Archival Clothing

Archival Pencil Sharpeners

2012-05-15T22:39:00.025-07:00

Shopping from 1949

In our household, we still use pencils for annotating books and recipes, for list making and doodling. We love having a manual pencil sharpener that accommodates the various sized pencils in our collection - from the plumpish Ticonderoga Laddie to my sleek German graphite pencils. Our favorite is the Boston Champion – a model you might remember from youe elementary school days. While X-Acto (who now owns Boston) sells a model that can be vacuum mounted to a flat surface, we recommend purchasing the classic version, with an 8 hole dial, that can be permanently screwed to a table or inside of a cabinet. Ebay seems to be the best resource for a wide variety of vintage Boston sharpeners. As always, I enjoy the background detail revealed through amateur product photography. In this set, the fern fronds are my favorite.

If you are seeking a non mechanical option, here's a fine example

Odds 'n' Ends Sale

2012-05-14T08:47:00.006-07:00

We just moved offices from one side of Lincoln street to the other! In honor of the occasion, we'll be hosting the First Annual Odds'n'Ends Sample Sale on Friday, May 18th from 12-7 PM. Come on down to our new space at 445 Lincoln Street in Eugene, Oregon. We'll have samples, seconds, discontinued items, and one-off oddments. Most everything will just be available in person, but as a special high-five to our loyal readers and customers, we'll be hosting a small assortment online as well. Items are very limited and all sales are final.

Archival Laundry

2012-05-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

Archival Summer

2012-05-09T08:00:00.005-07:00

While we love wool and waxed canvas, here are some Archival items in our favorite summer weight fabrics, canvas duck and cotton, for warm weather wear.

The Hill-Side block bullseye scarf
Archival stripe tee
Plain musette in canvas duck
Archival web belt
Canvas Duck Rucksack

From the archives - Nancy Neiman

2012-05-06T23:06:00.034-07:00

Thanks to flickr contact Paris-Roubaix for posting these photos of Nancy Neiman, the U.S. National Cycling Champion in 1953, 1954, 1956 and 1957. Neiman was the first American woman to ride a stage race in Europe. I don't follow contemporary cycling because the athletic garb and bikes are so alien to me. I much prefer the era of amateur cycling in the 1950s documented in these photographs. I love how Neiman looks like an everyday person (the girl next door!) and her steel track bike resembles something I would ride today.
Here's a 1957 photograph of Nancy in her U.S. National Champion's jersey. She's riding a French Rochet Special bike fitted with a Stronglight cottered steel chainset and Lyotard Marcel Berthet pista platform pedals.

Spring Restock - The Hill-Side Scarves

2012-05-02T09:00:00.004-07:00

For Spring, we're restocking cotton chambray and printed scarves cut and sewn by our friends at the Hill-side, based in Brooklyn, New York.

Hill-side Abstract Floral Print - Breaking from our traditional offering of stripes and solids, we're bringing in this floral printed scarf made from fabric woven in the USA.

Hill-side scarf in Plum Violet - This is AC designer Tom's favorite colorway. It's made from a 100% cotton 5 oz. selvedge chambray woven in Japan.

Hill-side Indigo Bullseye scarf - This particular scarf utilizes a 100% cotton selvedge, discharge block printed ("shwe shwe") fabric from South Africa.

Shopping from the movies: The Queen (2006)

2012-05-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

Next to Montgomery Wards and Mamet's State and Main, the Queen (Frears 2006) is my favorite shopping opportunities. I love to browse all the classic Barbours, Range Rovers, silk scarves, leather brogues, tweed keeperwear, cashmere crewnecks and matching dog breeds. Like a mail order house lost to time, The Queen stocks a small but deep selection of classic items - unchanged by fashion or consumer demand. Here are a few pages from my favorite catalog:

Update - Archival Pocket Tees

2012-04-26T21:11:00.005-07:00

For Spring/Summer, we're releasing new archival tees with contrasting, color block pockets. Like our new striped and solid tees, the pocket tees are made of soft 7 oz cotton jersey, with chain-stitched neck tape, cover-stitched collar seam and double needle sewn hem.

For folks who prefer to go pocketless, here's our custom knit, natural/red/navy stripe jersey tee.

Archival Found Muji x Huge

2012-04-25T21:25:00.012-07:00

Thanks to our friend Takuhito who forwarded along this snap of an Archival Rucksack at the Found Muji x Huge magazine exhibit opening in Tokyo. Looking forward to seeing the companion print publication. See Hypebeast for a full report on the Tokyo exhibit.

Archival Centaurs

2012-04-23T21:38:00.030-07:00

It's rare to find archival images of "ardent," female polo enthusiasts. I don't know much about this historic match but I do admire the lady player's classic causal sporting garb.

