Mister Freedom® SCUTTLER CAP, NOS Wool Tweed edition.
Made in USA.
(This is a March 2020 updated version of this June 2018 post.)
If you are in a Peaky Blinders or Jack Sparrow kinda mood, here is the latest addition to the original MF® “Scuttler Cap” pattern. Initially introduced in 2013, this hat is our interpretation of the popular vintage newsboy eight-panel cover.
While Paris of the Belle Époque had its ‘Apaches’, Manchester enjoyed the ‘Scuttlers’, all victims, misfits and drop-outs left by the wayside of the Second Industrial Revolution…
In “Teenage, Creation of Youth 1875-1945”, British writer Jon Savage describes their attire this way, quoting a period account from the head missionary of a Manchester orphanage in 1890:
“…the “professional scuttler” wore “a puncher’s cap”, “narrow-go-wides” trousers, narrow-toed brass-tipped clogs, and heavy customized belts with designs, picked out in metal pins, that included serpents, stars, and pierced hearts. The “boy expert” Charles Russell observed that the Mancunian variant wore “a loose white scarf”, with hair “well plastered down upon his forehead”, “a peaked cap rather over one eye”, and trousers “cut – like a sailor’s – with ‘bell bottoms’”
The fabrics of our “Scuttler Caps” have been NOS (New Old Stock) textiles, 1940’s to 1970’s. This latest one is a wool tweed with a very textured grain and a definite vintage demeanor.
Please note that the sizing paper label stitched to the back of the cap, a reference to vintage packaging, is easily removable and not part of permanent branding.
The MF® Scuttler Cap is designed and made in California by Mister Freedom®.
SPECS:
* An original MF® pattern inspired by vintage 1930’s newsboy eight-panel caps.
* Genuine kangaroo leather sweatband (stretch-proof and rot-proof).
* NOS cotton biased tape seam piecing.
* Made in USA.
SIZING:
To avoid confusion, we recommend wearing the Scuttler Cap as-is, without rinsing it.
We measure the sweatband in centimeters. If unsure, measure your head with a metric cloth tape measure to determine your hat size. Kangaroo leather will not stretch or shrink but the hat crown might loosen slightly with normal wear.
CARE:
Professional cleaning only. Do not machine-wash.
Available raw/unwashed.
Limited sizes available per fabric option. See updated inventory here.
57cm (~ US 7 1/8)
58cm (~ US 7 1/4)
59cm (~ US 7 3/8)
60cm (~ US 7 1/2)
61cm (~ US 7 5/8)
62cm (~ US 7 3/4)
Available from www.misterfreedom.com and our Los Angeles brick & mortar store.
Email [email protected] or call 323-653-2014 with any questions unanswered above.
Thank you for your support.
Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom®
©2020
 
 
 
     
 Jack Sparrow in Japan (2016)
Mister Freedom® SCUTTLER CAP, NOS fabrics.
Made in USA.
If you are in a Peaky Blinders or Jack Sparrow kinda mood, here are a few additions to our original “Scuttler Cap” pattern initially introduced in 2013, our interpretation of the popular vintage newsboy eight-panel hat.
While Paris of the Belle Époque had its ‘Apaches’, Manchester enjoyed the ‘Scuttlers’, all victims, misfits and drop-outs left by the wayside of the Second Industrial Revolution…
In “Teenage, Creation of Youth 1875-1945”, British writer Jon Savage describes their attire this way, quoting a period account from the head missionary of a Manchester orphanage in 1890:
“…the “professional scuttler” wore “a puncher’s cap”, “narrow-go-wides” trousers, narrow-toed brass-tipped clogs, and heavy customized belts with designs, picked out in metal pins, that included serpents, stars, and pierced hearts. The “boy expert” Charles Russell observed that the Mancunian variant wore “a loose white scarf”, with hair “well plastered down upon his forehead”, “a peaked cap rather over one eye”, and trousers “cut – like a sailor’s – with ‘bell bottoms’”
The fabrics of our “Scuttler Caps” are New Old Stock, 1940’s to 1970’s.
Please note that the sizing paper label stitched to the back of the cap, a reference to vintage packaging, is easily removable and not part of permanent branding.
The MF® Scuttler Cap is designed and made in California by Mister Freedom®.
SPECS:
* An original MF® pattern inspired by vintage 1930’s newsboy eight-panel caps.
* Genuine kangaroo leather sweatband.
* NOS cotton biased tape seam piecing.
* All made in our fancy 7161 Beverly atelier.
SIZING:
To avoid confusion, we recommend wearing the Scuttler Cap as-is, without rinsing it.
We measure the sweatband in centimeters. If unsure, measure your head with a metric cloth tape measure to determine your hat size. Kangaroo leather will not stretch or shrink but the hat crown might loosen slightly with normal wear.
