Mountain StyleBritish Outdoor Clothing 1953-2000
Recently we heard about a Kickstarter project to print a British ‘Mountain Style Book’. Archive photos, adverts and clippings from the British outdoor clothing industry, 1953 to 2000. It looked right up our street and we got on it. You might like it as well.
We used to joke that one day we’d have a trouser museum. We’ve got three garments that were made right here in Hebden Bridge that could come straight from the pages of this book.
A wool check work shirt made by Hebden Cord, probably in the 1970s.
A 1980s Ventile smock also made by Hebden Cord for the Royal Antarctic Survey.
A pair of heavy corduroy breeks (woven and sewn in Hebden Bridge) that were worn by someone in the Women’s Land Army in WW2.
All these pieces were given to us by customers / friends who thought we’d be interested. A good home was certainly found and we’re very glad to have them. They remind us of the clothing tradition of this Valley that we have ourselves become a part of.
Hung up in the design area at the HebTroCo unit is a growing archive of vintage and new clothes from the early twentieth century onwards. There’s also now a library of books and magazines about fabric and style, culture and clothing. Every day this stuff is looked at, handled, added to, tried on and shown to people. It’s a massive part of what we do and vital in the development of what we end up wearing and presenting to you.
There’s gear from British motorcycling, American military, French workwear, Italian fashion, our old clothes that we’ve loved as well as other people’s. We add every HebTroCo product to the archive too.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isolapress/mountain-style-british-outdoor-clothing-1953-2000