What about the European catalogues?

[Metatron]

So we've seen many American 1940s catalogs by Sears... Where are the European ones? Of course American workwear and casualwear was the most influential of the time, but there must be some purely European equivalents.
I'd appreciate it if anyone could suggest a source for 1930s-1950s European catalogs, especially featuring leather jackets.

 

[Nick D]

Mario has posted some good German ones. There are also old Burton catalogues avaliable online from the Leeds city museum, they were posted a few years ago and may be difficult to find.

*Edited to add:* http://www.movinghere.org.uk/search...&RecordID=72334&ResourceTypeID=2&sequence=587

 

[Baron Kurtz]

benstephens (a retired member here) has posted a few bits and pieces on his blog:

http://doverstreetchaps.blogspot.com/

As I say this is only bits and pieces of his substantial collection. I am also guilty of not digitising my large collection of British and European catalogues. To be honest, when you've seen one Burton's 1930s catalogue (see above) you've seen them all. They didn't change much.

I do have some odd and very rare things, though (I spent quite a while collecting these things), so maybe someday i'll get around to posting them.

bk

 

[Metatron]

Thank your for your replies. I'm particularly interested in the European equivalent of the famous American workwear/leather/casual clothing of the time. Have you seen any catalogs that feature something equivalent to these: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?37176-1942-catalog ?

I'd be interested in seeing catalog illustrations of those crazy German double breasted motorcycle jackets for example. Although I realize that they were probably considered crazy back then too, and were consequently not mainstream.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

I post all my scans here but there is less casual clothing or work wear. However I found a guy on german ebay who scans catalogues and sells them as pdf. Search for "Renner Katalog" on german ebay. They have about 90 pages (also with womens clothes, housewares...) and I don't want to spoil his business so I can't post all of them here. At least he made the effort to scann all the pages.

Take this as a preview. It's one of the better pages though.

 

[Metatron]

Thank you, mein herr! That's exactly what I was looking for.
Which of the catalogues by this ebay seller feature the most 'sportswear'?

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

[huh] I really don't know. Maybe about the same but with a different range of products depending on the fall/winter or spring/summer collection. The page above is from Herbst/Winter 1937-38

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

There is a dutch catalogue for sports and outerwear on Flickr. FL member Missjoeri posted this
Carl Denig catalogus 1939

 

[Pegasus jackets]

Great thread! Thanks everyone for sharing. Like Metatron, I would also personally like to see more European stuff like this. I think the relative scarcity of European workwear catalogues has to do with the fact that there were no pan-european powerhouse retailers at the time like Sears and Roebuck in the US. I could imagine that European retailers of the era were smaller operations that did business locally (meaning within their own home country) and therefore the expense of producing and distributing a full fledged catalog was prohibitive especially for workwear. Just my assumption.

 

[Mangrove]

Here are few factory catalogues from Finland:

Aaltosen Kenkätehdas - Shoes (1932)

Friitalan Nahkatehdas - Leather jackets and other products from leather (1933)
Friitalan Nahkatehdas - Leather jackets and other products from leather (1937)
Friitalan Nahkatehdas - Leather jackets and other products from leather (1938)
Friitalan Nahkatehdas - Leather jackets and other products from leather (1939)
Friitalan Nahkatehdas - Leather jackets and other products from leather (1940)

Hämeen Kenkä- ja Nahkatehdas - Shoes (1934)
Hämeen Kenkä- ja Nahkatehdas - Shoes (1935)
Hämeen Kenkä- ja Nahkatehdas - Shoes (1936)
Hämeen Kenkä- ja Nahkatehdas - Shoes (1937)
Hämeen Kenkä- ja Nahkatehdas - Shoes (1939)

Kenkätehdas K. Brander - Shoes (1939)

Pallo-Paita - Men shirts (1935)
Pallo-Paita - outdoor clothing (1930s)
Pallo-Paita - outdoor clothing, II (1930s)

Suomen Gummitehdas - Summer, sport and bathing shoes (1932)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Bathing shoes and swimming caps (1934)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Galoshes (1934)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Summer and sport shoes (1935)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Summer and sport shoes (1936)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Summer and sport shoes (1937)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Summer and sport shoes (1938)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Summer and sport shoes (1939)
Suomen Gummitehdas - Shoes (1940)

Suomen Trikoo - Clothing (1932)
Suomen Trikoo - Clothing (Fall 1934)
Suomen Trikoo - Clothing (Spring 1935)
Suomen Trikoo - Clothing (Fall 1935)

Tampereen Pukutehdas - Menswear (1935)

 

[Mangrove]

Some more:

H. Kestilä - Women spring and summer coats (1932)
H. Kestilä - Menswear and women clothing for spring and summer (1933)
H. Kestilä - Women spring coats (1934)
H. Kestilä - Women coats (1936)

Kudos - Clothing for women (1935)
Kudos - Clothing for women (1944)
Kudos - What women should wear in a theatre (1944)
Kudos - Summer wear for women (1944)

Turun Vanu - Women work coats (1930s)

Veljekset Viljanen - How men should dress (1930s)

 

[Metatron]

Fantastic, thank you.

It is obvious that there was an aesthetic in Europe that is at times similar to it's American counterpart, at times quite distinct, like in the case of those double breasted jackets. These catalogues are a great source for inspiration.

 

[hpalapdog]

Of course American workwear and casualwear was the most influential of the time, but there must be some purely European equivalents.
I'd appreciate it if anyone could suggest a source for 1930s-1950s European catalogs, especially featuring leather jackets.

Most influential ? The American clothing industry was largely run by European immigrants. They brought their skills and ideas with them.
Denim,of course,is French http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denim

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Given the near ubiquity of the American-style 4 pocket blue jeans, I think it's reasonable to suggest American workwear has been rather influential.

Martti Kujansuu, those catalogues are a wonderful resource! Thanks so much for posting them. :eusa_clap

bk

 

[Mangrove]

Martti Kujansuu, those catalogues are a wonderful resource! Thanks so much for posting them. :eusa_clap

Thank you! As you can probably see from the catalogues, Finnish fashion closely followed the ones at United Kingdom and Germany. American fashion was perhaps the third most common source for inspiration. If you need translation from Finland to English, please let me know!

Alli Linna - Women hats (1944)
Kerttu Lampisuo - Women hats (1930s?)

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Bump. Some more european catalogues anywhere?

 

[rocketeer]

I had a mail order catalogue from the 1930s, Army & Navy London if I remember. was much like todays mail order catalogues, no photo's though but lots of drawings of suits, dresses, clothing in general plus everything you would want for a cruise on the Mauritania.

Hard bound, but acidic paper, a few hundred pages, all the pages having a yellow tint to them.Much like todays mail order catalogues they were probably thrown away after a season, you may find one on eBay but good ones are not always cheap, I paid £45 for mine. I gave it to some friends as a wedding present as they were into that sort of thing and the groom had a suit made from an example featured.

For those that are not aware: Army & Navy store in London was an old style department store in England, such as Selfridges, Harrods, and probably Macy's in the USA rather than an outlet for deactivated rocket launches and out of date uniforms(Though it probably started out selling military clothing). Look it up on the net, thats your job
J

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

BUMP again for new members. If you have european catalogs please share them with us.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

A danish catalog! Nice!

http://www.kb.dk/pamphlets/dasmaa/2008/feb/daellsvarehus/object87015/da/