One of the great 1960s men’s fashion brands is Rooster, the tie company. Rooster ties were a cultural item, and one of the rare brands of American ties that are so interesting that they can exist on their own without being part of a full line of menswear. Illustrator StevenMORE HERE
Tretorn. The Swedish brand still has that country club allure, made even more exotic by the fact that they are still a bit hard to find in U.S. stores, though now seem to be reappearing. Above, an old commercial for the brand that seems to date from a 1990s revivalMORE HERE
St. LOUIS – The walls of Cracker Barrel always have amusing signs, all real. One brand we saw along at one on I-95 in South Carolina were Alox Shoe Laces. Alox was founded by John Frier (1895-1974), who in 1919 invented a new way to make shoelaces by crimping aMORE HERE
Jack Purcells are one sharp looking shoe, and they make us remember the era of the rubber company sneaker. Jack Purcell was a Canadian badminton player; I always supposed that the scalloped toes of the shoes somehow allowed him to lunge into the bird better. Fascinating to me was thatMORE HERE
BrandlandUSA reader, Bill O’Neill of the St. Louis firm of Senniger Powers LLP, alerted us to this image from a 1930’s Cat’s Paw package. It was the image that was filed with the USPTO when the trademark was renewed in 2006. Shoes are much better (and less slippery) when theyMORE HERE
First used in 1904, Cat’s Paw is one of the great American brands. The cat, according to Hal Morgan’s book Symbols of America, was designed by Lucian Bernhard for the Cat’s Paw Company of Baltimore. Bernhard is a famed German graphic designer who is best known for the font Bernhard,MORE HERE
Last weekend, the teens were in the yard getting ready for church camp. They had to get a LOOK together. And what did they decide to do? Head on over to the store (I forgot to ask which one) and buy a bunch of packs of Rit Dye to doMORE HERE
NANTUCKET – A great regional brand can become a national brand if it does one thing really well. Such is the case of Murray’s Toggery of Nantucket, profiled in the men’s style blog Maxminimus. Writes the expert: I remember my first pair-I got them long before I set foot onMORE HERE
QUEENS, N.Y. – We are reading the AIA history of New York City architecture and we spy a forgotten name. Russ Togs. The guide mentions the Russ Togs Manufacturing and Distribution Center at 27-09 49th Ave. at the SE corner of 27th Street. The building (more particularly its sign) wereMORE HERE
So we are watching American Life, in its redux of the Saturday night early 1970s CBS lineup (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart) and we look at the credits at the end. MTM Productions gives thanks to clothing by House of Worsted-Tex and Norman Todd. Today, lets look at HouseMORE HERE