My favorite ensembles: slouchy cotton pullovers, soft collared polo shirts, wide flared jodphurs, boots and wide leather ring belts. Pony as low maintenance, offscreen accessory.

It's striking to see match action w/out corporate tents and fashionable onlookers in the background.

From the archives - Bottle Green Rucksack

2012-04-20T09:09:00.012-07:00

While we cannot shop from the past we can still recycle materials from our fabric vendor's archives. For a limited time, we're featuring Archival Rucksacks made from deadstock bottle green canvas duck. The fabric, over twenty five years old, comes to us from an orphan warehouse stash that was lost to time. It is the same sturdy, high quality duck we source for our stock canvas rucksacks but the material surface of the fabric (like a nice barrel aged spirit) has been slightly mellowed, and transformed, by time.

Archival Rucksack in deadstock bottle green canvas duck

We’re happy to note that due to the popular response to our Archival Rucksacks in bottle green, the fabric manufacturer will be making this shade of green again in their commercial grade fabric. Here's your chance to secure a bag made from the original source material.

Archival Illustration - Huge Magazine

2012-04-17T22:04:00.026-07:00

A few months back, the gents from Huge magazine visited Archival to photograph (on film!) our bags for a feature on Oregon manufacturers. We haven't seen the final print publication but our Huge contact, Takuhito K, just posted this preview of the new magazine cover by Illustrator Claudia Pearson. I love seeing all these rugged, made in USA goods rendered as larky line drawings and watercolors. It reminds me of the work of another favorite Archival Illustrator - and Brooklyn denizen -Ryan Blomberg, creator of our original Archival blog banner:

Archival Find - Hunting World Jacket

2012-04-17T07:00:00.002-07:00

Superwax Forester Jacket in Hunting World catalog

Tom's report: I love thrifting because there's no common denominator of quality like you see at fancy vintage stores or high end (and high priced) flea markets. Usually when I go through the outerwear at the thrift stores in Eugene, it's just a fuzzy cake of cheap polar fleece. But when I was in town last month, a sliver of hunter green caught my eye between the day-glo layers, and I pulled out a immaculate condition Hunting World jacket.

Though the jacket looks waxy, it's actually made with a 60/40 fabric treated with a polyamid finish.

Both collar and cuffs are lined in best quality corduroy.

Raglan sleeve construction - ostensibly for freedom of movement in the field.

Deep bellows pockets. Not wild about the velcro, although I admit to liking the elastic gathering.

Heavy duty, two way YKK zipper.

Partial wool lining with internal drip strip (ala Barbour Bedale).

If you like this jacket here's your chance to bid on a size medium Forester via ebay. And what a price!

Shopping from ebay : Brooks-Veriwide

2012-04-13T07:28:00.030-07:00

Here's your chance to bid on a Brooks-Veriwide, one of my favorite, medium format, panoramic cameras. Manufactured in Japan under license from Graflex, the Veriwide takes stunning, wide angle, 6 x 9 images. Even though I've moved to near all digital photography, I still shop for these older, rare bird cameras via ebay. I dream of the day that affordable digital backs or iPhone mounts become available for classic camera. For now, I'll capture and record images of the Veriwide itself so we can appreciate what we're missing:

Earlier, Brooks Plaubel Veriwide 100. A more elegant, compact version of the Brooks Veriwide.

Visit the Brooks-Veriwide pool on flickr to see photographs taken with this amazing camera.

Archival Field Trip - Alex Singer (Paris)

2012-04-11T09:00:00.007-07:00

Gabe and Sara outside the Alex Singer shop

Last August, post Paris-Brest-Paris, we had the pleasure of visiting the Alex Singer shop on 53, Rue de Victor Hugo, in northwest Paris. The historic Singer shop has a reputation for producing some of the most stunning, steel cyclo-tourist and racing bikes in the world. Visiting the Alex Singer is like shopping from the past. Vintage and modern bikes share the same floor space. A side showroom is filled with deadstock cycling shoes and wool jerseys - all in their original packaging. Since I'm set for bikes, I limited my purchases to a few Alex Singer caps and a fetching leather style pouch. Here are some snap views to round out my report:

Gilles Berthoud bags on display

The Singer shop porteur - my all time favorite

Love both the custom Singer front rack and shop floor tile

Bill A documenting a bike bound for Paris show

Catch and release leather cycling shoes

Shopping from the ceiling

Archival Recreation: Tennis

2012-04-09T08:36:00.001-07:00

Yes, we're most fond of cycling and hiking here at Archival, but we (almost) all love tennis, too. I waved a racquet around for an hour this morning on the last day of open tennis in New York (as of tomorrow, you need a $200 permit). I had to shop from my hiking wardrobe, but I was mentally wearing a more complete outfit from the past.

