This is the second part in a two-part series on classic flannel shirts. Part one was on Brooks Brothers' Brooksflannel shirts (linked here). In this post, we will look at the classic cotton flannel shirts that L.L. Bean pioneered and made famous, chamois and Scotch Plaid flannel shirts. One of the things that I associate with L.L. Bean are heavy cotton shirts made from heavyweight "Chamois" and the lighter weight "Scotch Plaid" flannel. Like many of their products, L.L. Bean pioneered flannel shirts as utilitarian outdoors garments which were so well-made that their reputation spread far beyond campsites to cities and college campuses across the globe. Over the years, I have had a number of both of these types of shirts and can attest to their well-earned reputation.

The predecessor to the chamois shirt was called the "Leatherette" shirt and was, as far as I have been able to ascertain, introduced in 1927. The image above of such a shirt is from the L.L. Bean Archive and is featured on the blog BackwoodsPlaid here in a great post about the L.L. Bean Archive. That fine blog, The Daily Prep, also did an excellent feature last fall comparing classic and contemporary chamois and Scotch Plaid flannel shirts, here. Originally, the Leatherette shirt was made in only one color (tan), and was, from its introduction, a hard-wearing outdoors garment reminiscent of chamois leather.

According to L.L. Bean, the first shirt with the "chamois" name was introduced in 1933, and the above image shows the chamois shirt in the Spring 1939 catalog in the original color, tan.

The New Yorker 5/7/1960. Two decades later by the early 1960s, a second color, red, had been introduced.

The L.L. Bean Spring 1964 catalog has a color photo of the chamois shirt in both colors along with other staples such as the Lounger Boot and Hudson's Bay Point Blankets.

A closer look.

The same catalog also offered the chamois shirt for women in the same colors as for men.

The Spring 1964 catalog also contained other flannel shirts such as that other legendary item, the Maine Guide Shirt in 100% wool.

In the early 1960s amidst a very competitive market for cotton & wool blend shirts such as Viyella, Lanella and Brooksflannel, L.L. Bean offered their version of a cotton/wool blend shirt, called the "Wooltohna" shirt. These shirts were offered in the tartans of Ancient Campbell and Ancient Royal Stewart, and shows L.L. Bean putting historical tartans to good use. This was something they would do well in the Scotch Plaid flannel shirt.


The Spring 1964 catalog also offered more wool shirts in small checks,

as well as in solid colors. Those "8-Inch Overlap Seam Moccasins" look pretty nice, too.

Finally, the Spring 1964 catalog also offered all cotton flannel shirts, a type of shirt that they would develop in many ways in the coming decades.

In the early 1970s, "forest green" was added to the earlier colors of tan and red. Fast forward another decade to the Christmas 1982 catalog. L.L. Bean now offered the chamois shirt in six colors, and sizing was still by half-inch neck sizes.

In addition to chamois shirts, the Christmas 1982 catalog also offered that other standard item, "Scotch Plaid Shirts." These were originally offered with straight point collars, with button-down collars being added later. For a number of years the tartan choices were changeless, as seen above. That Weathered Campbell is a fine shirt.


The Christmas 1982 catalog still also offered the Maine Guide Shirt,

Trail Model Vests, "Timberline Flannel Shirts,"

and "Doeskin" Shirts. There was also a Gunsling Belt in that amazing catalog.

Finally, the Christmas 1982 catalog also offered sleepwear, such as these nightshirts, made from the same flannel as their regular Scotch Plaid shirts.

Early Autumn 1983. More Scotch Plaid. Same tartans. Why change the feed on a winning racehorse?

Early Autumn 1983. Cotton/wool Rangeley Flannel shirts were also offered in historical tartans.

Christmas 1984. A year later the color choices had expanded to nine colors for the chamois shirt.

The Christmas 1984 catalog continued the tradition of offering heavy-duty outdoors items such as the Maine Guide shirt, Woodman's Pants,

Heavyweight Jac-Shirts, Field Coats, Buckskin gloves,

the Northwoods Jac-Shirt, Cold-Proof Hats, Insulated Overpants,

Pendleton Shirts and Ragg Knit caps. Page after page of heavy-duty items sort of makes me a bit dizzy.

