Bush Jackets

[BellyTank]

BT, if you do go ahead with the 30s style trousers at the seventy dollar mark, please count me in.

Sorry, Edward- maybe I confused things, mentioning "$70".
There will be nothing as "cheap" as $70-
maybe if you were to triple it for a ballpark number...

As someone once said:

...I'm glad you've anticipated responses along the lines of "70 bucks for a pair of khakis? Are you insane?"
I grow tired of that line of thought.

I'm only trying to do better on price, than the £800 and £400 "bush jackets",
from Purdey, et al. This is whats spurring me on. I'm definitely not trying to make a line of low budget clothing-
that "ethic" would hurt the product.
I'm hoping to offer an excellent quality, authentically vintage styled Bush Jacket, (then other styles)
a vast improvement over such £800 travesties, for a fraction of the £800.
Unfortunately, small prices, does not a small, well crafted production allow.
A niche market cannot support mass production.

Of course, the trousers will demand a smaller price than the jackets,
due to there being less time and work in them, if that's any comfort.

Now, after all this talk, let's just wait for someone to try and beat me to the punch..
I'm not joking.


B
T

 

[BellyTank]

...only me...

...I think that the khaki colour needs to be communicated as a broad-spectrum term. On this side of the Atlantic, and in the Antipodes a brownish tinge is anticipated. Those on the western side will demand a greenish hue.

I'm aiming at a British/Empire/Commonwealth "Khaki", which actually has a green-ish hue to it, as far as I'm aware.


B
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[Zemke Fan]

Solution...

Would leather buttons be appropriate for a true 'bush jacket?'

***

But they do 'look good!' Any advice or suggestions (as I have a pile of buttons that would fit the bill, but not prepared to sew them on 'if' I have to have the jacket dry-cleaned all the time).

Cheers, PADDY.

Do what they did with my USAAF summer Class A Uniform. Replace the buttons with a SECOND (much smaller) button hole and then use a cotter pin to attach/detach the buttons for cleaning!

Hair Pin Cotter (in case it's a non-UK term):

Link: http://www.lynchpinexporter.com/hair_pin_cotter.html

 

[BellyTank]

Now why didn't I think of that..?:eusa_doh:

Cotter pins are also referred to as "split pins", (although slightly differen)especially in non-American, English-speaking circles... and triangles.

"Split rings", work too and were used for buttons- like a small (½", or smaller) key-ring, ring.


B
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[Zemke Fan]

My apologies, BT...

You answered that already! --

Paddy/Mike-
In the day- and in the military, the well made (especially theatre made) bush shirt/jacket/safari shirt, and other KD and SD tunics had removable, shank buttons, or bachelor buttons. Removable for laundering.
The button has a shank/metal loop to he rear and a cotter/split pin, or ring is used on the back to hold it in place, inside the plaquet...

B
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[BellyTank]

Oh, really- my memory... what?


B
something

 

[Halfbreedinkc]

Who makes this particular safari jacket?

Long overdue, but the purpose of this post is to provide members of The Fedora Lounge and other researchers a useful and definitive reference to a classic piece of adventurous attire. Obviously this post is not an exhaustive thesis on the safari/bush jacket, but instead is intended to be updated continually with new, quality information by others. Enjoy….

The safari/bush jacket is, in many respects, the tropical cousin of the A-2 leather flying jacket. Although designed for functionality, with its clean military-inspired lines, sturdy materials, and dashing looks it is a jacket that also exudes timelessly classic style and a sense of adventure. Stains and tatters do not detract from its aesthetic but are a testament to that morning encounter with a leopard, high tea with the Raj, or that sunset balloon ride over the veld. “Like a thoroughbred filly…the Safari Jacket looks like it does, and does like it looks.”

According to the Banana Republic Guide to Travel & Safari Clothing, the venerable safari/bush jacket is “the crux and symbol of the expeditionary and internationalist spirit. The jacket takes its epaulets from the traditions of the French, its pockets from the practical genius of the British, its swagger from the confident swank of American bravos, and its fabric from the natural bounty of the Nile Delta.”

