What shirt brand(s) did business people use in the 50's and 60's?

[alliswell]

Originally Posted by Trompe le Monde

the upstart MTM service AncientTailor

Jantzen. My father's expecting his shirts any day now.

 

[Patrician]

Originally Posted by EBugatti

Not to be pedantic, while you are technically correct, 7.35x and not 10x like I said, I was just trying to make it easier to do the math. Also, the 7.35x is for a basket of goods that includes a wide variety of products (durables, retail, etc.). Hence it doesn't apply individually to specific types of products as those could have individual market forces at work. For example, computers in the 1960s were priced at $10 (in 2010 dollars)/transistor, and were thus prohibitively expensive and only institution-owned. Today's laptop with billions on transistors on a chip would be priced in the $ billions today if no market/innovative forces operated between 1960 and today. Instead, a laptop is a mere $1,000 (depending on configuration of course) today. Your 7.35x does not account for better manufacturing, better marketing/branding, etc. that is pervasive in the clothing business today. The improved manufacturing would tend to lower real prices and the better marketing/branding etc. would raise prices. As luxury goods have enjoyed quite a mark-up in the last 10 years or so, you could argue a larger multiplier would be in order for high-end menswear.
Well actually I wasn't poking on your x10 instead of my x7.35 but merely doubting the fact that a shirt cost $20. And I clearly see where you're going with this but I was only interested in what a shirt cost back in the days as I can't imagine a shirt having a $20 price tag.

Accoring to this site a pair of oxford shoes cost around 12.95, and shoes tend to cost more than shirts in my experience.

 

[comrade]

Originally Posted by Patrician

^ very interesting!

But what did a dress shirt generally (in todays exc. rate) cost in the 50's and 60's?

Brooks Brothers OCBD or tab Collar was under $10.00, probably closer to $5.00
Tweed Sport coat from the BB University Shop around $60.00
I recall that a glen plaid hard finish worsted from Paul Stuart in 1964 was $85.00
The first Ford Mustangs (1965 Model) were $2500

 

[SpallaCamiccia]

Thanks for the explanation. Nice thread.

 

[LabelKing]

I suppose if one were well-heeled, one got their shirts from the British firms or maybe Charvet.

 

[comrade]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I suppose if one were well-heeled, one got their shirts from the British firms or maybe Charvet.

Yes. If one were looking for unique options. Most didn't. I actually purchased a
bengal stripe shirt with a detachable collar and a white collar at Harrods in
1961. Very exotic in the US for the time. At least in my crowd ,who were
mere undergraduates and mostly aiming for professional and/or academic
careers. Unlike today, we all dressed reasonably well in a conventional,
Ivy League style.

 

[Patrician]

Is there really no one who knows how much a dress shirt cost in the 50's and 60's? In general, of course.

 

[otc]

I would imagine you would still be on the tail end of the time when people visited tailors much more often.

Older well to do people (like draper) may well have had their shirts made for them along with their suits and stuff. I could see this being comparatively cheaper than it is now--it was more common and there were many more people who could do it. Now there are very few people getting shirts made for them, so the practitioners cater toward the high end clientele rather than trying to compete with the Chinese imports.

Younger people and those who were less successful probably sourced RTW shirts from a department store since they grew up with that kind of stuff being available. Their careers were progressing as overseas manufacturing progressed and so they probably never grew out of it.

 

[Shirtmaven]

Originally Posted by AlanC

Curious, what are they?

Brooks Bros Garland factory
Gitman
Hamilton
Gant (?)
Individualized
Behar (any US production left?)
Kenneth Gordon

New england shirt/Fall river ma. it closed and reopened. May not be up to that number yet.
Gitman PA
Gambert 3 Different factories NJ
Individualized NJ
Garland(brooks) NC
Measure up. TN. not really sure how many people are there.
IKE behar
Ken gordon (new orleans closed
Hamilton shirt TX
Robert Talbot

there maybe some Asian owned factories in NYC garment district making shirts of mediocre quality.

there are some low end uniform shops with govt contracts.

