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Archival Paddle Tennis

As much as I enjoy tennis, I prefer the snappy uniforms worn by these vintage gents playing paddle tennis.  For reference, paddle tennis is an indoor variation of the traditional tennis played with solid rackets and underhand serve on a smaller court.  I liken paddle tennis to the elegant, east coast cousin of  pickleball, a …

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Premium Purples

Classic Dana Designs Bomb Pack from eBay (Mine is also purple, but a slightly different colorway) I always think of the Dana Designs packs which were called “Blurple” – a cheerful hue lurking somewhere between blue and purple – as being my favorite color ever for technical baggage. Since those aren’t available aside from eBay, …

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Vintage female rugby team
From the archives Shopping From the Past

From the Archives: Rugby Ephemera

In honor of the World Cup, I’m reposting selections from Frederick Humbert’s awesome collection of historical rugby print ephemera. Humbert’s flickr catalog and blog, Rugby-Pioneers, include photographs, programs, cigarette cards, advertisements and even hand painted lantern slides of vintage rugby action. Even if you don’t follow rugby as a sport, study the photographs as a …

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Archival Knitwear Update

We’re assembling our knitwear order for the Fall. We will be restocking our pure new wool, shawl collar cardigans. As we have reported before, these cardigans are made for us by Centralia Knitting Mills on circular knitting machines from the 1930s. The sweaters, based on historical patterns, feature updated fits, unique finish details and our …

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Dachstein Classic sweater
Shopping From the Past

Shopping from the Present: Alpine Pullovers

I’m probably the only one shopping for heavy duty knitwear. But here I am in April obsessing over the new Dachstein boiled wool pullovers (formerly) on offer from Bradley Alpinist (now closed). The sweaters are made in the Dachstein Region of Austria of wind and water resistant boiled wool. I’ve been sporting Dachstein-style wool mitts …

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Archival Review: Left Field Ivy Crew

Bing Crosby wearing a wide crew neck sweatshirt in Going My Way (1944) In November, friend and AC supporter Bradley Bennett of CWAC emailed to see if we’d like to field test a Left Field Ivy Style wide crew neck sweater. Like our own Skookum shawl collar sweaters, the Left Field Crew is knit, cut …

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Archival Field Trip: Centralia Knitting Mills

During the early days of Archival Clothing, I posted photos from my 2007 trip to Centralia Knitting Mills. I was in pursuit of the Skookum “award” sweater which I first saw in the Japanese web shop Explorer (a personal favorite). Skookum Award sweater in multiweave (Japan) Last week, Tom and I returned to Centralia to …

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Archival Seafaring

by Tom Bonamici Although I’ve been working mightily at the day job in the past few weeks, I’m considering a few options for a well-earned vacation once the holiday rush is through. Right now I’m leaning towards sailing. I’ll soon be slipping into Alan Villiers’ photos of the last of the tallships for some archival …

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