Christmas 1985. The chamois shirt was now offered in eleven colors (it is offered in even more color choices today).

Christmas 1985. The Rangeley Flannel was offered in Tartan, Guncheck and Solid versions. Those gun club check versions are very nice, indeed. This was an extremely impressive lineup of cotton/wool blend shirts.

Christmas 1985. As long as we're on the topic of L.L. Bean flannel, another perennial favorite of the winter months has long been L.L. Bean flannel sheets. We've had a number of sets over the years.

Christmas 1989. Chamois was still offered in eleven color choices,

and Scotch Plaid shirts were offered in still more choices of tartan, as well. There was the addition of a Thinsulate Lined Scotch Plaid shirt, as well. I say the more choices of authentic Scotch Plaid the better.

The Christmas 1989 catalog also contained chamois robes,

along with Scotch Plaid robes and pyjamas. A word about pyjamas - I wish that L.L. Bean would bring back the traditional drawstring waist on the bottoms of men's pyjamas. It is just more comfortable. I'm putting up with elastic waist pjs from L.L. Bean, so I've earned the right to complain.

Fall 1990. Shepherd's Check Flannel Shirts were a new addition in this catalog. Ragg sweaters also had a lot of color choices. I always thought that light grey was about the only real ragg sweater color choice.

When I think of classic-era L.L. Bean I think, almost elementally, in terms of "wool,""cotton,""leather," and "rubber." So many of L.L. Bean's best products were made out of these, or combinations of these. The products were not spruced up with fancy advertising that touted "heritage" or some such guff, but carried the L.L. Bean "Freeport, Maine" label, and that was enough. As we have seen, into the early 1990s, L.L. Bean carried reliable garments and equipment that was made in the USA (or often in the UK, in the case of sweaters, or with fabrics woven elsewhere such as Switzerland, Portugal or the UK) that reflected a history of product development that was the fruit of years of outdoors testing. Cotton chamois and flannel shirts were two such types of garments that customers no doubt returned to again and again. I miss the vibrant colors of Scotch Plaid shirts in historical tartans. They had clear buttons, fairly long tails, longer collar points and an ample fit. Out of all of L.L. Bean's cotton flannel shirts, the classic-era chamois and Scotch Plaid flannel shirts remain my favorites and the bar by which I measure L.L. Bean's contemporary shirts.

Sadly, several years ago I discarded a number of classic-era shirts and a threadbare field coat that had worn out. I regret this, because as I now know, they were irreplaceable. This is the dilemma of seeing classic-era shirts and other things expire only to have no comparable replacement waiting in the wings. However, we still have a number of contemporary and classic-era L.L. Bean things chamois and Scotch Plaid in the house.
We have some Scotch Plaid flannel and chamois robes (flannel sheets in the background).

A chamois shirt in a check pattern, which was a gift from mother, many years ago.

A NOS Scotch Plaid flannel shirt in the Lindsay tartan. One needs to stockpile these things, as they aren't being made like this anymore.

A women's Scotch Plaid flannel shirt in a tartan that I can no longer remember the name of.

Another women's Scotch Plaid flannel shirt in the Stewart Black tartan.

And yet another women's Scotch Plaid flannel shirt in the Buchanan tartan.

A men's Scotch Plaid flannel shirt in the Malcolm tartan,

and another men's Scotch Plaid flannel shirt in the Royal Stewart Dress tartan.

An old tag on a Royal Stewart flannel shirt.

Another old tag. A "Freeport, Maine" tag stood for made in the USA quality.

A NOS tag on a red chamois shirt. The real deal chamois shirt that came in neck sizes rather than Small-Large sizes. Another stockpiled shirt.

Which leads me to the topic of contemporary chamois and flannel. Several years ago, I needed a couple of new flannel shirts, so I immediately located the L.L. Bean catalog and placed an order. The shirts that arrived were disappointing. Not like the old school Scotch Plaid shirts that I had so recklessly discarded. However, as a loyal customer, I decided to try them anyway. To make a long story short, I got rid of them because they shrank unevenly, the construction was very clumsily done and I wearied of comparing them to the classic-era shirts. I recently saw the "1933 Chamois Cloth Shirt" on the L.L. Bean website and had to chuckle. The shirt is described as having a "broken-in vintage feel," a "rich heritage" and "a tailored fit for camp-to-city versatility." It's hard to imagine the grand old man, Mr. L.L. Bean himself, in one of these. When I was in high school, college and as a young adult, shirts like this were broken in through use and abuse. They were worn in the city like trophies because they were real deal field gear. In other words, L.L. Bean chamois and flannel shirts themselves were the heritage. It was a living heritage. Such products didn't need any other advertisement than simply the name "L.L. Bean" with a tag that read "Freeport, Maine."

