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reetpleat said:I always assumed they were a big national brand, because i see so much of them. they are almost a household name to me. but i now realize that is because I am in Seattle. tony b in this area, as well as another lounger have both commented on them. I see now that they were mainly a northwest brand.
Yes, very nice stuff. I don't commonly see stuff that old. That suit is beautiful. How much was it? With the vest, I would allow a pretty high price and still feel good about it.
I see tons of stuff from the 50s and 60s by them around here.
Yeah, I keep seeing their label as well. Must've been a big name out here at one time. I got a couple of '50s-vintage items with their label. And I recently was gifted a hatbox bearing the Fahey-Brockman name.
I don't know when they went the way of all things, but I have no personal recollection of ever seeing one of their stores or even hearing mention of them (excepting around this joint), and I've been living out here since '68.[huh]
As to the '50s and '60s men's wear in general ... man, it's just raining that stuff around here. The simplest explanation is that I'm on the lookout for it so of course that has the effect of making it seem more common than it would be otherwise. But I think that's only a partial explanation. There's gotta be myriad other causes, I'd think, some of them considerably more plausible than others. I'd speculate that the men who acquired that stuff new have no more earthly need for it, so their survivors sent it out into the world. But that theory is easy enough to shoot down. I mean, 1955 was 55 years ago now (hard to believe, ain't it?), and the large majority of the men who were of an age to be routinely purchasing such attire back then have long ago passed on. And besides, they wouldn't have held on to those out-of-fashion clothes all those years anyway. Not many of them would have, anyway. Ours is a mobile society. We move. We discard.
Perhaps the economic downturn has something to do with it. Maybe people are getting a few bucks for the stuff they figure they could live just as well without anyway, such as the old clothing they never wear. So they sell it to the vintage store. Or consign it there. But that does absolutely nothing to explain why so much of it is showing up in thrift stores, where the inventory is donated. I'm finding '50s and '60s stuff at Value Village and Goodwill fairly frequently. For whatever it's worth, I find the pickings (and the prices) better at the stores more removed from the big town. My favorite old junk peddler travels even farther afield -- over to the Olympic Peninsula and out to the ocean towns -- in her searches.