Making tennis balls

Update - Archival Scarves and Tees

2012-04-06T08:57:00.003-07:00

We're releasing Archival cotton jersey scarves and tees in new colors for Spring/Summer.

Our shirts are made of soft 7 oz cotton jersey, with chain-stitched neck tape, cover-stitched collar seam, double needle sewn hem and perfect fit - slim, not tight.

Crafted from the same cotton jersey as our Archival tees, the Archival scarves feature double turned edges, bar tacked at each of the corners.

Color notes: the new natural/red/navy stripe jersey was custom knit for Archival. It's my new favorite colorway. And digital display does not do justice to the vibrancy of the new red tee which was produced from deadstock fabric from factory archives.

Made in Portland, Oregon

Archival tee in custom knit, natural/red/navy

Archival tee in navy

Archival tee in deadstock red cotton jersey

Indoor layering at the Portland Art Museum

From the archives - Dave Falconer/DOCUMERICA

2012-04-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

Check out the Documerica - Dave Falconer set on the National Archives flickr photostream. Falconer photographed the impact of the 1970s energy crisis on communities in Washington and Oregon state. It's hard to imagine a time when business dimmed neon lights during the day or school children rode bikes to field trips because there was not enough gas for school buses. Visit flickr Commons to review the full set and read the photographer's detailed captions.

New Release - Archival Roll Top

2012-03-31T22:41:00.026-07:00

Current color offerings - cobalt, natural & black

Our Archival Roll Top is a comfortable, roomy, stripped-down backpack for keeping your belongings dry and safe in any conditions. Slightly larger than our Rucksack, the Roll Top is great for bicyclists, motorcyclists, and anyone else who regularly faces the elements.

Featuring a roll-top closure secured by a stout Horween leather strap and solid brass roller buckle, double-layer bottom, an interior stash pocket, and two exterior side pockets great for keys, mini U-lock, or anything else requiring quick access. Includes a semi-rigid, padded back panel and solid brass rings to adjust the shoulder straps, just like our classic Rucksack model. A Horween leather lash point on the front panel makes a great place to attach anything from a bike light to a sleeping pad.

The backpack is constructed from the highest quality materials: water-resistant 18 oz cotton duck, Horween leather, and thread are of US origin. Webbing and most of our solid brass hardware is sourced from the UK. Edges are bound in waxed cotton tape and all stress points are bar-tacked or riveted. Available via our web shop and select stockists.

See Well Spent for an interview with with Tom about his Archival Roll Top bag design.

Fore and aft

Horween leather lash patch

Exterior side pocket

Unrolled profile

Tom modeling his creation

Update - Archival Small Field Bags in ranger tan and black

2012-03-30T08:24:00.015-07:00

AC Small Field Bag in ranger tan

We're now offering our Archival Small Field Bag in black and ranger tan in addition to gray and dark brown. The Small Field Bag is a scaled-down version of our Original Field Bag for those who don't need to carry as much in the field or to the office. Intended as a daily workhorse, our field bag is a crossover between a traditional English fishing bag and an urban messenger bag. Durable construction and practical features allow the bag to excel at carrying gear both outdoors and to the office.

AC Small Field Bag in black

Family of bags

Shopping from the Past: The National Guard

2012-03-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

National Guard practice maneuvers, February 1915. I'm loving the emphasis on silly hats and outdoor cookery - as well as occasional firearms practice. From the Library of Congress' superb photostream.

Special Release - Archival x Upstate

2012-03-23T07:04:00.001-07:00

Our friends Kalen and Astrid from Upstate have hand-dyed a very limited run of long sleeve tees for us! Using meticulous accordion folds, lots of twine, and scrunching, the two use a colorfast indigo-hued dye, so like all of our shirts, you can wash and dry them normally.

Kalen says:
"Based in Brooklyn, Kalen and Astrid make garments utilizing their own take on shibori and dip dyeing. Shibori is a Japanese tradition of dyeing cloth using several different methods of binding, folding, or compressing the fabric. Small changes in the combinations of binding and dyeing create an endless array of patterns and textures."

Made with our Archival long sleeve tees (made in Portland, OR). Hand-dyed in Brooklyn, NY. Each piece is absolutely unique. Extremely limited quantities. Get yours here!

Shopping from the Antarctic

2012-03-21T07:00:00.003-07:00

It may be the first day of Spring but I'm in no mood to wear warm weather clothing. Wet, chilly conditions in Eugene have driven me back to my mid-winter wardrobe of anoraks and heavy woolens. I'm going to shop from the State Library of New South Wales Australian Antarctic Territory collection for additional sledging and expedition gear to get me through the month of June.

Images courtesy the State Library of New South Wales Australian Antartic Territory collection.

