New to me Pendleton wool shirt

[One Drop]

I'm a big fan of vintage wool apparel (and blankets), and have been slowly acquiring some beautiful and very useful vintage pieces over the last few year. I own a bunch of wonderful cotton flannel shirts, either made in Japan or elsewhere using Japanese or Portuguese woven textiles, a great vintage woollen Western coat, a few pairs of superb vintage trousers, and a modern over-shirt made by Beringia that has become a solid favorite, but for a few reasons have not bought, until now, a vintage woollen plaid shirt that suited me.

I didn't grow up with any exposure to Pendleton shirts, they were rare in Canada in my youth, we had our own brands and the fashion for wearing them had largely passed by the time I got older, and weren't at all part of my style, or anyone else I knew, when I started buying, as a teenager, vintage clothing from the '40s, 50s, and 60s.

I had spent some time looking for a shadow or other classic plaid design that was priced decently, and when I finally bought a blue Pendleton shadow plaid it ended up being too small on me, and felt really itchy (no doubt made worse by how tight it was on me). I kind of stopped looking for a while, until this gorgeous cream/red/black High Grade Western Wear one showed up in my notifications at a crazy low price, with equally crazy low shipping to Europe. It arrived yesterday, and we had our first cool, rainy day of the year, I was so delighted with it I couldn't help wearing it to my local to show it off over a pint of Guinness.

I'm not really a fan of the board shirts, I don't find the camp collar very useful for the weather and conditions here, and as I'm pretty short they look a bit too long on me untucked. I should have spent more time looking at their Western shirts, because the cut of them is absolutely superb; extremely flattering, confortable, and the extra length means they stay perfectly tucked in (a pet peeve of mine with most modern Western shirts - cut to wear untucked or tucked, the compromise means they don't stay tucked in, and they are cut too trim in the waist and not large enough in the shoulders to be really comfortable, and to give the classic V shaped silhouette that was a feature of most all vintage Western wear). This one dates from the era when they were still tagged as washable, and the condition is perfect, like new with no unpleasant smell at all.

Anyway, if you've stayed with me this long, you obviously are a fan of these yourself. These never photograph well, the pictures just don't do justice to them, they can't show the depth and the proper shades of the colours, how they change in different lights, and the particular 3D quality of the plaids as they appear in person, and which I've never seen in a cotton flannel. This definitely won't be my last, though I'll probably have to wait a while before finding another at a price I consider reasonable for a vintage piece. I've seen and handled modern Pendleton shirts and though they still have some great designs, both new and reproductions of classic ones, they don't compare at all, in quality or appearance, with the old ones.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1779801524/vintage-1980s-pendleton-high-grade?ref=shop_review

 

[TheOldFashioned]

I'm a big fan of vintage wool apparel (and blankets), and have been slowly acquiring some beautiful and very useful vintage pieces over the last few year. I own a bunch of wonderful cotton flannel shirts, either made in Japan or elsewhere using Japanese or Portuguese woven textiles, a great vintage woollen Western coat, a few pairs of superb vintage trousers, and a modern over-shirt made by Beringia that has become a solid favorite, but for a few reasons have not bought, until now, a vintage woollen plaid shirt that suited me.

I didn't grow up with any exposure to Pendleton shirts, they were rare in Canada in my youth, we had our own brands and the fashion for wearing them had largely passed by the time I got older, and weren't at all part of my style, or anyone else I knew, when I started buying, as a teenager, vintage clothing from the '40s, 50s, and 60s.

I had spent some time looking for a shadow or other classic plaid design that was priced decently, and when I finally bought a blue Pendleton shadow plaid it ended up being too small on me, and felt really itchy (no doubt made worse by how tight it was on me). I kind of stopped looking for a while, until this gorgeous cream/red/black High Grade Western Wear one showed up in my notifications at a crazy low price, with equally crazy low shipping to Europe. It arrived yesterday, and we had our first cool, rainy day of the year, I was so delighted with it I couldn't help wearing it to my local to show it off over a pint of Guinness.

I'm not really a fan of the board shirts, I don't find the camp collar very useful for the weather and conditions here, and as I'm pretty short they look a bit too long on me untucked. I should have spent more time looking at their Western shirts, because the cut of them is absolutely superb; extremely flattering, confortable, and the extra length means they stay perfectly tucked in (a pet peeve of mine with most modern Western shirts - cut to wear untucked or tucked, the compromise means they don't stay tucked in, and they are cut too trim in the waist and not large enough in the shoulders to be really comfortable, and to give the classic V shaped silhouette that was a feature of most all vintage Western wear). This one dates from the era when they were still tagged as washable, and the condition is perfect, like new with no unpleasant smell at all.

