Vintage Workwear

[Dinerman]

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Oh wow. Usually I don't care for corduroy but this is something special. From when is it?

 

[Dinerman]

It's hand-made, so it's hard to tell. The zippers are '50s or so, so I would think from around then. I sold it to a guy from Japan over the summer for a lot less than I was expecting.

 

[fedoralover]

Someone please enlighten me!!

I stumbled across this item and was amazed at what it sold for. Was this a case of a couple people who haven't been affected by the recession just wanting to spend some money or was there something truly special and collectable about this vest? I know the bottom line is that something is worth whatever a person is willing to spend on it, but really, this much????

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200704461792?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_843wt_954

fedoralover

 

[Admiral]

The words "******" and "hell" spring to mind.

 

[dr.velociraptor]

I'm calling shenanigans on that one...

 

[fedoralover]

I looked at the bids and there were around 5 people who bid it up. I don't get it.

fedoralover

 

[dr.velociraptor]

I looked at the bids and there were around 5 people who bid it up. I don't get it.

fedoralover

I'm still calling Shenanigans, the users can all be vintage clothing stores in cahoots or something. When an item is rapidly increasing in value it's not uncommon for people to make phony auction sales in an attempt to raise the market value of an item. Unless I'm completely missing out on something I can't imagine how that could ever sell for $3,000+.

 

[fedoralover]

Hmmm, I never thought of that. A real possibility.

 

[scottyrocks]

They belong to the 'more money than brains' club? Or 'more money that taste'? Or both?

 

[Lando]

Secret treasure map on the insider lining?

 

[Otter]

Caught up in the whole online auction thing <Just can't let it get away, oh no...... hit the wrong key and added in an extra zero> !

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Japanese collectors maybe? They are crazy about this stuff. Dinerman sold a Brown beach jacket (not a vest) for ~ 1000$ some time ago but I think it didn't go to Japan.

Some discussion here

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Looks like something I would quickly just glance over at a thrift store. Ya never know sometimes. :eusa_doh:

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I think that it's at least possible that there's a missing decimal or misplaced decimal point. I also saw a $90.00 Mae West vest go for $9000 because a guy put in a bid of $8500 after bidding $83.00 and the next guy bidding $84.00. Whoops, but then the guy who made the mistake wasn't the winning bidder if memory serves.

Later

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Two people making the same mistake?

 

[fedoralover]

Here's part of the bid history. The winning bidder sniped it at the last 7 seconds of the auction. Numerous other bidders were in at well over 2 grand on it.

If anyone on the lounge bid on it I'd like for my own education to be told why it was worth so much.

fedoralover

s***h( 349) US $3,050.00
Jan-30-12 19:30:33 PST

p***p ( private ) US $3,000.00
Jan-30-12 13:37:55 PST

u***e( 438) US $3,000.00
Jan-30-12 17:13:48 PST

o***s( 3434) US $2,860.56
Jan-30-12 06:02:27 PST

p***p ( private ) US $2,850.00
Jan-30-12 13:37:03 PST

i***g( 3068) US $2,100.00
Jan-30-12 01:43:34 PST

p***p ( private ) US $2,000.00
Jan-24-12 00:12:12 PST

u***e( 438) US $2,000.00
Jan-29-12 18:43:07 PST

c***e( 1817) US $1,950.00
Jan-28-12 19:12:58 PST

u***e( 438) US $1,900.00
Jan-28-12 15:18:50 PST

u***e( 438) US $1,850.00
Jan-28-12 15:18:42 PST

u***e( 438) US $1,800.00
Jan-28-12 15:18:29 PST

u***e( 438) US $1,700.00
Jan-28-12 15:18:17 PST

u***e( 438) US $1,650.00
Jan-28-12 15:18:06 PST

u***e( 438) US $1,550.00
Jan-28-12 15:18:00 PST

t***n( 5048) US $1,400.00
Jan-24-12 02:06:39 PST

p***p ( private ) US $1,200.00
Jan-23-12 22:40:33 PST

o***s( 405) US $1,000.00
Jan-23-12 22:34:53 PST

p***p ( private ) US $800.00
Jan-23-12 22:20:00 PST

o***s( 405) US $600.00
Jan-23-12 22:33:58 PST

t***n( 5048) US $400.00
Jan-23-12 20:32:49 PST

 