After the initial announcement in The New York Times, the new shirt for women was introduced in the 15 August 1949 American 'College Issue' of Vogue (above), with a cover subtitle of "For the Smart Girl in and out of College." Vogue carried an image of the shirt in color (below), which was appropriate as Vogue had designed the new shirt. A framed copy apparently decorated the women's corner of the Madison Avenue store during the 1950s (The New York Times 8/5/1959).
Brooks Brothers' pink oxford cloth was a very particular shade of pink, not too bright, and not exactly a dusty rose sort of color either. John C. Wood addressed the issue of this very particular shade of pink in a piece that appeared in The New Yorker ("For Women Only" 9/17/1949), stating, "The cloth is of Egyptian cotton, woven for us at a mill in Wauregan, Connecticut. It's yarn-dyed, not cloth dyed. In the beginning, it took our mill two or three years to develop the exact shade of pink we wanted. When the war came, we had to discontinue the shirt, and afterward it took a long time to work our way back to the proper shade. For a year or so after the war our pink shirt was just a trifle too pink. We were very much concerned." The war had brought a halt to much civilian production, and also disrupted Brooks Brothers' importation of goods from Great Britain. The redevelopment of the color pink after the war can be understood as a part of postwar economic recovery, and it is within that early postwar period that the pink oxford cloth shirt for women was developed.

After the reintroduction of the men's pink shirt after the war, Brooks Brothers took notice of the fact that many of their shirts were being purchased and worn by women. Brooks Brothers' men's shirts had been designed to be worn with a coat and tie, tucked into trousers that sat at the natural waistline, and had not been designed for women. Woods again stated, "I asked the people at Vogue if they would be interested in designing a pink shirt especially for women, and they were crazy about the idea. Vogue is entitled to all the credit for the design." The New Yorker article (9/17/1949) went on to state that "the collar on the shirt for women was unchanged, the body of the shirt is - ah - fuller , and the tail is shorter. The shirt is intended to be worn with the collar open, and the button on the points of the collar, having to tie to hold in place, must be regarded as decorative. The tail is to be kept tucked in."

In addition to the above press, there was also another 1949 article titled "Girl in the Brooks Bros. Shirt," with a photograph of a sleeping woman using a pink Brooks Brothers as a nightshirt (below). However, I'm not sure of the source of that article (whether it is from a newspaper or a magazine). The excellent blog Die Workwear has written about it here, mentioning that a framed copy of the article hangs in the London Brooks Brothers store.

(The New York Times 8/22/1949). In addition to articles introducing the new shirt, the first advertisement of the new shirt seems to have been in The New York Times, which plays up the design by Vogue and advertises the Vogue "College Issue." What is significant is that, though designed by Vogue, the shirt remained a firmly Brooks Brothers product, made in the same factory that produced their men's shirts. Though pink garnered all of the press, the advertisement also offers the shirt for women in other solid colors and stripes, a not insignificant thing suggesting that Brooks Brothers was further positioning itself in the women's clothing market.

The shirt also appeared on the cover of the 29 August 1949 edition of LIFE magazine, which also ran a feature on college fashions.
The shirt appeared only on the cover of the magazine, and showed the collar design at the time, which was reportedly the same as the collar on the men's shirt.
This shirt had longer and better collar points than many later women's shirts, which tended to shorten the collar points as they had no real function of holding ties in place.

(The New Yorker 10/15/1949). Two months after its initial introduction, Brooks Brothers returned to their advertising of the pink shirt for women in an advertisement in The New Yorker. According to the advertisement, the introduction of a pink oxford cloth shirt for women had spawned imitations. Brooks Brothers' assertion of the superiority of their shirt was based upon its history as a shirtmaker. Brooks Brothers knew how to make a men's dress shirt and that same craftsmanship was extended to women's shirts.

