While true: Khakis were ex-military. Cramerton  Army cloth. I have about 80 yards of it. Khakis. No. Khakis and chinos are 2 separate and distinct items. Has nothing to do with color either. Khakis are not chinos and vice versa. Khakis are baggy and meant to be worn highly starched; they're military after all.

There were no cheap fabrics in The Sixties?

The cheapest stuff which could be purchased in The Sixties was "bleeding" madras. As cloth/cotton: Real crap. That's not the reason we bought it. We liked it.

John mentioned the building in which he purchased his chinos on Sixth Ave. in the fifties in NYC. I knew of it because it was right down Sixth from the law firm with which I was associated at the time. LCN-controlled. I think the "wise guys" wove fabric the way the built the WTC. (I'm not saying it wouldn't have collapsed anyway, but the LCN-construction outfit which was the general contractor pocketed the money which was supposed to be used to fireproof the girders.)

Back then, the entire City was LCN-controlled. You've never seen the ads which used to run in the New York Times for the annual Salvation Army dinner, the social event of the year!

I bought stuff at a store called Two Guys - Two Guys From Harrison (NJ) more correctly - who sourced it from the same 6th Ave. wholesaler. Lasted about a day, if you were lucky.

It was wholesaled by the lbs., the way rags are today. Maybe back then, too.

John even said by the lbs. is how he purchased it, too.

A fanciful re-creation of The Sixties!

Come on! Give me a break! Please!

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2017-02-09 01:51:28)

please show us a pic of a boldly striped madras sport coat from the Ivy heyday, I've never seen one ........

in any event, even if one existed, it was never a popular choice, and the fact remains that the vast majority of madras sport coats, the classics, were plaid, that's beyond debate ....

boldly striped sport coats regardless of fabric were never major Ivy favorites though the retailers pushed them occasionally ... but the Ivy-wearing students weren't that interested in rowing blazers ..... outside the context of varsity crew they were more a Mod thing than an Ivy thing from the '50s and '60s ... Carnaby Street, not York Street or Madison Ave.

when it comes to the striped Ivy sport coat, subtle, broken, faint stripes on tweed jackets, especially from J. Press, were what was happening.  Period.  (not counting seersucker)

your pastel stripes look more like bedding than any vintage madras sport coat I've ever seen but good luck to you anyway, perhaps there will be a healthy demand for the pastel bold-stripe madras sport coat, which though seldom-seen in the 1952-66 heyday of Ivy, might possess a modern freshness that conceivably could appeal to the contemporary buyer of preppyesque sport coats .....

as for me, I've got plenty of my own good old madras sport coats, ties, bathrobes, shirts, shorts, swim trunks, belts, and trousers from Sero, Gant, Brooks Brothers, J. Press, Andover, Burdine's, Levi's, Sears, Paul Stuart, and O'Connell's, among others, all bought new and worn for years, so my personal need for more madras is not urgent

nevertheless, for this summer I've got my eye on a madras shirt or two from one of my favorite shops ... the ones I like are traditional plaids ... they're supposed to bleed but I'm good with them even if they don't bleed much, because I like the original colors and patterns .....

my own preference is for madras patterns that remind me of specific colors I've seen in India .... but before that, back in the '60s, down here in sunny Florida, before the schools were air-conditioned, we used to wear lots of madras to keep cool ... Sears had great bleeding madras believe it or not ... wore madras shirts all through school, don't recall bold-stripe bleeding madras anything ...

I've probably worn as much madras as anybody in the world and for me wide pastel stripes aren't what comes to mind when I get madras fever but here's the thing: I wish you and your wife success in your venture, and I recognize that simply because a pattern wasn't popular or at least widely seen in the past doesn't automatically mean it won't be popular whenever the sport coats made from your material become available.

actually this thread made me remember this old madras-covered guitar case I had as a kid in the '60s, that thing was flavor, I had a little acoustic in it ....

also my '70s Levi's madras shirts were supercool, just found a pic of one I had back when The Joker was atop the pop charts ..... back in '73 ....

as we all know, nothing beats madras for hot weather, looking forward to a couple of new madras shirts, they're addictive, if I get them now and wash them a few times they'll be in primo shape for the summer ..... but I also need a new replacement seersucker shirt ..... and

my madras will be plaid and my seersucker striped and that's the way I like it (KC & the Sunshine Band) ... those plaid madras and striped seersucker patterns are keepers

in the meantime do keep us posted on your progress with your various madras dealings, because regardless of anything written so far, people here are always receptive to good clothing even if they're skeptical until something definite and concrete emerges ......

Bonne chance!

