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 Paul, wearing Steve’s shirt
The Mister Freedom® Ranger Shirt, Powerloom edition Working on this off-the-beaten-path MF® Ranger Shirt project has been quite the walk in the park for some time. Those of you familiar with the brick and mortar pile o’ rags at 7161 Beverly Blvd might have noticed an unusual stack of hopsack-wrapped bales sitting in the back of the store, at some point during a visit. Sometime around 2010, we came across a large lot of New Old Stock textiles, packaged into compressed bales. Although discovered in an old warehouse in California, these mysterious bundles of cloth originally came from India. More precisely from a textile manufacturer located in Chennai, a city formerly known as Madras.
The exact vintage of all these Indian mill textiles is unknown, but many feel quite 1960’s-70’s. With an average width of about 44 inches, selvedge to selvedge, they were apparently milled on shuttle powerlooms. Antiquated and obsolete shuttle powerlooms are still in use in India and other textile-manufacturing destinations today, not always to the benefit of pleasant working conditions. Let’s leave workers’ wages and other local labor issues aside on this one…
However amazing our eclectic fabric loot was, indeed a treasure trove for the textile R&D-inclined, turning countless disparate strips of cloth into garments seemed a bit challenging. In good ol’ MF® “Geronimo!” fashion, and following the old familiar adage “in life, there are no problems, only solutions”, we figured out a way to somewhat handle that soup sandwich. And boom, these yardages of Madras checks have now been given a new life, as upcycled wearables! The garment pattern of our Ranger Shirt is no groundbreaking revolution, as it is inspired by the same vintage pieces that heritage brands and mainstream labels alike have been playing with for some time, i.e. 1930’s-40’s workwear-type shirting featuring a chin-strap.  Smokey, the original denimbro. On sizing availability: Oh, and each shirt features a combination of 1920’s-30’s antique buttons from Europe, for that International touch. The MF® Ranger shirt is adorned with an assortment of NOS white and tan glass buttons (don’t bang on these Briards type buttons, they are glass and will break), and one rare vintage sheetmetal button embossed with “For Gentlemen”…
This limited edition Ranger Shirt is designed in California by Mister Freedom®, and manufactured in the USA with New Old Stock Madras fabric originally milled in Madras, India. SPECS: FABRICS: DETAILS: SIZING/FIT: All shirts were measured and size-stamped AFTER the cold wash/dry process. This lead to four size groupings (S, M, L and XL) with somewhat similarly consistent measurements. Two Mediums in two different fabrics will have some variations in measurements and proportions, but they still belong to their size family, as Mr. Dascalu’s painstaking and torturing sizing assignment have determined. Within one sizing group, they are still noticeable variations in length, meaning some Mediums will be shorter than other Mediums. If your are generally a Medium in MF® shirts, it is safe to opt for a Medium in the Ranger Shirt, for a comfortable fit. However, some of the Smalls might also work for some, for a slimmer 1960’s silhouette.
Depending on the specific weave of each fabric, some stretching back and forth is to be expected as the shirt goes through wash/wear cycles. Please note that steaming or ironing will result in a garment that appears to fit more comfortably. Wrinkles tend to make light-weight garments look like they fit tighter. CARE: Available WASHED/MACHINE DRIED. SIZES: RETAIL $229.95 Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles brick & mortar store, and fine retailers around the World. Thank you for your support, We had a GQ film crew brave enough to set foot in the old Mister Freedom® Los Angeles pile of rags, a few months back. Here is a little clip from that visit, featuring style influencer George Laboda, courtesy of Gent’s Lounge. One might notice from the brief opening sequence that these GQ Stories are sponsored by Rémi Martin. Christophe Loiron
Consumer Art… cl
 Archives: Trooper Boots Type I Mister Freedom® “TROOPER Boots” Type II More MF® footwear from our Sportsman catalog… Our Mister Freedom® original Trooper Boot was freely inspired by a pair of vintage US military Government issued boot, double buckle type, first pattern jungle boot dated 13 June 1955. Those early jungle boots were nicknamed ‘Okinawa boots‘, as they often shod US advisors flying out of Okinawa en route to mingle with in-Country barefoot montagnards, during the early days (post Geneva) of the US field involvement in Vietnam. Our ‘Trooper’ is not a replica of 50’s US military Okinawa boots however. We twisted the vintage design into a service boot type shoe, using the now-familiar Mister Freedom® Road Champ last for a flat toe profile, quite in-vogue today. Aside from the leather color difference, the specs of this Trooper Type II issue are the same as the original Type I. The canvas is still military New Old Stock, but we have updated the shoe laces to a shorter, round waxed type. The Trooper Boots are designed by Mister Freedom® and made in California, USA. SPECS: SIZING: CONDITIONING: If needed, leather conditioners such as Pecard can be applied to keep the leather healthy. For those into waxing, the canvas can be treated with Otter Wax fabric dressing, or left as-is and brushed clean when needed. Available Sizes: 7, 7½, 8, 8½, 9, 9½, 10, 10½, 11, 11½, 12, 13 Contact sales@misterfreedom.com for details not mentioned above. Available at our brick & mortar and from the footwear section of www.misterfreedom.com. CL |
