Skivvy « CHRISTOPHELOIRON®

The “STANLEY” T-Shirt, tubular knit, made in USA.

: Notice the leg work

The “Stanley” T-Shirt, made in USA
Sportsman Spring 2015

The year was 1947. Manhattan was bustling, everyone had somewhere to go. A gang of weary street workers was taking a break from pouring asphalt on 8th Ave. Muggy air, sticky undershirts two sizes too small, dirty buckle-back dungarees, studded reflector belts, floppy work caps… There it was. Lucinda Ballard had her Stanley Kowalsky. She would play around with undershirts and work pants to dress-up her volatile ‘survivor of the Stone Age‘ roughneck character in Streetcar.

That winter, Broadway was about to get a treat. An unknown 23 year-old mannish kid from Nebraska would mumble his way on stage for the next two years, mesmerizing the audience of the Ethel Barrymore Theater. Some felt sorry for the kid at first, assuming performance anxiety kept him from acting, like normal actors in those days did. Kowalski was not acting, not declaiming, the kid was too realistic… Some thought a stagehand had inadvertently walked on stage and started chatting away with the cast. But that was Marlon Brando doing his thing, setting new rules and raising the bar for future generations of actors.

After the tremendous Broadway success, the play was adapted to film by Warner Bros in 1951, and shot in 36 working days. The entire original cast hit the silver screen. “Desire” was Brando’s ride to stardom.
Immortalized by Hollywood, the movie’s wardrobe won Ms. Ballard a nomination for the ’51 Academy Awards for “Best Costume Design”, and Stanley Kowalsky a permanent medal in the “Wet T-Shirt Contest” category, along with an eternal gratitude from the BVDs sales dept.

: Photo Carl Van Vechten (1947)

: Streetcar wardrobe test (1950)

: Photo John Engstead (1951)

: With Kim Hunter and Nick Dennis (1951)

: Stanley Kowalsky & Blanche Dubois

And that is the brief story behind the name of our next entry in the Mister Freedom® Sportsman catalog this Spring 2015. Meet “Stanley”, Skivvy‘s little brother.
Both Skivvy and Stanley bodies share the same T-shape design, construction and pattern specs, originally inspired by a vintage 1940’s USMC sage green undershirt, as outline when we originally released the Skivvy T-Shirt in 2013. We are still using tubular knit, flatlock seams, roping collar and fitfies-style 1/4 sleeves. And still making it in the USA.

For the Stanley T-Shirt however, I wanted a lighter gauge fabric. Our inspiration this time was more ‘old souvenir shop’ or vintage ‘PX merchandise’ than Mil-Specs. We were lucky to score a very special slubby and light-weight 100% cotton jersey, milled in the USA. Those partial to modern, oversized, heavy-weight T-Shirts might consider our Stanley fabric a bit ‘cheap’ and thin… But that’s exactly what we wanted, there’s plenty of the Beefy-T kind around.
Those familiar with vintage clothing, will notice that this specific fabric is quite reminiscent of 1960’s-70’s tourist T’s and rock T’s (often imports from Pakistan at that time). For the collector, that family of vintage T’s stands out for its loosely knitted stretchy jersey, heavy twist and distortion of the fabric, and dreadful shrinkage that often turned tourists shirts into unwearable cropped tops after the first hot wash.

We decided to get smart and conducted extensive shrink tests to make our Stanley T-Shirt actually fit after laundry. The Stanley fits pretty much like our Skivvy, although featuring much more mechanical stretch due to the looser weave. The Stanley all-cotton jersey has a ‘memory’ and reverts to its intended fit after stretch. As was the case with the Skivvy however, it is normal for a T-Shirt to feel snugger when first slipped on in the morning than at the end of the day.

To spice things up for Spring 2015, along with the white version, we have carefully selected specific color options, classic colors inspired by vintage shirts from the MF® archives.
* Black
* Gold (Yellow)
* Jungle Green (Olive)
* Red
* Royal Blue
* Heather Grey (Note that this option is not slubby jersey, but similar to the Skivvy cotton jersey)

Contrary to the dictate of the garment distressing industry, we will “let the wearers put in the years.”
These are ‘straight up’ colors, in the sense that we did not do a ‘vintage wash’ to age our Stanley T-Shirts artificially. Indeed, we have noticed that simply wearing the clothes always gets you to that ‘vintage look’, naturally and without chemicals. Due to the specific dyeing process we opted for, our colors are guaranteed to fade to attractive hues with repeat wash/wear cycles and sun exposure.

The Stanley T-Shirt is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in the USA.

SPECS:

FABRIC:
100% cotton light-weight slubby tubular jersey knit, milled in the USA. This fabric twists and torques. This natural yarn distortion is expected and not a default.

COLORS:
* White
* Black
* Gold (Yellow)
* Jungle Green (Olive)
* Red
* Royal Blue
* Heather Grey

DETAILS:
* Original Mister Freedom® pattern, inspired by vintage 1940′s-50′s cotton T-shaped undershirts.
* Old school 1/4 sleeve length.
* Tubular knit (no side seams)
* Cover stitch self-fabric neckband.
* Normal mechanical stretch and fabric memory.
* Combination of flatlock and cover stitch construction, inspired by 1940′s USMC Government issued undershirts.
* 100% cotton thread, for natural roping on seams.
* Original MF® “The Sportsman” black woven rayon label on neck band.
* Made in USA.

