I always liked the Lee Storm Rider and instead of buying a repro I decided to look for a not too expensive vintage one.
Today I was able to buy one from a japan yahoo auction with the help of juno@bidservice (pics below), so it will take some time to arrive here.
It was advertised as from the 70s, but from the infos that i was able to find (from the Heddels article and from Little's Vintage Denim book) it could even be from late 60s. Here is my reasoning:
The yellow striped lining came after 1965, and the embroidered label was probably used approximately until 1970, after then it was simply printed, from '71 to '75 with "union made in USA" and after 1975 only with "made in USA".
After '75 the stripes became vertical and the lining changed from wool to an acrylic/polyester blend.
The small tag on the pocket, even it could have been a bit erased with time, seems to miss the MR mark (used from the 70s) and from the font dimension and the warmer yellow color it seems more the previous version with only the R used in the 60s (a trace of it still is visible in the lower yellow seam).
As the internal label has a MR after "Lee" but it is missing on the pocket tag, maybe it could be from a "transitional" period from late 60s to very early 70s before they used the printed labels and added RM to the pocket tags. Anyway it's still a nice jacket.
But the reason I started this thread is that, as you can see from the last pic, a black cat-eye button is missing and I would like to fix it, does anyone know if and where I could find a correct replacement? Any help would be very appreciated. Thank you
Today I was able to buy one from a japan yahoo auction with the help of juno@bidservice (pics below), so it will take some time to arrive here.
It was advertised as from the 70s, but from the infos that i was able to find (from the Heddels article and from Little's Vintage Denim book) it could even be from late 60s. Here is my reasoning:
The yellow striped lining came after 1965, and the embroidered label was probably used approximately until 1970, after then it was simply printed, from '71 to '75 with "union made in USA" and after 1975 only with "made in USA".
After '75 the stripes became vertical and the lining changed from wool to an acrylic/polyester blend.
The small tag on the pocket, even it could have been a bit erased with time, seems to miss the MR mark (used from the 70s) and from the font dimension and the warmer yellow color it seems more the previous version with only the R used in the 60s (a trace of it still is visible in the lower yellow seam).
As the internal label has a MR after "Lee" but it is missing on the pocket tag, maybe it could be from a "transitional" period from late 60s to very early 70s before they used the printed labels and added RM to the pocket tags. Anyway it's still a nice jacket.
But the reason I started this thread is that, as you can see from the last pic, a black cat-eye button is missing and I would like to fix it, does anyone know if and where I could find a correct replacement? Any help would be very appreciated. Thank you
