1930s Diamond Tweed Sportscoat

Without a doubt, my favourite thing about pre-1960s vintage menswear is the huge variety of weaves from pretty boring to batshit crazy. While not in the upper end of the crazy, the diamond weave is amongst those strident weaves that have fallen from general favour. This late 1930s/early 40s jacket is made of very large diamond weave stuff in cream and brown “oatmeal” colours. Super size the images to get a clear view of the cloth … The fabric is super soft, almost feels like cashmere. Love the “tulip” breast pocket!

Early British Work Jacket – Railways?

This early work jacket is made of extremely rugged and heavy deep blue wool fabric. Rough as guts, this stuff.The small lapels are both finishe with a buttonhole. I’ve seen this type of jacket marketed as being workwear for the Railways, often featuring British rail buttons. This one, however, has the kind of standard buttons you’d find on a cheap suit of the day. The remains of the paper label are very much of the size and type you’d find on pretty much all British workwear back in the day …

1930s British Herringbone Sportscoat

This jacket is made of the most amazing soft herringbone fabric in brown tones with white and orange stripes breaking up the herringbone. The jacket probably dates to the early 1930s. The shape of the lightly padded shoulders and only very slightly displaced shoulder seams are indicative. There are two small pretty unremarkable cutters labels – one inside the interior breast pocket, the other in one of the hip pockets. Seems like this was probably quite a cheap/utility type jacket. At some point it made its way into the BBC Bristol wardrobe. The buttons are beautiful!

Vintage British Belt Back Sports jacket

There are some things in the vintage world that you don’t see very often. British belted back sports jackets are one of those things. As rare as it’s possible to imagine. This one is really lovely. A lightweight cotton twill jacket in cream, with a belted back and four pleats secured by the belt. The 3 large patch pockets are very utilitarian. Is it correct to call this a sports jacket, or is it more of a work jacket? I can see someone rambling in this! It was probably made by the British company “Anglocrat”, based on the label which is very similar to the label in a pair of vintage Anglocrat cotton shorts I own. Dating is difficult. The lack of a side body in the jacket would suggest an earlier rather than later date. The shank buttons are fantastic on this jacket! In size 40, this is a really great find, and will be sent to eBay in the next couple of days …

The label in the jacket:

And here’s the label from the anglocrat shorts

 

1930s/40s Orphaned German Jacket – “Frey”

I found this jacket in Paris a few years ago, but I’m pretty sure from the lapel style, interior pocket treatment (strip of fabric at pocket mouth extending from front facings) and tailor’s name, that it’s a German jacket from the 1930s or 1940s. I’m also pretty sure it’s been shortened, but when I took apart the bottom seam I couldn’t find evidence of shortening so it’s been done professionally.

In all a very nice orphaned suit jacket that’s easily useable as a sportscoat paired with light coloured trousers that pick up on the shade of the chalk stripe in the jacket.

1920s (1923) Sri Lankan White Wool Twill Jacket

As if 1920s gear wasn’t rare enough, 1920s Colonial wear is rare to the nth degree, especially in good condition. This jacket is fashioned out of white twill wool, and lined in white silesia. It was made in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) 1923 (see label in last pic) for one H. V. Stroud, by the major department store “Cargill’s”. It has a typically early 1920s silhouette and style with 2 closely set and rather high positioned buttons, and high gorge “fishmouth” peak lapels. The shoulders are unpadded, the only shaping being provided by some cotton sleevehead wadding. The arms are cut to an older pattern, the shoulder seams are extremely backward sloping as is typical of older tailoring, and the front facings extend into the upper chest & shoulder area, another feature that appears increasingly more as you go back in time.

This perfectly wearable jacket will form a solid part of my summer wardrobe.

1930s Two-Tone Tweed “Hollywood” Jacket

This is probably my favourite sportscoat for a brisk spring or autumn day. Light but warm, the combination of cream/beige and robust windowpane tweed is fantastic. It was probably made in the 1930s, and probably for a teenager. Lucky me to be a size 35S, to be able to find this stuff! It’s unlined but for a little bit of acetate/celanese in the upper back, and there are no maker’s labels. The buttons on this are great. I’m not sure what they’re made of … some form of early plastic, probably. Certainly not corozo.

1940s Gaylord Hollywood Jacket

Titter ye not! This awesome 1940s Hollywood jacket really was made by a company called Gaylord of California. It’s made of the sleekest spring/autumn weight gabardine imaginable. The 4 patch pockets to the front make this a particularly sought after garment, especially in this amazing peachy beige colour. I love the top stitching accents to the pockets and collar. It is fully lined in beautiful heavy silk. Just awesome.

Cotton Gabardine Beltback Jacket – Lorraine Haspel

This jacket is simply amazing. A summer sportscoat from the 1920s or 30s. Lovely beltback with pleats and shoulder yoke. It’s made of reasonably heavy white cotton gabardine, and goes through the washing machine, making it very low maintenance summer wear. It has great patch hip pockets and a slightly angled welt breast pocket. It was made by Lorraine Haspel, who are more famous for linen stuff, and produced the “Mark Twain” brand back in the day. At the bottom are a couple of ads I found in newspapers from the middle 30s. Very gatsby!

1940s British Corduroy Jacket – Super Rare

I see these in catalogues and mentioned in tailoring journals from the 1940s, marketed for sports (spectator) purposes. They seem to me like the poor man’s alternative to the Harris Tweed sportscoat. This one is undated, but the style is exactly like a Harris Tweed jacket I have that’s dated 1943. This wide-wale corduroy jacket is extremely well made, with a relatively tightly spaced 3-button front, three flapped lower pockets (including a nice small ticket pocket) a breast pocket, and twin vents at the rear. It has certainly been worn, but not much at all. It’s lined in typical heavy viscose twill, and the armliners are standard suit-type striped brushed cotton. The buttons are standard British cheap plastic buttons of the day. There is a label in the interior breast pocket, but anything written on it is almost all worn away (see last picture). The bit under the seam allowance of the liner retains some pencil marks that are probably a name, but I can’t make it out.

I can see why the seller thought it was from the ’70s – the reason I got it so cheap! 😉 Anyone have any ideas why these corduroy sporting jackets are so rare when corduroy (especially French) work jackets are so plentiful? This stuff seems just as robust as the workwear-weight cord.