Brand Spotlight: Repros - Topic of the day 11/21/24
A slightly different brand spotlight: getting original vintage goods is ideal, but some stuff is really hard to find. If you shop them, what are your favorite Repro brands at different price points? What things are you looking for in a "good" reproduction - authenticity, function, good design, something else?,What items are worth getting holding out for the original?
25 Replies
Reps :kennyno:
Repros :kennyyes:
Wake up babe new puma fashion insight boutta drop
I'm a simple guy, I like repro jeans. Nice high rise, wider cut through the leg. Nice cropped type 1 denim jacket etc. Personally I feel that TCB are a great brand for this, they go to a lot of effort to reproduce old jeans and jackets, and they are very well priced for what they sell
I’d say that getting the original of anything is worth it over getting a repro, however if something is truly impossible to find then a repro is acceptable.
The only real repros I have off the top of my head are 1969 Abercrombie and Fitch Patchwork Hunting Pants (there are only 8 known pairs floating around in the world) and a Mitchell Camo M-65 (less than 100 true Mitchell Camo garments put into production by the US military, probably less than 10 field coats produced) and I’d say those are pretty justified.
If youre looking at something readily available and get a repro though I think it’s dumb. Idk. 95% of the time the OG is cheaper and better made than the repro unless it’s Rickson’s/McCoys !!!
oh never mind puma killed me
Scratch that, I also have 1947 501 Repros (sugarcane 47), a 1989 Levi’s Type 1 MiJ Repro, and a 1991 MiJ Levi’s Type 2 Repro
McCoys my goat ❤️
I will say however that repro brands that do a design pastiche of vintage garments are awesome- stuff like Real McCoys sweatshirts and hoodies that are a pastiche of 1950’s Hanes, Champion, Russel, Cosby Knits, etc. and take design cues (foldback sleeves, double sweatcatchers, tubular knits) are great
Love it when someone makes a garm their own and makes it ridiculously over the top nice. I’m wearing a double dorito real mccoys sweat rn!
This was awesome thanks for sharing
Love repros, people weren’t stacked like me back in the day so I can buy things that fit me gooder. The average man in 1940 was 85 pounds and 3 feet tall.
thanks for sharing
Still is. Despite the camera trickery in my waywts I’m 2’11”
We round up in these parts
on my screen you are all about 3 inches tall
I think repros and old-timey inspired pseudo repros are fine. Sometimes getting the real deal is an immense pain in the ass and unless you enjoy the hunt not worth it.
Also the body type issue. Finding a fitting original from like 80 years ago is considerably easier when you are A S or M size than as an L-XL person.
M65 jackets in particular - there are so many brands making field jackets these days and most of them look worse and cost as much as a vintage m65
M65 are definitely a piece where the repro makes less sense but I think in a decade the OG Vietnam ones will be rarer and a repro will make more sense
But repros are great for older and rarer military pieces
Like most uniforms older than the Vietnam era, Tiger camo, duck camo, N-1 deck jackets, and footwear.
And the Vietnam era ones are increasingly rarer and creeping up in price.
Vietnam war ended 50 years ago. It’s sort of crazy that there is anything left.
I mean the us had on average something between 250-300k ppl deployed for a 11 year period
most of them had a few fatigues I guess
Good point. I have some of my dad clothes from the same period (he was not military). 50 years just sounds so long ago.
There also wasn't a clear end in sight so the government ended the war with a big surplus that they sold off very cheaply
The M-65 etc kept on being made and issued after. But yeah there's a gigantic gap between the commonest military or workwear items and the rare ones, and smaller and larger sizes
WWII era things you can sometimes get in basically XS/S easy but forget about it in L even
Its out there just gotta be diligent and patient
Yeah I’ve found large sizes but I always have to pay more and they’re certainly more rare
I’m lucky to live near some good vintage markets where I have been quite lucky