Archival Field Trip - Crescent Down Works

2012-03-18T22:16:00.032-07:00

Crescent Down Works is one of those amazing northwest companies that is better known in Japan than in the US. Crescent was founded in 1974 as a custom down vest company in Seattle, WA. The company's founder, Anne Michelson, got her start at Eddie Bauer another exemplary regional manufacturer. Crescent produces a tightly edited collection of down vests, jackets, parks, sweaters and children's clothing. I'm hugely fond of this down shirt. You can buy directly from Crescent or wishfully shop from Japanese web shops like Warehouse.

On Friday, Tom and I visited Nina, the Cutting Room Manager, to work out the details on a future Archival x Crescent collaboration (coming in Fall 2012). Here are some snap views from our visit.

Nina

North by Northwest vest in 60/40

Tom in Classico Down Parka

A pint sized Italian vest

Orders packed for Japan

Special make up in wool herringbone

Best quality goose down from Pacific Coast Feather Co.

Guest Post: DIY Vintage French Skiwear

2012-03-13T20:20:00.027-07:00

Andrea Cesari of Unsung Sewing Patterns guest posts on her most recent find: men’s and women’s anoraks and ski pants patterns from France.

Collecting vintage home sewing patterns that are designed primarily for function rather than fashion takes me down some interesting paths. In twelve years of collecting I’ve managed to acquire what may be the oldest surviving pattern for men’s work wear; ladies’ “sack” aprons across several decades; men’s outing shirts with button-on sleeves from the 1910s and ‘20s, 1920s gymnasium suits, WWII era women’s utility clothing designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and just recently, 1950’s French ski wear.

Late in 2011 a large lot of French home sewing patterns started showing up on eBay. The patterns, which dated from the late 1930s through the early 1960s, were mostly for women’s clothing with typically soigne French styling. But tucked in amongst the listings for blouses and skirts and car coats were two patterns for men’s and women’s ski wear. Sans doubt, these needed a home in my collection!

Outerwear patterns represent a very small portion of the pattern companies’ catalogs and of that tiny sliver, patterns for clothes for winter sports are even less common - usually patterns for skating outfits for girls and women and snow suits for children.

The patterns for these men’s and women’s anoraks and ski pants are quite unusual. The patterns are undated, but the illustration style points to the 1950’s, and at a guess, I’d say the first half of the decade. The first winter Olympics after the war was held in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1948, and Frenchman Henri Oreiller took home gold and bronze medals in alpine skiing.

Henri Oreiller of France winning the downhill ski race in the 1948 Winter Olympics, St. Moritz, Switzerland.

A combination of a recovering post-war economy and national pride in their French Olympian may have led to increased interest in skiing and inspired the designers at Patron Modelè to produce these designs in the early 1950s.

Because no separate instruction sheets were provided for these patterns, careful examination of the limited instructions on the envelope is required in order to understand the construction. Let’s look at the ladies COSTUME SPORT first.

The full-cut pull-over anorak features an attached, gathered hood (capuchin fronce,) drawn in with an elastic around the face. The anorak is gathered in at the waist (taille fronces) with a drawstring. This nipping in of the waist assures that anorak won’t interfere with arm movement. Two small pockets with flaps (poche et rabat) are applied at the bottom the plastron front opening.

The pleated-waist trousers are cut full through hips and thighs for good mobility and are pegged at the ankles with a series of darts in both the front and back before being sewn onto narrow bands. Good-sized pockets in the trousers provide a place to stash mittens.

Both garments would probably have been made from woolen materials, although if I had the money, I’d be very tempted to make the anorak out of heavy, matte finish silk twill.

The gentleman’s style is very similar. The anorak includes design features you’d find in any good men’s jacket pattern, including two-piece sleeves and a vented back. A center front zip (fermeture) opening as well as zipped chest pockets are appropriate for sportswear, along with good-sized patch pockets at the lower edge. The sleeves are gathered into wrist bands.

Again, the waist of the anorak is drawn in with an elastic (possibly one of the most wonderfully unpronounceable french words ever: caoutchouc.) The removable hood buttons to the anorak.

The fly-fronted trousers are pegged by means of darts (pinces) both front and back. Darts at the front waist remove some of the fullness from the seat and there are good-sized pockets. I had originally thought that the crotch was gusseted for reinforcement but on closer examination of the layout, it appears that the trousers are cut so full through the hips that they wouldn’t lay out on the fabric and had to be pieced.

The instructions and illustrations on the envelopes provide a remarkable amount of information, but success in making up these patterns would depend on a pretty high degree of skill. Most seams would need to be hand-basted before machining, and the seams would then need to be clean finished for both durability and comfort.

Both patterns are unprinted and do not appear to have been used, although the envelopes had been unsealed.

-- Andrea Cesari,
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer at www.unsungsewingpatterns.net