Thanks BB, these are superb ...keep em coming.

...enjoyed that!
Many thanks, BB.

A 1966 Career Club ad above asks, “Wild or tame? Get both. At $5.95 you can afford to.” To our eyes, $5.95 is nothing for a shirt with a great plaid and great collar roll like the one above. But how much did it really cost?

To find out, we have to answer two questions. First, how much was $5.95 in 1966? Easy peasy - it was $45.17. Not such a cheap shirt anymore!

The second question is a little more interesting. Today, you can buy a plaid button-down shirt from Land’s End or L.L. Bean from about the same price. But what percentage of income was that in 1966 relative to today? In other words, we know that a $5.95 shirt in 1966 costs $45.17 in 2017 - but is that really more expensive?

Let’s assume that a plausible reader of PB in 1966 was a young professional approaching middle age, in his 30s, comfortable enough to get a taste of the bunny lifestyle but buying the magazine to fulfill a fantasy of having enough to escape the rat race. PB, after all, was an aggressively aspirational magazine.

In 1966, the American Mathematical Society noted that the median income for a professor of mathematics (i.e. holding a doctorate degree) for the 1966-1967 academic year was $7800-$8500. http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/1967Survey-Report-Salaries.pdf

In 1966, the census found that the median income for a family with a male head, married, wife present, was $7265. From the 25-34 age bracket for heads of families, the median income was lower - around $7000. For 35-44, higher - around $7800. https://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-051.pdf

This study https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/patc_1966.pdf is even more useful, because of the specific jobs listed. For example. a chief accountant (a supervisor position) in 1966 made anywhere from roughly $10800 to $16800; Level VII attorneys (“defined to include attorneys in charge of legal staffs… usually subordinate to a general counsel”) could make up to $26000.

Remember our $45 Career Club shirt?

In 2017:

- the median annual math professor salary is $94699. http://www1.salary.com/Professor-Mathematics-salary.html

- a managing attorney makes a median salary of $191000. http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/Managing-Attorney-Salary-Details.aspx

- a senior accountant makes a median salary of $75000. http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/Accountant-III-Salary-Details.aspx

And our median 2017 salary for a (white) household of the same type as above was around $85000.

SO…

- In 1966, our $5.95 shirt was 0.00076% of total income for a low-earning math professor, 0.0007% for high. In 2017, the $45.17 shirt is 0.00048% of total income for a math professor. (Income for this position has risen.)
- In 1966, the shirt was 0.00035% of the total income for the high-earning chief accountant; today, it’s 0.0006%. (Income for this position has dropped. A LOT.)
- In 1966, the attorney was spending 0.00023% of their income on the Career Club shirt, while today they would spend 0.00024%.

Take everything here with a grain of salt. These are all stats from quick searches and don’t take into account many factors, including (for the most part) race, as well as living expenses, taxes, etc. So how feasible purchases would be on an average budget isn’t covered here, even though price relative to total income is.

But, when a 1967 Cricketeer ad says, “Wear an outfit that really looks like an outfit. Cricketeer Bold Traditional Coordinates. A Shetland sportcoat. Hopsack slacks. A hat and a sleeveless sweater with colors and fabrics that match the sportcoat. For about $75.00 (plus $8.95 for the hat) you can afford to wear the whole outfit even if you haven’t really made it big,” they are appealing to a demographic that wants to be upwardly mobile. In 1966, that household income was around $7000 for a 30-year old married man. That $83.95 was 0.012% of the total income. Today, that package is $637.37, pretty steep for someone who hasn’t necessarily “made it big,” and it’s 0.0075% of the total income.

Numbers make my head hurt - but if you want to try this out, and maybe do it in a better way than I have, here are some other prices, for 1967, from the ads above:

$45 sportcoat from Worsted-Tex
$25 slacks from Worsted-Tex
$5 Truval shirt from Career Club
$1.50 Burlington socks
$10 Pedwin loafers

My pleasure... Agreed, that madras is beautiful... More coming up from '65...

'Natural Shoulder Trousers', now I haven't heard that expression in a while. I thought it was just a term that had been invented by clothing forum madmen.

the high-top sneakers on the guy in the Grant's Scotch "So the marlin don't bite" ad, what are they?

wondering who currently carries the best version of the Catalina sweater worn by the chimp in "The bulky look is ape" ad?

enjoying the spectacular look on the guy's face in the "Act like you've always worn Tropi-Tex" ad  ....

and the old McLovin joke in the "Harris Slacks" ad ....

Last edited by colin (2017-05-13 04:09:17)

Again I have to thank you for sharing these lovely old adverts mate. Loving them. Looks like KOLCHAK is the model in the KEDS one in his seersucker suit and sneakers. Fantastic stuff.

Another fantastic slew of images mate. Thanks again. Loving the seersucker jackets particularly as well as the collars on some of the shirt ads. Top class.

I've found incredible stuff in those Esquire ads... they were the inspiration for this project for sure... Just went back through the Boom Years thread right before doing this, found a great spread from Esquire, the tropical/winter spread with ski boots and espadrilles, loved that...

Glad you're enjoying this AC, high praise... Much more on the way, going through '63 now... Having every issue from '59-'69 really allows for a depth of what I can post here that gives new light to some of these ads/clothes even if the actual rolled collars or Cricketeer sport coats are nothing new in themselves...

Great stuff I agree, but can we have the ones from 59 please? All these slim fitting shirts and trousers without cuffs are making me a little uncomfortable.

Last edited by Yuca (2017-05-17 12:57:04)