SIZING/FIT:
The white options comes unwashed and will shrink to the desired tagged size after an initial wash/dry cycle. All color options have already shrunk to the desired size.
The Stanley fits like the Skivvy does, but due to the nature of its stretchy jersey, the Stanley might feel looser at first.
I wear Medium (38) on most MFSC garments, but sized down to a Small for both MF® Stanley and Skivvy, just personal taste. According to your built and silhouette preference, get your normal size or size down for a slimmer/shorter old school fit.
Refer to sizing chart below for washed/machine dried approximate measurements (measured flat, without pulling/stretching):

CARE:
Low-maintenance as a T-Shirt should be, just throw your Stanley in the washer/dryer, cold or hot water, delicate cycle. No bleach. Keep colors separate to avoid potential color transfer when doing laundry.

SIZES:
Due to the special nature of this tubular jersey, sizing is limited. (We are working on adding X-Large in the near future.)
Small
Medium
Large

RETAIL:
White Stanley: $69.95
Color Stanley: $69.95

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. We will soon be offering original MF® graphics silkscreened on the Stanley T-Shirts…
Thank you for your support.

“SKIVVY” Shirt (Made in California), Mister Freedom® ‘The Sportsman’ Collection, Spring 2013

Mister Freedom® “SKIVVY” Shirt, tubular white Tee, made in USA.
‘The Sportsman’ Collection, Spring 2012

Introducing the MF® “SKIVVY”, a new addition to “The Sportsman” 2013 Collection.

Not long after I watched “Rebel Without a Cause” in the early 80’s did I become partial to wearing plain white cotton Tshirts with a ‘Jim Stark’ fit. Wearing a plain white T was both a neutral statement and a reference to America for me. Little did I know that some 30 years later, i’d be trying to figure out how to make one…
At that time you would pick up a cheap three-pack (‘Fruit of the Loom’ or ‘Hanes’) from the local surplus store. They would last for years and soften up overtime, and eventually retire as wiping rags in the garage.

A young John F. Kennedy staring out from his balcony in 1954, U.S. Servicemen at ease, dock workers, U.S. Navy old salts on deck, McQueen on the set of “The Sand Pebbles” in 1966 and other Hollywood icons… Men from all walks of life had sported white Tees.

Since the 1930’s, long before Tshirts were used to convey messages and promote businesses, plain ‘T’ shaped shirts had become a standard garment for men, slowly replacing Henley type undershirts. They were also more accepted when worn on the outside than the tank top, its side kick, was.
According to ‘The White T’ book by Alice Harris (Umbra Editions, Inc., 1996, ISBN 0-06-270166-5), the short sleeve white cotton Tshirt, as we know it, was officially adopted by the U.S. Navy in 1913. Followed the Marine Corps during WW2, issuing Marines three white “skivvy shirts”, later in 1944 to be changed to a sage green version, a standard GI issue until about 1958. In 1948, the Army issued the “Quarter Sleeve Undershirt” to all recruits…

The USMC issued undershirts were different in construction from other basic Tshirts. They were half the weight and featured flatlock seams, the inspiration for the MF® “SKIVVY” Tee. See image below of the vintage USMC sage green issue shirt from our archives (Size 1, never worn!)

On our quest to produce a ‘simple’ Mister Freedom® white Tee, we were lucky to have access to 100% cotton tubular 18 single (18/1) jersey, loomed from USA grown cotton and manufactured in California. Tubular jersey has no side seams, like on most vintage Tshirts, which requires specific looms for each size, a bit challenging for small productions.
Unlike most modern Tshirts, the MF® SKIVVY has an ‘old school’ 40’s-50’s silhouette, inspired by a combination of old photos and vintage shirts, often a bit ill-fitting by today’s standards. The 1/4 sleeves are a bit shorter and the body slightly ‘boxier’ than your average contemporary Tshirt, giving the MF® Skivvy that ‘hand-me-down’ intentional feel. The thin neck band is also a nod to early vintage Tshirts.
As always, our shirt is not a replica, just an humble interpretation of a classic piece.
Designed by Mister Freedom® and MADE in CALIFORNIA, USA.

Also, we will soon be offering original MF® graphics past and present (see below for some Tshirt graphics we have done in the past 10 years), all printed in-house by hand, with water-based ink that will age and fade with wash & wear. The fun silkscreening process here.

SPECS:
PATTERN: An original Mister Freedom® pattern, inspired by 1940’s-50’s cotton Tshirts
FABRIC: Unbleached 100% cotton 18/1 tubular jersey, cotton grown and knitted in the USA. Carded open end yarn.
CONSTRUCTION: Combination of flatlock and cover stitch, inspired by 1940’s USMC Government issued ‘skivvies’. Tubular body, no side seams.
STITCHING: Natural color 100% cotton thread, unbleached.
LABELING: Original MF® woven rayon label on neck band, with stamped sizing tab.

SIZING/WASHING: Low-maintenance as a Tshirt should be, just throw in the washer/dryer, cold or hot water, no bleach. The cotton jersey will stretch out with wear and ‘mold’ to your body.
According to your built and silhouette preference you can get your normal size or size down for a slimmer/shorter fit (as often seen in vintage photos.)
I wear Medium (38) on most MFSC garments, but sized down to Small for the MF® Skivvy, just personal preference. I like to slightly ‘pull’ on it to distort and give torque to the tubular jersey.
Refer to sizing chart below for washed/machine dried approximate measurements (measured flat, without pulling/stretching):

Available RAW/Unwashed (will shrink to tagged size)
SIZES xS, S, M, L, xL, xxL

Retail SOLID white (plain) $69.95

Call 323-653-2014 or email sales@misterfreedom.com to get yours. We ship internationally to select Countries. As always, thank you sincerely for your support.