CARHARTT'S AD - 1986

Carhartt's appear to have ditched the Hamilton part of their name when this advert was published in 1986.

It's basically an invite to their factory shop in North Isla Street wanting you to go try out their range of jeans, casual gear and workwear.

Wonder how many people took them up on the offer?

LEVI'S DUNDEE AD - 1984

This ad dates from 1984 and is for the Levi factory up at Dunsinane, even although the address doesn't crop up in it....tele-communication only it seems!

A reminder that there is a photo of the factory interior in the October 2009 archives.

As you can see, Levi denim was so tough, even attaching them to 2 mules heading in the opposite direction couldn't rip them apart!

Staying with denim in the 80's - I remember in 1982 I visited the town in the South of France from which denim gets its name. Nimes - as in (from Nimes "de Nimes") - then shortened to denim.

The thing about it is though, being on the Mediterranean coast - it was far too hot to wear jeans, everyone just wore shorts!!

SKINNERS AND BRACES - EARLY 70'S

Around the 1972 to 74 period, Skinners ultra white parallel jeans were worn as an alternative to stone white Sta-Prest. Like the Sta-Prest, they were usually worn halfway up your shin to show off your Doc Martens or hooped socks.

There was a bit of a thing going with some gangs who wore Skinners to get a Clockwork Orange look.

The ad above is dated June 1973 and shows they were available in blue denim and white, and it was the white ones that were most popular. The girls wore them as much as the boys.

Around the same time, I remember buying white braces out of McGills. The most common type were the clip-on design, I however, got the button-down variety, as above, but it wasn't until I got home that I realised none of my jeans or trousers had any buttons on the waistband, so I ended up sewing some onto my Skinners just so I could wear the braces!!

HAMILTON CARHARTT JEANS - MID 80'S

This ad for Hamilton Carhartt is from 1984.

With their factory based in North Isla Street, I think it's fair to say their denim products were aimed more at the workplace rather than the catwalk.

However, as you can see, they made a range called Huskie Jeans. Although I'm not familiar with these, I was wondering if they ever became the choice favoured by Dundee's young trendies, or were they the 80's equivalent of Johnny X'ers?!!

WILDCAT JEANS - 70's/80's

Here's an original badge from the late 70's for Wildcat jeans & jackets.

As well as their own denim products, Wildcat also had their own shops, and Dundee had one in the Overgate and one in Reform Street around the late 70's/early 80's.

The advert for their Overgate store is dated 1988 and highlights that they also stock Pepe denim products.

DENIM POCKET PICTURES - EARLY 70'S

I forgot all about this fad until being reminded of it when I saw this feature in an old 1973 Popswop magazine I have.
Embroidered pockets on jeans.
I have a vague memory of it being a trend the older teens indulged in as I can't recall anyone from my age group (14/15) going about in these back then.
Anyway, some of the embroidered images shown are - a Monte Carlo scene, Camel Cigarettes, flowers and a Miami scene.
Click item to enlarge.

70'S BRUTUS JEANS

Levi & Wrangler had those leathery beige/tan brand name tags sewn onto the back of their jeans, while Brutus opted for this red & white cloth ident, which was found either on the waistband or the back pocket.
They also had a catchy pop tune for their tv ads. The quirky thing about this was that most brands advertising on tv used already well known tunes, with Brutus it was the other way around. Around 1976, David Dundas got into the pop charts with the tune he wrote for Brutus, AFTER the ads appeared on tv. The chart version was rewritten without using Brutus in the lyrics. Below, however, is how the original tune sounded in the Brutus commercials.

70'S BRUTUS WAISTCOAT

Most youth fashion in the 70's seemed to be based around denim. Everyone appeared to be clad in it.

As well as jeans, there were denim shirts, short denim jackets, denim dress jackets, long denim coats, denim skirts, denim hats, denim boots, denim belts, denim bags, and I even had a denim guitar strap!

A typical example of a 70's denim fashion item is my waistcoat above, from around the 1974/75 period.

However, around 1972/73, the 2 main denim heavyweights, Levi & Wrangler, had a new kid arrive on the block to challenge their dominance - and this was Brutus.

The thing about Brutus was that they were British, not American, and they made a point of including the Union Jack into their tag design. You can see it in the photo.

So UK youth gave Brutus the thumbs up and they became just as popular in the 70's as the other 2.

Blimey, just thinking back now, I can still recall the waft of denim being the first thing that hit you when you went into shops like Wildcat and Supertramp in the Overgate!

JOHNNY X JEANS

In the mid/late 60's, before Levi & Wrangler dominated denim, most kids who were school age wore Johnny X jeans. These were cheap all-purpose jeans that weren't particularly designed as fashion items but more for basic rugged outdoor use. I'm not 100% sure that Johnny X was the official brand name, but we called them Johnny X'ers because they had a big X stitched across the back pockets. Being budget-priced jeans, they were sold in shops like Woolies, rather than fashion shops such as Goldbergs. I'm sure every 60's kid must have had a pair, even if they'd prefer not to mention it..!!

However, by the start of the 70's when Levi & Wrangler were THE ONLY jeans to be seen in, pity help you if you were caught still wearing Johnny X'ers.

Prepare yourself to be humiliated!

DUNDEE'S FADE FAD

Back in the early 1970's, before Pre-Faded and Stone-Washed jeans were in circulation, the denim bought then was as stiff as cardboard when new and the shade of denim at it darkest. It would take months of wear and washing to get them worn-in properly.

To speed the process up, a couple of homemade techniques were used.

One was bleaching, although that sometimes just made the denim blotchy.

The other was to use sandpaper.

Smoothing the jeans with sandpaper greatly increased the fade as well as making the denim more comfortable. This then lead to the "Fade" itself becoming the fashion, not the pricey jeans, and the way Dundonians showed off their fade was to rip off the brand labels, revealing the original untouched dark blue denim underneath, thus highlighting the extent of the fade.

In some extreme cases, they totally removed the back pockets!!

The fad was pretty short-lived and eventually FADED out when manufacturers got wise and you could buy such denim ready to wear in the mid 70's.