Looking for Top Quality vintage clothing

[Marc Chevalier]

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Years ago, I reached a point in my collecting where I began to focus on the quality of vintage items. I was no longer satisfied with having a vintage '40s suit, end of story. No, I wanted one that was as top-of-the-line as possible. To get what I wanted, I had to find out what to look for.


The quickest way was to learn about stores and manufacturers. I looked through vintage newspaper ads and learned that in 1930s and '40s Los Angeles, the top stores for menswear were Bullock's, Desmond's, Oviatt's, and Silverwoods. Richman Brothers came a close second. The top national/regional manufacturers of suits were Hickey-Freeman, Hart Schaffner & Marx (sp?), Fashion Park, and Hyde Park Clothes, among others. (Please feel free to add names to this thread!)


In Los Angeles, the top tailoring company (by leaps and bounds) was Eddie Schmidt, Inc.


Here's my challenge to you: please name the highest quality (and perhaps most expensive) 1930s and '40s menswear stores/department stores that once thrived in your own city. If possible, name the top local tailors of that era as well. Your information will help to build a valuable resource for folks that want to identify/collect/sell top-quality vintage menswear from the Golden Era. Thanks!

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[dhermann1]

In Buffalo I believe it was Kleinhan's. I often see vintage articles with their name. In Jamestown NY, when I was a kid in the 50's, there was Bigelow's Dept Store, and 2 good mens clothing stores: Edwards, and Matthews and Miller.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I don't think you could ever compete with the quality of Woolworth

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Presenting Matt Deckard, the thread's first wag.

Dhermann1, that's the ticket! If we can get enough feedback from folks, I'll organize the data by state and city. I think it could prove to be a useful resource.

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[Matt Deckard]

Did you put Roos Brothers in the lineup? I don't think any company was worth it's salt unless it had a Brothers. I have some of their socks and hats.

 

[skyvue]

Marc, I'd be curious to learn what you might know about a brand called Style-Mart. As I've posted a couple of other places, I have somehow ended up with several Style-Mart jackets and one suit, but I really know nothing about them, except that I've seen one magazine ad in which Joan Crawford was endorsing them.

I suspect they were mid-range in price (and quality?), and perhaps a bargain brand.

But I like the ones I own.

 

[scotrace]

It's all relative.

The other top quality men's store in the 30's and 40's in town was called, "Penneys."



(Marc: Oxxford?)

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Did you put Roos Brothers in the lineup? I don't think any company was worth it's salt unless it had a Brothers. I have some of their socks and hats.

Thanks, Matt! You're right: Roos Bros. was a high quality store in both Northern and Southern California.


I'm not too familiar with top San Francisco stores of the '30s-'40s era, but here are several. Some are still in existence:


-- Emporium-Capwell

-- Bullock & Jones

-- Cable Car Clothiers

-- Robert S. Atkins


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[Marc Chevalier]

Good call, Scotrace!


"Oxxford Clothiers," a manufacturer, was founded in 1916 by the Weinberg brothers. It was originally named "Oxford" (with one "x") until the early 1940s, when the extra "x" appeared. (Lawsuit? Who knows?)


My first vintage suit was a 3-piece, single-breasted beauty in a thick --but soft and drapey-- herringbone tweed. It was an "Oxford" from the 1930s. I loved that suit, but it became too small for me. I sold it to the actor Crispin Glover in 1991.

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[reetpleat]

Are you looking just for stores, or also for the companies that sold through most of the stores. Aren't most suits labeled as the manufacturer, then for the men's shop?

How do you compare highest quality versus best style, but not necesserily best quality.

My favorite is Hollywood Clothes. Don't know much about them. But the quality seems good and their cuts were very flashy.

And for quality and cut , we can't forget MacIntosh. Am I remembering that right? High quality LA company that sold a lot to the movies.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Great questions! I'm looking for the best stores and the best companies that sold through stores.


I'm looking for best quality rather than best style, which is more subjective. ('Eye of the beholder' and all that.)


Your reference to 'Hollywood Clothes' and 'Macintosh' just reminded me of my favorite vintage L.A. brand: 'Studio Clothes by Macintosh.' Not only were their suits and sportcoats very fashion forward, but the quality of materials and tailoring was top notch!

Are you looking just for stores, or also for the companies that sold through most of the stores. Aren't most suits labeled as the manufacturer, then for the men's shop?

How do you compare highest quality versus best style, but not necesserily best quality.

My favorite is Hollywood Clothes. Don't know much about them. But the quality seems good and their cuts were very flashy.

And for quality and cut , we can't forget MacIntosh. Am I remembering that right? High quality LA company that sold a lot to the movies.

 

[Lefty]

Bunce Brothers and the Halle Brothers Department Store were high-end in Cleveland. Halle Barry was named for the store, and Drew Carrie's fictional employer was located in the now office-filled Halle Building.

 

[vitanola]

Remember that Richmond Brothers, Joseph and Feiss, Bamberger, Reinthal & Co., Dalton & Co., and Klein, Lichtenstander & Co. were all majopr manufacturers of men's wear locat3d in Cleveland in the first half of the last century.

 

[dhermann1]

Marc: So I guess the idea is that ultimately, if a person buys a vintage garment, they can go to an online data base and look up the label, and find out something about the store. Cool.
Sort of like when I got my 1940 homburg from Ohio, and we not only found the store it was sold in, we got a picture of the building. That was Shinn Clothing, Farmers Bank Building, Ashland, Ohio.

 

[reetpleat]

Great questions! I'm looking for the best stores and the best companies that sold through stores.


I'm looking for best quality rather than best style, which is more subjective. ('Eye of the beholder' and all that.)


Your reference to 'Hollywood Clothes' and 'Macintosh' just reminded me of my favorite vintage L.A. brand: 'Studio Clothes by Macintosh.' Not only were their suits and sportcoats very fashion forward, but the quality of materials and tailoring was top notch!

That's it. Studi clothes by macintosh. Greenish label with a plaid pattern on part of it if I recall. Once found a tuxedo from them. Sold it to a guy in a bar for a hundred bucks on the power of my explanation of the company. But then Roberto got mad at me because I didn't save it for him.

I love the way the pinched the waist of the jackets in really tight for a real sharp sillouette. Any history on them.

 

[Paisley]

In Denver, it may have been Denver Dry Goods Co. I have a sweater from there that I bought 15 years ago at a consignment store, wore regularly on the loading dock where I worked, and it's still almost good as new.

 

[resortes805]

I would kill for a Macintosh suit. The ones that I've encountered were amazing and had all the details that I look for in vintage suits. They were far too small for me though, but I was tempted to buy one just to have a template to work off of for future suits.

I know that in Chicago, Marshall Field's was the Neiman Marcus of it's day.

I personally collect items from Murray's of Los Angeles.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Marc: So I guess the idea is that ultimately, if a person buys a vintage garment, they can go to an online data base and look up the label, and find out something about the store. Cool.

Sort of. My idea is that with this database, folks could learn in advance which manufacturers/stores/tailors were the best in their day ... and then be able to spot the best quality vintage stuff, thanks their knowledge of these manufacturers/stores/tailors.

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[benstephens]

Are you just looking for American stores. I have alot of catologues from English tailors and stores?

Kindest regards

Ben

 

[Tomasso]

I know that in Chicago, Marshall Field's was the Neiman Marcus of it's day.

Yep, in its day MF was THE finest department store in the world. And, its Store for Men (which was located in the Field Annex Building, across the street from the flagship store) held its own with Capper & Capper and Sulka, two other great Chicago haberdashers.