CARE:
Professional cleaning only. Do not machine-wash.
Available raw/unwashed.
Limited sizes available per fabric option. See updated inventory here.
57cm (~ US 7 1/8)
58cm (~ US 7 1/4)
59cm (~ US 7 3/8)
60cm (~ US 7 1/2)
61cm (~ US 7 5/8)
62cm (~ US 7 3/4)
Retail $199.95
Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles brick & mortar store, and fine retailers around the World.
Email [email protected] or call 323-653-2014 with any questions unanswered above.
Thank you for your support.
Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom®
©2018
 Provence Landscape by Henri-Edmond Cross (1900) 
 Hi ? 
 Recommended fashion applications of the versatile MF® Carré Provence. 
Mister Freedom® Carré Provence, Indigo Blue & Rouge Turc.
Gypsy Blues mfsc Spring 2017
Made in Japan
Textile printing allegedly originated in India, but i’ll spare you the 4000 years old odyssey.
Paisley designs have their roots in the Persian Empire (modern-day Iran), and made their way West in the 17th century, via textile cargoes of ships from the East India Company. With the popularity of these exotic motifs growing with locals, the city of Marseille, France, pioneered bootlegged renditions, printing cotton “Indiennes” as early as 1640…
For more interesting textile History, visit the Musée de l’impression sur étoffes (Mulhouse, France).
Whether headwear or neckwear, printed colorful scarves are a staple in Romani culture imagery.
We combined several antique French regional scarves to come up with our MF® Carré Provence. The nod to Provence, is in the ‘olive floret’ center repeat, a motif familiar to the connoisseur of traditional textiles from the South of France.
Although our scarf is not a straight-up replica, similar cotton shawls featuring leaves and boteh in bold red and blues were produced by textile printing factories in the Alsace region, France, around 1820’s-30’s. One of the typical color was the famous Rouge Turc or Rouge d’Andrinople (Turkey Red or madder red), which involved a then-challenging and stomach-churning dyeing method. We assumed some of you might object to wrapping their neck in a cloth dyed in a concoction of sheep’s dung and olive oil, so we went for a traditional bleed-through silk-screening method for the printing instead.
Our Carré Provence comes in two color options. The red version is very much Rouge Turc-like, and the blue accents are actual indigo blue. The second version is also actual indigo blue, with Rouge Turc and other vibrant accents.
The carré (pronounced ka-ray, meaning a square shape) features two selvedge sides and two hemmed sides. It measures 34.5 inches x 34.5 inches, much larger than a regular bandana.
With this handsome versatile accessory accompanying our Spring 2017 Gypsy Blues story, we are guaranteeing endless hours of fun. Indeed, explore its boundless fashionable reincarnations with friends, family, and neighbors! Do the Marius, the Django, the Jean Gabin, the Manitas De Plata, the Highway Bandit, the Carmen Miranda, the Lawrence of Arabia, the Tom Mix, the Toothache, the Geronimo, the Fortune Teller, the Calico Jack, the Burka Provençale, the You-Name-It…
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Pierre Fresnay, Marius (1931)
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Jean Gabin (1949)
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Django Reinhardt (1949)
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Carmen Miranda, 1940’s
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From “As Gypsies Wander” (1953) Juliette De Bairacli Levy
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Peter O’Toole (1962)
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Manitas De Plata LP (1968)
The Carré Provence is re-imagined in California by MISTER FREEDOM® and manufactured in Japan by SUGAR CANE Co.
SPECS:
FABRIC:
Printed fine 100% cotton fabric, bleed-through silkscreening, 34.5 inches selvedge to selvedge, milled and printed in Japan.
Two options:
* Indigo Blue.
* Rouge Turc.
DETAILS:
* Inspired by antique French printed scarves from the 1820’s-30’s, and traditional and regional motifs.
* Actual indigo print.
* Two selvedge sides.
* Large format for your headwear or neckwear preference (34.5 inches x 34.5 inches, about 87cm x 87cm).
* Made in Japan.
CARE:
Low maintenance. We recommend initially washing in cold water, delicate cycle, machine or hang dry. Fashion to taste.
Available raw/unwashed.
One size.
Retail $129.95
Available from www.misterfreedom.com, our Los Angeles brick & mortar store, and fine retailers around the World.
Email [email protected] or call 323-653-2014 with any questions unanswered above.
Thank you for your support.
Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom®
©2017
 Suggested extra noise-canceling set-up, pending USPTO approval.  Some MF® Oki Covers in their new environment. Mister Freedom® Oki Cover.
Recycled from 1940’s USMC ponchos.
Sportsman 2015, made in USA.
Recycling is green but the MF® Oki Cover comes in frogskin camo.