 

[Spats]

Originally Posted by Shirtmaven

Ken gordon (new orleans closed
They have a website, kennethgordonco.com that says they are made in USA and gives a New Orleans address...

 

[Shirtmaven]

Originally Posted by Spats

They have a website, kennethgordonco.com that says they are made in USA and gives a New Orleans address...
shirts are made in the USA. just not New Orleans. Katrina did them in.

 

[I. Gentantithesis]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I suppose if one were well-heeled, one got their shirts from the British firms or maybe Charvet.

^ http://thematerialist.net/secretvice.html Outside of Manhattan, Henry Ford, etc. this was probably a rarity. In the Wolfe article it may have been more common amongst the gunslingers, fancying themselves sophisticates, than the more conservative senior partners of the era. Boston was more conservative in attire. One visual criticism of the original Thomas Crown movie was that no Boston banker would dress in McQueen's movie raiment.

Especially for Patty: Mid '60s GANT, Sero, Eagle basic OCBD, poplin and most other fabrications ranged from $5 to $7. Good quality ties were less than shirts. WeeJuns were perhaps $15 - more upscale Johnston & Murphy tan deer skin penny loafers circa $25. You could buy a beefy, university striped oxford cloth button-down from Sero, made in New Haven, and expect the stripes to at least approximate alignment at the sleeve/yoke seam and on the sleeve gauntlet. Pearly plastic cross stitched buttons.

(The first shirt in the Lands' End catalog (mid '70s) was a blue Sero OCBD, or maybe chambray. LE eventually went with private labeled Kenneth Gordon copies of Bert Pulitzer's by Ashland Shirt Co. (Gitman) in the '80s.)

I think Measure Up, TN was Overton Shirt Co. before its acquisition by Spencer Hays' Individualized Apparel.

Kenneth Gordon subcontracted shirts long before Katrina. I think a shirt-maker in central NC made for KG in the '80s.

One I'd forgotten in the previous list > an old line "Some Guy's Name Ivy Shoppe, LTD." vendor which was originally in Brooklyn(?) and moved to Belton, S.C. years ago www.famaccluer.com I think they now import. Notice the "American based" connotation.

Mr. Tintin, of The Trad blog, recently purchased some NOS Press shirts from Press. The WPL/RN number of one indicated a long defunct Abbeville Shirt Company of Abbeville, SC had made the shirts for Press, perhaps in the '60s.

Back 'round to the OP's interest in Don Draper's shirts > http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/10/13/942392

 

[Shirtmaven]

Gant and SERO both started around New haven.

both moved production to non union southern factories.

eagle was based in Pennsylvania.
I know someone who wanted to buy the old factory until they found out that is was sitting on toxic industrial waste.

the overton shirt company now makes in Honduras. the factory was sold to aone group based in California before it was sold to Individualized.

Fleetwood shirt made many shirts for Kenneth Gordon. this factory was owned by Paul Fredricks father in law.
Maclure started in Brooklyn. In fact i spoke to them about buying the factory.
Maclure bought the Yorke shirt factory. It was not a quality factory and they shut it down and moved production to India.

Abbeville made a decent shirt. nothing fantastic. Mark McNairy used to use them.

other long gone factories were Morgan shirt. in morgantown west Virgina. they made shirts for POLO for years until the production moved to Malaysia.
Barnesboro shirt which was in western PA used to make for the Shirt Store/victory shirt as well as others

odd story. a family that owned a shirt factory in the south ( I forget which) bought the north east Franchise for Krispy Kreme. they made more money in donuts then they ever made in shirts!

 

[eg1]

I think there are still shirts made in Canada (which is not quite the US, but also not quite a third-world, sweatshop country

)

Behar-Cline in Guelph, Ontario
T Lipson in Etobicoke, Ontario
Forsyth in Cambridge, Ontario
Chemise Gold Star in Pointe-Claire, Quebec
Chemise Perfection in Saint-gedeon-de-beauce, Quebec
Hathaway in Sherbrooke, Quebec

You can find more information here:

http://www.sweatfree.org/shoppingguide
http://www.justiceclothing.com/there...ice/index.html

 

[jobro]

Sulka was popular.