“…The heart and soul of the Safari Jacket has nothing to do with image and everything to do with function. The jacket is about survival and its younger cousin, comfort. It’s about mobility, ease, and pockets. It’s about morning chills, noontime heat shimmers, and sudden late-afternoon thunderstorms. That the jacket looks right is not a coincidence but arises from a probably instinctive appreciation of form in the service of function.”

I think that pretty well sums it up. So what defines the classic safari/bush jacket, and what is best forgotten?

I can't make out the logo from the picture and I'm curious as that is exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance.
HB

 

[BellyTank]

"J L Powell" is part of the file name of that image...

http://jlpowellusa.com/collection-1/2-SAFARI-COLLECTION.html

A JL Powell Bush Jacket? Maybe an old style.


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[Mike K.]

...and also noted in the thread:

Examples that can be purchased today:
Cover photo: J. L. Powell

It is an insanely overpriced jacket (like most of the other items in the J. L. Powell catalog)!!

 

[PADDY]

I'll be getting some split pins.

In the meanwhile...leather buttons stitched on.

 

[BellyTank]

Looks good!


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[Geronimo]

Following some of the advice on this thread, I purchased a WPG bush jacket in khaki.

It's a darker shade than the pictures show. Seems to be a very nice item so far.
Not quite sure what happened to my right arm in the second picture.

 

[BellyTank]

Looks good.
Now that you've shown us a pic- please tell us what size YOU are
and what size the BUSH SHIRT is.


B
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[Geronimo]

Looks good.
Now that you've shown us a pic- please tell us what size YOU are
and what size the BUSH SHIRT is.


B
T

Normally a 38, decided to go with a 40 since I sometimes carry a gun. I'm 5'10 or just under, so I ordered the regular instead of tall size. It comes down far enough to cover my backside, same as a normal suit coat. Seems to be true to size, as far as i can tell.

 

[Edward]

I think they are true to size. In my photos above, I'm wearing a 42, which is my regular jacket size. Plenty of room under it to fit a shirt and tie should I so wish, though I prefer an undershirt and cravat.

 

[H.Johnson]

Vintage bush jackets

I'm surprised than no-one has advocated the acquisition of WW2-era original bush jackets. I have recently acquired two for less than 10 GBP each.

One is a KD that seems to have belonged to a colonel or brigadier in the Indian Army and it has that unique 'darzi' collar sometimes seen in wartime photographs. I'm just restoring it. The other is a JG (again Indian manufactured with nut buttons etc.) that came from a RE captain or major. It only needed the starch washing out of it - it took two washes!.

Both are in good wearable condition and have that character that (IMO) no reproduction has. The only downside is that one can see where the rank indications and decorations used to be. Personally, I don't mind this.

I found both in local surplus shops - they are still out there and they are cheap!

 

[H.Johnson]

Endicotts in Exeter - 1937, unissued, cheap!

Try British 12" canvas gaiters, which're around for not very many £££s on the internet at the moment.

 

[Edward]

HJ, you do seem to get some great bargains in surplus stores. I'll have to try and find myself some - all the ones I used to use here in London have disappeared (many of them due to the ongoing efforts of Camden Council to turn the market there into a place where tourists can buy shoddy t shirts and smelly candles), with the exception of Silvermans (not exactly a cheap option, though!).

 

[Creeping Past]

Endicotts in Exeter - 1937, unissued, cheap!

That's where I got mine. Unissued and cheap.

 

[H.Johnson]

Edward,

I do a lot of looking and, like hunting, you seem to develop a 'sixth sense'.

I agree about London - great for vintage clothing shops, not so for military surplus. My real interest is vintage civilian clothing - the military interest is peripheral.

Silvermans has some good stuff and even the occasional bargain, although they are pricey on most items (e.g. 175 GBP for a 'Coat, Duffel, Drab, Hood Attached'!)

HJ, you do seem to get some great bargains in surplus stores. I'll have to try and find myself some - all the ones I used to use here in London have disappeared (many of them due to the ongoing efforts of Camden Council to turn the market there into a place where tourists can buy shoddy t shirts and smelly candles), with the exception of Silvermans (not exactly a cheap option, though!).