1930'S SPORTS COAT BY GORDON & FERGUSON .....GOTTA LOVE GOATSKIN

Early field &stream logo 

30's Talon zipper before the "shield"

real bakelite buttons on cuffs and pockets 

2  generous "cargo" like pockets on the front .no hand warmers here 

seal brown veg tanned goatskin 

Today is all about a seal brown goatskin jacket straight from the 30's,dubbed as a  "leather windbraker'  by the Gordon & Ferguson company under its Field & stream brand.....

G&F operated in St. Paul, Minnesota and was at the beginning specialized in manufacturing fur clothings. Richards Gordon (1829-1911) began operations in 1871, taking on Paul D. Ferguson (1850-1905) as partner two years later. Gordon & Ferguson was incorporated in 1902 and was subsequently renamed Gordon & Ferguson, Inc. As most leather manufacturers during ww2 ,G&F was part of the war effort and under 3 different contracts for the Navy ,produced what are in my humble opinion, the best M422a jackets .The company's product lines included Field & Stream and Town & Country. In 1964, the Herman K. Lavin Company, also a St. Paul clothing manufacturer, purchased Gordon & Ferguson. By the late 1990s, some product lines were continued by the Field & Stream Apparel Company....

the way it should fit 

KEEPING UP WITH G1 CONTRACTS....L.W. FOSTER VS US. GOV.

Today's jacket is a rare Navy 55J14 G-1.This is the second time that i've featured a 55J14 on Riveted. Both jackets were made by the prolific company L.W. Foster of Philadelphia ,but this one is from what seems to be the 1947 first contract for that series. This pattern has a very wide shoulders and a snug lower torso and was also used in WWII, on Foster's  AN-J-3A series throughout the very first 7823 contract in 1951 that Foster was also awarded. 

Talking about awarded contracts : For those of you,who can sustain reading beyond a twit , here's an interesting court of claims report,dating from 1969 : L.W. Foster VS the UNITED STATES. while going through it ,one might be amazed at the quantities of jackets produced by Foster for the the government back then.....200,000 jackets for the Navy just for a period going from 1949 to 1956.....A bunch of very interesting infos too 

KEEPING UP WITH THE G1 CONTRACTS...

To keep up with the USN contracts, here's today a mid 1950s [perhaps 1957] MIL-J-7823(AER) jacket made by the Cagleco Sportswear company. 

Cagleco  started as a leather manufacturer in 1949 under the name : "Cape Girardeau leather manufacturing company" .In 1953,the Cagleco name was registered and used for the first time .Based on115 Themis St. in Cape Girardeau Missouri.the company was the predecessor of Ralph Edwards Sportswear considered by many to be among the best manufacturers of G-1 jackets.By1955 the company was awarded a 13,200 leather flight jackets contract by the government ,Cagleco moved its quarters to a bigger location on Broadway St .Apparently ,the Cagleco company was awarded 5 contracts from the Navy .

As with most of the early G-1s,this example has awesome seal brown goatskin with lots of grain and patina. The jacket also features the early scalloped pockets similar to a WWII era M-422a jackets.

This jacket is from an early 7823 spec ,as it retains the USN stenciled in silver gray under the collar and doesn't have the USN perforated on the wind flap .Later produced Cagleco jackets sometimes have both,but the perforated USN is placed lower on the wind flap and is way smaller than the one commonly seen on other jackets .The other particularity of this jacket is the dark brown collar on used by the company on the early models .

The early 50's saw the introduction of the MIL spec jackets,the first one being the MIL-J-7823(AER). All of the jackets from the 50's,beside the sort lived 1951 55J14, had this specification on their tags. As with the earlier jackets the contractors had, apparently, much leeway in the cut and sizing of these jackets.To that extend with the same contract  and manufacturer one might find sometimes a differences in sizing.I'd recommend ,for those of you in the market for such a jacket [early contract] to make sure you check the measurements first and don't be fooled by the bi-swing back.

In 1959 under the : Ralph Edwards name,Cagleco expends once more before its last contract. The A series jackets are the first baring the Ralph Edwards name on their tags........

Original box picture courtesy of the LOST WORLD Co. NY

BTW it takes time to gather info and share it for free via this blog....so,once in a while,it'll be nice if you professional "rebloggers" finally decided to post a link to the original source of the pictures or texts you've "borrowed"...thx  

SEMPER FI....

A small post today featuring a couple of Vietnam era USMC training shirts .these were found at an estate sale and belonged to the same Marine .one was obviously more "loved" than the other .Gotta love the distressed EGA on both .....

Both shirts are from the same company ,the now defunct :ARTEX .the brand was a subsidiary of Jostens Inc.a Minnesota based company, best known as a manufacturer of high-quality military and class rings for high school and college students. For more than four decades, the company also has produced specially commissioned rings for contestants in the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, and the NHL Stanley Cup.ARTEX was the branch, specialised in custom-printed athletic and casual wear.the Artex label survived within the Jostens Sportswear division up until 1994 ,when it was sold to FOL, fruit of the loom,who closed the facilities and the company the same year.......

BTW ,ARTEX did a very collectable series for the Muppets in the 80's,i'd like to get my hands on the Gonzo shirt .