[Dinerman]

I highly doubt there were any shenanigans in this auction, and I bet the people who bid the big bucks knew exactly what they were doing.
Browns Beach, along with most vintage workwear, is highly sought after and collectible on the Japanese market. Like Florian said, I sold a Browns Beach jacket for over a grand. They come up with some frequency, usually at what I would consider ridiculous prices. Of all that I've seen sell, I've never seen one in this color. So highly sought after, in excellent condition, in a very rare color. Ka-Ching.

For reference, the auction photos.

And some ads

 

[DoubleXX]

I highly doubt there were any shenanigans in this auction, and I bet the people who bid the big bucks knew exactly what they were doing.
Browns Beach, along with most vintage workwear, is highly sought after and collectible on the Japanese market. Like Florian said, I sold a Browns Beach jacket for over a grand. They come up with some frequency, usually at what I would consider ridiculous prices. Of all that I've seen sell, I've never seen one in this color. So highly sought after, in excellent condition, in a very rare color. Ka-Ching.

**You nailed it. It's quite likely it went to a Japanese collector/repro clothing company owner who will use it as a template for a "new" item or to hang as a trophy piece on the office wall.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I highly doubt there were any shenanigans in this auction, and I bet the people who bid the big bucks knew exactly what they were doing.
Browns Beach, along with most vintage workwear, is highly sought after and collectible on the Japanese market. Like Florian said, I sold a Browns Beach jacket for over a grand. They come up with some frequency, usually at what I would consider ridiculous prices. Of all that I've seen sell, I've never seen one in this color. So highly sought after, in excellent condition, in a very rare color. Ka-Ching.

Dinerman is right.


The Japanese market for vintage 'Brown's Beach' vests and jackets is especially high right now. (Like everything else, it fluctuates from time to time -- but for the past year or so, it's been on an upswing.)


Maroon-colored 'Brown's Beach' vests and jackets are EXCEEDINGLY RARE -- so much so, in fact, that few ******** collectors have even seen one. The vest just sold would be a crown jewel in any vintage American workwear enthusiast's collection.


From an interview with "king of vintage [workwear]" Larry McKaughan, the founder of "Heller's Cafe":


"The Japanese market exploded in the late 1980s. Really until 1997, when their [asset price] bubble collapsed. This was all before the internet, really, before eBay. I mean, we were taking out full-page ads in trade magazines to sell stuff. One year I think we spent $80,000 on advertising, which is a lot for a small business. The business evolved, it's gone through a lot of trends since then, especially in the Japanese market ...


My focus is mostly workwear from the 1930s and before; athletic wear but not so much uniforms. Motorcycle gear sometimes. Certain trends are moneymakers. "Leather Togs", "Peters" [leather jackets], from the '30s and '40s. I like things that are even more rare than that. Labels can determine value on the market, but my taste is for more unique. You used to be able to go hunting, and to shoot a deer, and the tanneries would make you a custom jacket from that hide. So there's great custom-made deerskin and elkhide jackets. Now I can do it the way I want to do it. I mean, I still have a mortgage, I have two kids ...


It used to be, guys would travel the country and still find [deadstock vintage workwear]. Sometime you still see lots that have been bought from estate sales of people who owned stores and kept deadstock. But a lot of guys have been working very hard for a long time to find these places. There's more on the East Coast. Twenty years ago, I went through the south--Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee--but they just don't have clothing from the periods I was looking for, didn't have the top brands ..."


The entire interview: http://www.styleforum.net/t/224099/new-q-a-with-larry-mckaughan-hellers-cafe-and-warehouse