'40s khakis...

[matei]

I have a set of '40s military khaki trousers. I really like them, but I realise that they won't last forever.

When they finally do wear through (I got them in a worn state) I planned on bringing them to a tailor and asking him to whip up a new pair based on the originals.

Has anyone ever tried this?

I don't like some of the repros on the market... they either use sub-par material or the fit/cut is all wrong. That is why I figured I'd try to get a pair based on the real deal.

 

[FinalVestige79]

You talking about the khaki cottons or the wools?

 

[matei]

Sorry - I'm talking about cottons!

 

[FinalVestige79]

Cottons are rare, its no easy or cheap feat to have them duplicated.

 

[Doug C]

Hey Matei, I hear ya' on the '40s military khakis and to me there are none as good as the originals. People often recommend getting the vintage military khakis from post WWII up though you know vietnam. I have bought a few pairs of those but to me they fall short of being as cool as the "quenticential" WWII ones. I say "quenticential" because their were a few different contractors and not all were made the same way, however there is a certain style that I personally think of specifically regarding these. The originals (from WWII) have some specific details that set them apart from the others. Namely the offseam front pockets that travel up and over the waistband and the very specific russet colored buttons and wideleg cut. BUT take a good look at the WWII Impression repros, I think they may be the best bet for repros of these khakis. The problem for me is that a lot of guys have mentioned the WWII mpressions ones in the past but no body ever posted a picture of them so I tended to doubt they'd be well detailed which is why I never bought any. Well I ran across a pair on ebay the other day that were way too big for me, but I was surprised by the pictures that showed the details that originals have. They are less than the Buzz Rickson and look just as good to me - Here's some pictures of them:



Unfortunatley WWII Impressions is out of sz 34 at the moment but I'll get some when they are back in stock.
Doug C

 

[Doug C]

BTW, also look into PIR khakis, I never liked them much from the few shots I'd seen on line, to be honest they seemed kind of funky to me. But there's a member here (kostya) that's selling a pair via ebay (check our classifieds) and his pair, called the "Overlord" model, look great - very WWII military to me which is what they're based on. Again they don't look that good on the website but take a look at kostya's auction picture:
http://www.pirclothingco.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=OV0616


Doug C

 

[matei]

Thanks Doug C - those trousers look the business. They're exactly what I'm after, and methinks it'll be easier to get a pair of those than having to wrangle with a tailor to re-create a pair.

 

[Doug C]

Exactly... The WWII impression ones do "impress" . Oh and hey, if you decide to go with the PIR overlord pants, last I heared the guy that runs PIRcargo was offering a 15% discount to Fedor Lounge members. I believe the code to enter at check out is "PIRFL" or something like that.. he's a memeber here too. Let us know how it goes and what you order.

Doug C