(The New Yorker 11/28/1953). In 1953, Brooks Brothers introduced their easy-care Dacron and cotton oxford cloth blend called "Brooksweave," a forward looking step into a new market for easy-care clothing. Easy-care women's oxford cloth shirts were also offered in the Brooksweave blend in white, pink, yellow and blue.

Brooksweave, 1953. The development of easy-care clothing seems to have mirrored advancements in home laundering. One of the initial selling points of Brooksweave was its relatively quick drying time. This was an era when home laundering still meant hanging clothing and sheets out to dry before they were ironed. Clothing that promised not only a short drying time, but the miracle of little or no need for ironing was guaranteed to be a success.

The New Yorker 9/25/1954. Based on the initial success of Brooksweave, a broadcloth version named "Brookscloth" was introduced the following year in 1954. Broadcloth, being lighter in weight than oxford cloth, was sure to dry even more quickly.

The New Yorker 11/12/1955. A year later in 1955, both Brooksweave and Brookcloth were featured alongside Brooks Brothers all cotton shirts. They were advertised as having the same construction, design and collar "roll" as Brooks Brothers's regular shirts. This was actually true.

The New Yorker 5/6/1961. In 1961, Brookscloth shirts in stripes were introduced. Ever the innovator, Brooks Brothers introduced the use of Dacron thread to try to eliminate puckering on shirt seams.

The New Yorker 6/3/1961. Brooks Brothers continued to refine Brookscloth by introducing lighter weight shirts for warmer weather.

Brooks Brothers Spring & Summer 1962. This remarkable page from the 1962 Spring & Summer catalog displays the full lineup of Brooks Brothers's shirts, collar styles, as well as Brookscloth.

Brooks Brothers Spring & Summer 1962. There was also a Brookscloth Evening Shirt as well.

Brooks Brothers Spring & Summer 1962. Just as in the development of The Pink Shirt for Women, women's clothing at Brooks Brothers followed the development of men's clothing by offering Brookscloth and Brooksweave shirts, Bermuda shorts and raincoats tailored for the female figure.

Brooks Brothers Spring & Summer 1962. There are probably still a few women today who would like to see some of these traditional items offered again.

Brooks Brothers Spring & Summer 1962. The 1962 Spring & Summer catalog also contained a flyer advertising special offerings for April - shirts and robes in a wonderful tattersall blend fabric.
This blue-red tattersall would still be a perfect shirt today, especially with Brooks Brothers's old school construction.

Brooks Brothers Christmas 1979. Moving forward, Brooks Brothers continued to offer Brookscloth throughout the 1970s, as seen in the Polo collar shirt above.

Brooks Brothers Christmas 1979. Brooksweave and Brookscloth shirts (almost) always bore a green tag, that until the early 1990s read "Brooksweave" or "Brookscloth."

Brooks Brothers Fall & Winter 1980. One reason that many purists disliked blend fabrics was their tendency to pill, especially around the collar. The early 65/35 Dacron and cotton Brooksweave oxford cloth blend shirts did not escape this problem, which may be why Brooks Brothers went to a 60/40 cotton rich blend in the mid-1980s. Brookscloth, was more successful at escaping this issue than Brooksweave. Brookscloth shirts were hard wearing, lightweight and cool.

Brooks Brothers Christmas 1980. In addition to traditional broadcloth, Brookcloth shirts were also offered in End-on-End fabrics, such as the striped shirts above.

Brooks Brothers Summer 1981. Brooks Brothers continued to offer Brookscloth shirts in a variety of stripes.

Brooks Brothers Spring 1982. 'Own Make' and Easy Care about sums it up. What makes these shirts worthy of reconsideration is that they were, of course, constructed exactly like their all cotton counterparts. In this, they vastly exceeded Brooks Brothers current non-iron shirts.

Brooks Brothers Fall & Winter 1983. Bengal stripes made their appearance in 1983.

Brooks Brothers Fall & Winter 1983. Brookscloth was, of course, offered in Candy Stripes. But then, why wouldn't it have been?


Brooks Brothers Fall 1987. "Our Cotton-Rich Shirts." Brooks Brothers offered blended shirts in solids, stripes and tattersalls.