The name “Oki” is a reference to Okinawa, the home of the Counter Insurgency Support Office for a while, as we already mentioned while introducing the MF® Experimental Camouflage Utility Trousers during Spring 2015. To pretentiously quote ourselves, here is a bit of that interesting slice of History again:
“…To more efficiently handle logistics, the highly-classified Counter Insurgency Support Office is established on the island of Okinawa, Japan in 1963. Headed by a mysterious individual working for the Department of Army by the name of Conrad Benjamin Baker, CISO was “assigned the mission of supporting the Special Forces programs through triservice depots and local procurement sources (…) Many items of clothing and equipment, for example, had to be obtained from markets in other countries because of size problems, composition of material, and equipment which had to be tailored to Montagnard measurements.” (source)
CISO acquired or produced ‘sterile’ (untraceable if captured) weapons, along with unmarked clothing and equipment to outfit US Special Forces or advisors heading out to South Vietnam. Locally screen-printed tiger stripe camo fatigues, “bowie” knives, VC-style black pajamas, rations, machetes, Seiko watches for recon teams, black 1-0rain jackets, North Vietnamese Army-inspired rucksacks…
Basically, if it proved needed in the field, CISO sourced it out in Asia, or designed it and manufactured it locally. At a fraction of the price compared to US-made mil-specs issued gear, and quicker delivery than its state-side bureaucracy-laden official channel alternative. What exactly went on is not well documented, but Ben Baker’s account of his involvement in the original design and R&D of the famous SOG knife is available for download in pdf form here…”
In the tradition of local-made garments using recycled Government-issued equipment and fabrics, we have decided to ‘sacrifice’ a few NOS WW2 USMC ponchos scored recently to make some hats. These un-issued shelter halves are authentic and originate from different military contractors of the period. They were still craft paper-wrapped and stored in talc powder. They are all dated 1944.
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Original US Gov’t issued USMC ponchos, dated 1944
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Originally, these ponchos were mainly issued to GI’s in the Pacific theater of operations (PTO), as the frogskin camo pattern proved too close to the German’s variety of field concealment to avoid confusion in Europe (ETO). From Tarawa to Iwo Jima, island-hoping Marines made good use of these reversible rubberized canvas shelter halves, also turning them into floor mats, blankets, tents… Rarely pictured worn in combat situation probably due to obvious impracticability, these ponchos can still be spotted on period photography of the Pacific War.
 USN or USMC Camo poncho in action. GI’s unloading USN landing crafts, Iwo Jima 1945 (Courtesy LIFE) The pattern of our Oki Cover is of a generic engineer cap type, a cross between the Choo Choo Charlie hat and a 40’s UMSC cover. Our cap is pretty much reversible, and can be worn jungle side out or beach side out, although, for those understandingly allergic to branding, the green camo side features the MF® sportsman woven label.
DISCLAIMER: This NOS rubberized canvas fabric, although thin, feels quite stiff and starched, making crinkly noises even after being thoroughly washed. For argument sake, it can be said that once sitting on top of you head and shaped to your liking, the MF® Oki Cover should remain quiet if your hair grows less than a foot per day.
One can also look at the Oki Cover as a low-tech noise canceling hat.
The very limited MF® Oki Cover is made in California by Mister Freedom®, from recycled 1940’s USMC frogskin camo ponchos.
Also featured in the photos is the MF® Jump Scarf, recycled from authentic vintage 1950’s US military spot camouflage canopies.
Credits: Some historical references courtesy of this US Militaria Forum thread.
SPECS:
FABRIC:
Recycled NOS 1940’s USMC frogskin camo ponchos, original US Government issue, dated 1944. This batch of rubberized fabric is quite stiff and noisy. Each cap was washed thoroughly after completion and the fabric feels like dry fabric and not rubber.
We do not guarantee the waterproof quality of the fabric anymore, but applying some type of weatherproof fabric dressing might help, and prove more productive than suing the original 1944 contractor. We have yet to test, but the wax might also help with the crinkling noise.
Due to the nature of this 70 year-old vintage fabric, each hat might show wear from washing and abrasion, and feature tiny holes and minor fraying.
DETAILS:
* Engineer cap-type pattern.
* Reversible.
* Low-tech noise canceling technology.
* Limited Edition.
* Made in USA.
SIZING/FIT:
The Oki Covers come thoroughly washed and machine dried. No further shrinkage is to be expected.
They are sized by measuring the headband in centimeters. The sizing is discreetly stamped in black on the jungle side.
CARE:
Hand wash when needed. Shape and hang dry.
Available washed only.
Size:
59
60
Retail $129.95
Soon available from www.misterfreedom.com, and from our Los Angeles brick & mortar store.
Email [email protected] or call 323-653-2014 with any questions unanswered above.
Thank you for your support,
Christophe Loiron
Mister Freedom®
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