Anyway, if you've stayed with me this long, you obviously are a fan of these yourself. These never photograph well, the pictures just don't do justice to them, they can't show the depth and the proper shades of the colours, how they change in different lights, and the particular 3D quality of the plaids as they appear in person, and which I've never seen in a cotton flannel. This definitely won't be my last, though I'll probably have to wait a while before finding another at a price I consider reasonable for a vintage piece. I've seen and handled modern Pendleton shirts and though they still have some great designs, both new and reproductions of classic ones, they don't compare at all, in quality or appearance, with the old ones.

http://[URL]https://www.etsy.com/li...ge-1980s-pendleton-high-grade?ref=shop_review

[/URL]

I'm a fan of these white label HGWW Pendleton's, and always on the lookout for more:

 

[One Drop]

I'm a fan of these white label HGWW Pendleton's, and always on the lookout for more:
View attachment 815698

As I, those look great! I'm a sucker for the shadow plaids myself, and the designs that have a pronounced contrast between the 'background' colours and the checks, though they are harder to find, as are ones in my large size. If you're a Medium there are scores to choose from at any time.

Do you wash yours or Dry Clean them? I'm loath to shrink mine even a bit, the fit is perfect as is and I can't know if it's been washed previously.

 

[TheOldFashioned]

As I, those look great! I'm a sucker for the shadow plaids myself, and the designs that have a pronounced contrast between the 'background' colours and the checks, though they are harder to find, as are ones in my large size. If you're a Medium there are scores to choose from at any time.

Do you wash yours or Dry Clean them? I'm loath to shrink mine even a bit, the fit is perfect as is and I can't know if it's been washed previously.

I try to avoid dry cleaning in general as much as possible, so I hand wash, but it's a finicky process. I do wear undershirts, so that helps to limit the amount of sweat, oils, etc. that get generated from the body and thus into contact with these wool shirts. So my process probably wouldn't be ideal for heavy wear.

Turn inside out and soak briefly in a tub for about 10 minutes with cool/lukewarm water and just a tiny bit of Johnsons baby shampoo. Because it's wool I try to handle or agitate as little as possible. I pretty much only use a gentle pressing action. Drain the soapy water, refill with clean water, and let soak for another 5 minutes. If any suds come out after pressing, I'll repeat the process one more time. Gently press out some water before removing from the tub, lay flat on a towel, and then loosely roll up the towel to help absorb any remaining excess water. After that I unroll and lay flat to air dry, periodically checking to make sure there hasn't been any felting/shrinkage. As it's drying some slight tension to reshape if necessary.

The mediums fit me pretty bang on, and from what I can tell anecdotally, they should have a P2P 21.5 - 22". If it's less than that I steer clear. I just shake my head when I see L or XL listings have P2P like 18-19".

 

[One Drop]

I try to avoid dry cleaning in general as much as possible, so I hand wash, but it's a finicky process. I do wear undershirts, so that helps to limit the amount of sweat, oils, etc. that get generated from the body and thus into contact with these wool shirts. So my process probably wouldn't be ideal for heavy wear.

Turn inside out and soak briefly in a tub for about 10 minutes with cool/lukewarm water and just a tiny bit of Johnsons baby shampoo. Because it's wool I try to handle or agitate as little as possible. I pretty much only use a gentle pressing action. Drain the soapy water, refill with clean water, and let soak for another 5 minutes. If any suds come out after pressing, I'll repeat the process one more time. Gently press out some water before removing from the tub, lay flat on a towel, and then loosely roll up the towel to help absorb any remaining excess water. After that I unroll and lay flat to air dry, periodically checking to make sure there hasn't been any felting/shrinkage. As it's drying some slight tension to reshape if necessary.

The mediums fit me pretty bang on, and from what I can tell anecdotally, they should have a P2P 21.5 - 22". If it's less than that I steer clear. I just shake my head when I see L or XL listings have P2P like 18-19".

Thanks for the detailed info.

That's exactly how I hand wash wool as well, and I never wear wool trousers and shirts next to my skin, always over Merino blend undershirts , and so rarely have to wash them in any case (with the exception of Merino blend polos that are meant as a first layer and that are machine washable). The only difference is that I use Swiss eco friendly liquid wool detergent that I also use for my wool socks and Merino blends.

Those crazy small measurements no doubt come from people having hot washed them in the past.

The think I like with this Pendleton Western flannel (and I assume it's standard) is how it's cut on the chest, still giving a strong V profile without feeling tight on the chest like most modern Heritage and japanese brand takes on the classic Western cuts, giving no freedom of movement and having a more tubelike profile than a V. I've returned or resold quite a few of these whose measurements seemed perfect but whose actual cut made them far too narrow (you can see this in the extreme flare at the armpit and the extra cloth where it's sewn to the armhole, missing on Japanese designs).

It's a pity because it makes most of the modern takes unwearable for me unless I size up and end up with too-long sleeves and over-wide shoulders.