Contemporary Non-Iron shirts. Though I do not know when the current technology for non-iron shirts was first introduced, by 2005-2006 or so they were on the market. I probably first tried them around 2006-2007. I was, at first, pleasantly surprised by their ease of care. However, the more I wore them the less satisfied I was. They simply had no life. An all cotton shirt should look fresh in the morning and rumpled in the evening. It is part of its charm. Not so with non-iron shirts. They are so other worldly that they look as if they could be worn on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. They are positively space age.
I eventually wearied of the joys of progress and passed most of them along to others. These are the only two (above and below) that I still have, and they spend most of their time in a box in the attic. Why, you might ask? The answer is quite simply that they are really no longer Brooks Brothers shirts - at least not the living, wrinkling and rumpling shirts with character that I have been used to wearing for years.
In spite of being all cotton, these shirts aren't really very breathable. In fact, I'm convinced that because of whatever has been done to them, they have surrendered their claim to being all cotton shirts. There has to be something coating them that is non-organic for them to behave in this way. However, the irony is that this finishing allows shirt makers to advertise them as all cotton shirts. This is progress, and yet it also makes me think that easy-care shirts have not yet been perfected.


Though cotton/polyester blends are decidedly unhip these days, I still think that Brooks Brothers original Brooksweave and Brookscloth shirts were better than the current non-iron shirts. The main reason being that they were constructed exactly the same way as Brooks Brothers's golden era all-cotton shirts were constructed. They had the same relaxed collar roll, cuffs, silhouette, everything. For nostalgia's sake, it is worthwhile to glance backwards at what are still, in my opinion, the best easy-care shirts ever made - Brookscloth shirts.
1954 era Brookscloth. NOS. This shirt has never been worn and still has the pinholes and bits of thread all over it that one would find on a new shirt. This is very likely a first generation Brookscloth shirt, and therefore worthy of being in a textile museum. It has gussets on the shirttails and no breast pocket, and shatters the idea that blends are not as soft as all cotton. This is a very soft shirt.

The original Brookscloth green tag and Dacron to cotton ratio of 65/35. The original fabric for these shirts was made by Burlington Mills.

Never worn. Still has the holes from the pins that kept it folded for sixty years.

Classic narrow Brooks Brothers cuffs, and single needle construction.

Probably hand-stamped.

Extra long tails with gussets. Gussetts disappeared by the mid to late 1950s.

The classic Brooks Brothers Polo Collar. I have a friend who is a bespoke tailor who nearly wept when he took this shirt into his hands. His first remark was, "This is how Brooks Brothers collars used to look and feel." After commenting on the softness of the fabric, he said "This collar is lined, but it is so thin that it is unnoticable." He then asked me, "You are going to wear this, aren't you?" I replied that I was still thinking about that one, and mumbled something about the shirt making it for sixty years without being worn. To which he said, "Think about how the shirt feels. It was made to be worn. It has been waiting."

A selection of Brookscloth shirts.
1970s Brookscloth shirt, with a separate early care tag.

Solids in blue and white (top to bottom): 1954 era shirt, 1970s, 1980s, 1980s End-on-End, 1970s white.

End-on-End Brookscloth in candy stripes.

Brookscloth in checks and tattersalls.

As opposed to the Brooksweave oxford cloth blend, Brookscloth wears like iron. A warm weather favorite.

Superior construction. 65/35 blend. Amazing collar. Oddly, no Brookscloth tag. This is a shirt for khakis and a blue blazer under a May sky.

A variety of sizing tags over the years.
1960s-70s. Garment care instructions are on a separate tag, which probably places this in the early 1970s.

1960s-1970s. I have wondered why Brooks Brothers offered blended fabric shirts without the Brookscloth tag.


1970s-1980s. A blue-red tattersall, with the fabric content and care instructions on the tag.

1970s-1980s. A navy-brown tattersall.

1970s-1980s. An End-on-End candy stripe shirt in a color called "Spice" (1979).

1970s-1980s. A blue candy stripe End-on-End shirt.

Mid-1980s. A 60/40 first generation solid light blue shirt, with a separate fabric content and care tag.

1980s. A navy-red tattersall shirt with the fabric content and care together on the size tag.

1980s. A solid blue End-on-End shirt with a somewhat rare 'Makers' Brookscloth tag.

