Bush Jackets

[Oldsarge]

I can't find much on the 'Net referring to them but it looks like the company was liquidated after the deaths of the brothers in around '69. Today, if you want safari clothing while you're in Africa, TAG safari is your place. But hardly anyone goes on safari on their own any more so I doubt that there is any one general outfitter who handles everything these days.

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

Some 1950's era Safari novels mention the protagonists being outfitted at Ahamed's before their adventure, the author Robert Ruark for example.

I can't find much on the 'Net referring to them but it looks like the company was liquidated after the deaths of the brothers in around '69. Today, if you want safari clothing while you're in Africa, TAG safari is your place. But hardly anyone goes on safari on their own any more so I doubt that there is any one general outfitter who handles everything these days.

Thank you, you've both offered information that I did not find. I must say that I am surprised at the lack of Ahamed Brothers clothing/gear on the secondary market... I've only come across a few pith helmets.

 

[Oldsarge]

Now here is a thoroughly odd idea. Other that 'because I can' I am hard pressed to explain why anyone would tailor such a thing or, worse yet, wear it.

 

[MikePotts]

How very Roger Moore

 

[cookie]

Hi folks I've recently purchased this bush jacket/safari jacket. I believe it's from the 1930s and British made but it doesn't have any labels. Any thoughts anyone??

Freddie

Fantastic. Interesting how the shoulder piece is separately sewn. Back pleating is awesome.

 

[Oldsarge]

Indeed. Quite the 'Happy Valley' look, isn't it?

 

[MikePotts]

I think that material is/was referred too as 'Bedford Cord' ?

 

[totallyfrozen]

...Today, if you want safari clothing while you're in Africa, TAG safari is your place...

FYI, if anyone cares, TAG Safari is in Houston, Texas.
Point being that shipping to places in North America should be faster and less expensive than you'd expect coming from Africa.

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[totallyfrozen]

Any thoughts anyone??

Freddie

Yes. Where's your ascot?


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[Oldsarge]

FYI, if anyone cares, TAG Safari is in Houston, Texas.
Point being that shipping to places in North America should be faster and less expensive than you'd expect coming from Africa.

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Is the Houston office the Int'l HQ, their US distributor or have they moved their manufacturing to the US as well. A few years ago when I was talking with them at a Safari Club convention they were based out of Zimbabwe.

 

[totallyfrozen]

Is the Houston office the Int'l HQ, their US distributor or have they moved their manufacturing to the US as well. A few years ago when I was talking with them at a Safari Club convention they were based out of Zimbabwe.

I know their pith helmets are handmade in Zimbabwe. I spoke with a clerk on the phone about that. The website says they are importers and that their inventory is designed and made in Zimbabwe so I assume everything else is made there too. I know they have a brick and mortar store about 40 minutes drive from my house but I haven't had the chance to make it there yet. When I found them online, Google referenced their Houston store. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's because it's their HQ or if it's because it's local to me. I plan to check it out on the near future. I'll see what I can find out and try to report back here. For what it's worth:

TAG Safari
1022 Wirt Road #302
Houston, TX 77055
1-800-824-2703


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[Oldsarge]

And so we find another excellent set of (expensive) choices in safari jackets. Die, Workwear brings our attention to Grenfill, the original cloth from which so many safari jackets were made. Oh, glorious day, that we should see the rebirth of fine adventure wear so many years after the lamented passing of Willis and Geiger (curse you, Land's End, from the bottom of my heart, curse you!)

 

[BlueTrain]

Oh, there are so many threads to explore on this forum. I'll never read every entry. But I like bush jackets because I like jungle movies. Most people in jungle movies wear bush jackets.

I had a couple of old US Air Force bush jackets while I was in college in the late 1960s. They were close enough but I have my ideal bush jacket it mind. It would be dark khaki (so-called British khaki), long sleeved, with all the correct pocket details and a belt. Of course, you'd wear a gunbelt over that, too, so a cloth belt is optional. Pure cotton, drill or whatever, but definitely broken in and sweat stained. Pants a close match but not breeches and no shorts, either. High top combat boots with a plain sole, if possible (cleats pick up mud). Either a plain cotton bush hat suitably weathered and broken-in or some form of safari hat. Ordinary khaki shirt worn under the jacket when necessary or desirable. Accessories include a plain canvas pack but a Norwegian-style rucksack will do.

