo͞oˈtilədē/
adjective
* functional rather than attractive. Example: “utility clothing”
There is it.
We previously introduced the featured trousers of our Saigon Cowboy spring collection with their recent experimental camo release. The same pattern was used for this denim issue. The Utility Trousers, Denim borrow details from US Navy dungarees (CONTRACT DA-30-352TAP-2031 to be precise), Army chino trousers, M-51 field trousers, Marine Corps M1941 trousers… all blended in the MF® shaker.
The fabric is that of the Utility Jacket, Denim, inspired by the lightweight 2×1 denim of original 40’s-50’s US Army barrack bags.
Expertly milled in Japan based on a vintage US Army un-issued barrack bag from 1951, our new 10 Oz. indigo-dyed selvedge denim features a slight nep (woven ‘imperfections’ in the form of tiny whitish cotton balls), with the stiff-dry-crispy feel of NOS denim.
Blue inspiration
As a work-type garment not having to rank high in attractiveness, our Utility Trousers are quite inconspicuous, in and out. And, do mark your calendars, we went as far as not show the selvedge anywhere. Refreshing, isn’t it. For the selvedge galore, and a tantalizing KP duty tuxedo, check out the trousers’ matching top.
To complete the unassuming appearance, our utes feature black-painted ‘burst of Glory’ type metal buttons, black oxidized donut fly buttons, and black color cotton thread tonal stitching.
The specific sizing S,M,L,XL applied to trousers could sound odd, but is a nod to old military field pants featuring cinch tabs. Those are often tagged with a ‘size range’ as opposed to a precise measurement, reflecting the waist-adjusting pull tabs.
The “US” stamp stands for sizing following American standards, as opposed to the “A” stamp differentiating Asian standards garments with CISO-issued gear.
Along with our Evac Jak and Utility Jacket, Denim these Utility Trousers, Denim are extrapolations of historical events we are briefly evoking as we unfold this Saigon Cowboy collection. Some will be familiar with these pages of History, some will wonder why on Earth we’re turning them, some will enjoy learning tidbits, some will want to burn the book, some will zip to the washing instructions…
I personally consider the Past to be valuable forewarning material, rather than mere dust for under the rug. You don’t agree or not with factual History, you are either aware of it and learning a lesson, or ignoring it and perpetrating more of the same. Most readers of this blog are probably too young to have either fought or protested the Vietnam war. Still, mentioning it in 2015 seems important food for thought to me. I won’t be sharing macabre combat photography that no one wants to look at, nor glamorize events either. I won’t even tell it like it is, because I was 10 when it ended and have no idea how it was. But enticing one to look things up with these brief posts will hopefully prove more useful than sharing self-coaching quotes on cutesy sunset photo backgrounds, or other such inspirational platitudes social media grace us with. History comes in handy in the voting booth.
“How are you tomorrow?”
Michael Herr, Dispatches (1977)
The Utility Trousers, Denim are designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in Japan by Sugar Cane Co.
FABRIC:
10 Oz. indigo-dyed 2×1 denim, solid white ID selvedge. Milled in Japan.
DETAILS:
* Inspired by vintage military utility trousers.
* Mid-high waisted.
* Front patch pockets locked in side seam, rear patch pockets, horizontal HBT.
* Side cinch tabs, mil-spec slide buckle.
* Flat black-painted Metal “13 Stars” tack waist button.
* Oxidized black donut-type fly buttons.
* Flat felled seams, chainstitch.
* 100% cotton tonal stitching.
* Made in Japan.
SIZING/FIT
This garment comes raw/unwashed and will shrink to tagged size after an original cold soak/line dry. Further shrinkage to be expected with the use of hot water and heat dryer.
I decided to size down in those, as I had done with the Crew Pants of the Sea Hunt spring 2013 collection, and I am wearing a Small (30). When both fully cinched, the waist tabs can tighten the fit by about 2 inches, but a Medium looked too baggy on me. A tagged Small technically corresponds to a 30-32 inch waist.
Please refer to sizing chart for measurements reflecting a 30mn cold soak no agitation/line dry.
CARE: Launder when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
Machine wash. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. We recommend turning indigo blue/denim garments inside out to avoid marbling when washing.
Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear.
Available RAW/unwashed SIZES:
X-Small (28)
Small (30)
Medium (32)
Large (34)
X-Large (36)
XX-Large (38)