Last edited by stanshall (2017-02-09 23:17:48)

This thread get's funnier and funnier.
Are we going to have tales of your poor upbringing and how you fought your way to a high flying job selling tat ?

'Fuck off' is still the most constructive thing worth saying to you.

So FUCK OFF !

https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/non-employees-trading-prop-shop-money.296347/

Says a lot, but says nothing. Suspicions abound. Change Madras Sports Jacket for Trading Strategy and it's all the same.

Perhaps Bradley can be convinced to provide us with his BB madras sports jacket, so the fabric can be duplicated. It'd be returned promptly, of course.

It would be extremely helpful and appreciated if he would.

It'd also be a favor to his fellow FNB Members.

Help get you guys get the sort of madras you want.

Barring that: We're looking to see what we have in the way of similar swatches. Will post what - if anything - we find.

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2017-02-09 13:46:54)

(Don't blame you Bradley)

This is more twaddle of course. Brooks madras jackets are not that hard to come by on ebay and other sites. If you seriously wanted one for research purposes the size wouldn't matter.

This strikes me as another Aucocisco fantasy project, perhaps your idea of 'having something to do'? ...... But we all know your M.O. by now and you do bring some amusement for us.

At David Wood in Portland, ME, 40 shirts sold out in an afternoon by word of mouth because David Wood has a bigger customer base than Styleforum. Also: While the manufacturer had a minimum order of 20 shirts, they had to be evenly distributed over 4 (or 5) sizes, a requirement from which the former exempted the latter on a relationship basis. On S/F, a minimum order quantity was determined beforehand. The seller then had a given period during which payments could be accepted and escrowed. If the minimum was met the money was released to the seller. If not, the money was returned to the purchaser(s) which is exactly what occurred. We not fell short of the minimum, but the orders were received for 2 sizes. We complied with the S/F rules and the money was escrowed with the purchaser(s) knowing and agreeing to them.

While madras jackets are indeed available on eBay, Etsy, several members commented that Bradley's jacket was madras perfection and we ought to consider duplicating it. (a) Bradley's jacket is not available on any site. (b) I explained (and explained, and explained, and explained...) why having the actual jacket would be necessary for us to duplicate it.

You guys. I swear. NO reading comprehension WHATSOEVER.

While I understand that, if I'm seeing something, I'm going to subject myself (and the product) to scrutiny. What you guys want to is scrutinize, and scrutinize, and scrutinize, ad infinitum. Then, insult, degrade, ridicule, and mock, fu*k with, have have your head stuck up my butthole ad infinitum for like 1 or 2 orders.

Why do you guys INSIST on making the simple complicated, too. Something organically wrong with your brains (such as they are)?

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2017-02-09 20:11:09)

If your bleeding madras is as thin as your skin, it'll be be a sure-fire winner.

I did have a little gander at ebay.com a couple of days ago, just out of interest, there are plenty vintage madras jackets on offer. I don't get the impression they're in great demand to be honest.

Are you kidding me about their being no demand for madras jackets? I could not sell one in the US or Europe, and can(and will) do extremely well in Asia. This is also exactly what Evan Huber advised.

We're also selling several 1000 yards/month of the powerloomed, mostly 1/40s, carded. That's without really cranking up or sales efforts. So: Things are good in the madras world. Thanks for asking.

I also have EXTREMELY thick skin. I've been more patient with some Members than ANYBODY in the UNIVERSE. I can just see Charlie Davidson abiding the crap of some of you. My better-half has banned the mention of FNB in our household, too. She thinks some you guys are psycho. A lot of you are just "trolling" you've gotta admit.

I'm also aware that there are any number of madras jackets available on-line.

That was not my original question. My original question was what were the ESSENTIAL elements of a 1960s jacket, and which should be kept, updated, or discarded for contemporary one with appeal to a 20s-35 demographic.

If I wanted to COPY one, you're right. That could easily be accomplished.

I have no shortage of madras swatches. If Members have a particular pattern which they think would be good, I asked that it be provided with the caveat that if an exact duplication was hoped for the actual fabric would be required.

EASY. SIMPLE requests One would think. Boy!

I also guess we all have our fantasies. Some Members have the one that they're sane.

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2017-02-10 01:48:16)

I never said that none could/would be sold in the US. Quite on the contrary. What I said was I could forget about the US (and European) markets, and do extraordinarily well in Asia, Japan + China in particular. I guess what we're taking about is scale. Could/will sell probably 500 here in the US. 500 jackets does not a business make. Maybe to you guys. Could/will sell maybe 20x-30x that in Asia.

Besides. I can guarantee there'll be a big demand. You guys ever hear of Pollyhop?

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2017-02-10 02:08:04)