That's the ideal. What I usually wear in the woods--I mean tropical rain forest, formerly referred to as "jungle"--is a camouflage shirt or jacket instead of a khaki bush jacket but everything else is largely the same. When my little patch of jungle has frost and snow, then I get out my Bemidji woolens. And everything else is still largely the same.

My boss grew up in Northern Rhodesia and graduated university at Durban. He wouldn't be caught dead in a bush jacket. But he does go on safari! When I'm in a mood to be smart, I call him Bwana.

What I need more than anything for my outfit is porters.

 

[Oldsarge]

With boxes carried on their heads! And don't forget the requisite double rifle in some caliber over .400. Only cheapskates like me carry bolt guns on safari. Of course should I ever be able to afford a double rifle . . .

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

You and I both there old sarge, but I live in hope and have dreams..........ahhhhh a double rife!

But I do like the Westley Richards bush jacket.
W. R. & Co. Safari Jacket - Olive

 

[BlueTrain]

Well, actually I have my heart set on a 9.3x62mm Mauser but a drilling would be okay, too, I guess. I can't afford the good stuff and I guess that's why I've never had porters.

The Morgan Car Company uses men to push cars around their factory and they're called porters. I've never had a Morgan but I did have both a 1965 Land-Rover (a "real" Land-Rover) and two Rover sedans/saloon cars. That was in my youth.

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

Well, actually I have my heart set on a 9.3x62mm Mauser but a drilling would be okay, too, I guess. I can't afford the good stuff and I guess that's why I've never had porters.

The Morgan Car Company uses men to push cars around their factory and they're called porters. I've never had a Morgan but I did have both a 1965 Land-Rover (a "real" Land-Rover) and two Rover sedans/saloon cars. That was in my youth.

Never mind you can dream along with us eh? I like thought of a long line porters with my camping gear but perhaps a few camels or mules would surffice. There is a quality car the Morgan but I would still opt for the VW kubelwagen as my choice but would not turn down a Morgan if offered one.

Funny I knew someone that worked a Vauxhaul parts and they used Pashley roadsters with Brooke's saddles to move around on, think they were termed gofers.

 

[BlueTrain]

This is a long ways from bush jackets ("Jackets, bush, 1950-pattern) and more in connection with another thread, but my dream car was a Rover sedan and I had not one, but two. Again, that was in my youth. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to realize one's dreams so early in life.

I've never so much sat in a Morgan but there is now a dealer in the town where I went to school, which is, believe it or not, Morgantown, West Virginia. They used to sell MGs and Triumphs. However, I have at least sat in a Bristol, just like LJK Setright loved. My present conveyance is a Ford SUV because my wife wouldn't let me get a pickup truck or a Mercedes.

 

[Oldsarge]

Ah, the 9.3x62! As fine a caliber as has ever been largely ignored on this side of the pond. And a great pity, too. CZ is the only readily available company that provides that chambering. I had one once and it was a genuine pocket rocket! However, I had (and have) three other rifles in calibers that could qualify as 'dangerous game' and it seemed redundant. So I sold it to an old school friend (now sadly deceased) who wanted something to hunt elk and moose with. If I ever come across another Husqvarna in 9.3x57 like my previous one I will snatch it up in a heartbeat and rechamber again. Then it would be off to Europe for driven boar.

 

[BlueTrain]

I was thinking about this the other day, also in connection to other items of attire mentioned in other threads. There are lots of interesting outfits I like, from old-style riding breeches (or foot breeches!) to bush jackets to Norfolk jackets. However, I would feel very self-conscious were I to wear them in public, meaning where someone else would see me. Yet I wear camouflage clothing all the time and never give it a second thought.