It will be six years this spring since this blog first appeared. It has been up, down and at times, on vacation several times during this period. Due to mainly to the issue of time, as well as a growing weariness of blogging in general, this is the final post on Heavy Tweed Jacket.

When HTJ began, there was a small group of bloggers with similar interests. Some of them are still blogging and some seem to have retired from the pursuit. We all have our favorites, and among mine (in no particular order) are: Longwing, Maxminimus, Tucker, The Trad, Ethandesu, The Glengarry Sporting Club, To the Manor Born, The Epic, Laguna Beach Fogey (Admiral Cod), Sartre, Coiled Pleasures, An Affordable Wardrobe, A Suitable Wardrobe, The Daily Prep, Luciano Barbera, Mon Avis Mes Amis, Bulldog, Grosgain Garage, A Continuous Lean, nadsat, and A Trip Down South. Some of these blogs began earlier than others. Some are highly personal, some have an inherent commercial interest. Some are very regional. Some have carried on longer than others. Some are defunct. However, each has helped the conversation along with voices that are unique, and at times, urgent and challenging.

There have also been a number of loyal readers who have also contributed to this endeavor, and their comments and criticism have helped this blog immeasurably. I cannot name them all here, but please know that I have appreciated all those who have taken time out to compose and make comments on this blog. The platform that Blogger provides is one that encourages conversation and I think that the quality of blogging is better for it. Thank you.

Which brings me to the topic of Tumblr and the issue of social media. When I began blogging, though Tumblr existed, it had not really not caught on yet. Tumblr is a fine medium for the sharing of images and video. It is not, however, a medium that encourages overt conversation. The images (words, photos & video) become the conversation. In this aspect, Blogger far exceeds Tumblr in the creation of conversation and dialog.

It has been said that life is local and home is where you live. This is very apparent as bloggers often celebrate the regions and areas where they live. However, what I have found fascinating is the international aspect of blogging that brings people and ideas together from around the globe. Over the years, it has been humbling to look at the statistical information about this blog and see that people from all over the world have been kind enough to visit and share their experiences and ideas. I have always written in English and assumed an English readership, but there are other bloggers who have provided translation options for their blogs. If my not having done that has been inconvenient, I sincerely apologize. A global conversation is one of the wonderful benefits of this form of media.

Finally, this blog has always also had a Grateful Dead connection. I was tempted to suggest listening to the song 'He's Gone', but that seemed a bit melodramatic. Given the global reality of blogging and the interest that people have been kind enough to show towards this blog, perhaps the song 'Eyes of the World' is more fitting. Now, there are plenty of opinions about best versions, but I'll give links to some of my favorite shows that can be listened to on The Internet Archive.

2.19.73 International Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL. Phil Lesh's opening comments are classic. Heavy chill happening' on He's Gone, and excellent versions of Truckin'>The Other One>(a very nice) Eyes of the World>China Doll.

6.10.73 RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. The show begins with Morning Dew so you know it's going to be good. This is a long show. Eyes of the World begins the second set from a cold start, and it's a corker. I just listened to this in the car again today and reconfirmed that is a stone cold classic. If you have the stamina, the long sequence of Dark Star>He's Gone>Wharf Rat>Truckin'>Sugar Magnolia is commendable.

6.9.76 Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA An a-mazing show that starts with a nice Cold, Rain and Snow, always a portent of good things to come. From Saint Stephen onward it is simply tremendous. Eyes!

5.15.77 St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, MO The whole darned show, but just give Estimated>Eyes a listen.  From 5:45 onward Estimated is pure Jerry. This was the first time that Estimated was jammed into Eyes. They nailed it.

1.17.79 Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT This show was a reschedule of the cancelled 11.25.78 show. The cancellation announcement is classic. Steve Rolfe's audience recording is Magisterial - no exaggeration. Very few audience recordings reach this quality. HTJ's picks are Shakedown Street, Stagger Lee, Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain, Estimated Prophet>Eyes of the World.

I have learned a great deal from researching, writing and posting on this blog. It might have ended sooner were it not for wanting to do the last two posts on The Pink Shirt for Women and Brookscloth. Ironically, HTJ will stay up over on Tumblr for the time being. Thank you for six years of Heavy Tweed Jacket.