Farah Vintage
Phil Scott posted in Fashion on 14 September 2010
Return to BlogPhil Scott posted in Fashion on 14 September 2010
Heritage. The word is banded about these days with almost reckless abandon. Yet, so often key elements of a brand story are lost - those which help account for longevity and explain why a label has lasted and how it has adapted to new trends.
Founded by Monsur Farah, the Farah Vintage brand has roots in New York. There, the company namesake learned the tricks of the trade, studying shirt making and manufacture during the 1910s. In 1920, Mr. Farah opened a factory in El Paso, Texas. El Paso?
David Ward, Perry Ellis Europe MD, helps us solve that mystery.
“The folklore story is that having traveled around a lot across the mid-west of America the Farah family settled on the growing town with its dry air as it was good for the health of the young children of the family. Monsur Farah when able moved across the country to New York to learn the art of shirt making, returning in early 1920 to set up a small workshop making the now famous Apache chambray shirts that sold for 37 cents!”
And that is where the story truly begins. Farah cut its teeth making chambray shirts, soon facing competition from what would eventually become its biggest contractor - the US Federal Government. Facing adversity, Farah adapted... first moving to denim and later adding khaki trousers and shirts. The complete elements of the work uniform in place, Farah progressed through the 1930s into the 1940s well suited to meet war time supply needs.
The desire to grab opportunity from adversity remains a Farah trait.
“Opportunity fulfillment, even today the brand is always seeking a better way to bring the products the customer wants to the market in a timely way,” says Ward, “Not being afraid to get it wrong from time to time, and a willingness to test out a theory – if it works you’re off to a win, if not ask how can we improve this or change it to make it work.”
Opportunity shifted from government to corporate contract in the 1950s, the brand producing for J.C. Penny while establishing its presence as a stand alone label, the heritage of today’s vision of Farah finding foot in that period, as Ward neatly notes,
“Farah Manufacturing ran producing for other people until the early 1950s when the very first product with a Farah label (they were jeans by the way) came to the market. So by the time it reached the UK and Europe it had been growing in ideas and strength for some twenty years as a brand, and almost fifty years as a business. It was really that switch point - seized upon by the trend setting sub-cultures of the early 70s in the UK that the modern day Farah image took hold. This period is the backbone of the Farah Vintage line we see today.”
A story of both cultural and corporate heritage is, essentially, the reason I find Farah fascinating. The brand hits military history, plays a roll in the “casualisation” of both America and England, and in the latter hints at an important point - heritage in brands can have several meanings.
Questioned about that notion, the difference between cultural and corporate heritage, Ward says, “The two sit well together in this brand as it has been on a long road to get where it is today, there have been a number of de-tours and a few dead ends but it never lost its sense of purpose, these products serve our consumer well – as well today as the first person buying an Apache shirt, or our khaki pants keeping the G.I's warm when they landed in France during the second World War. Or the young guy in the early 70's heading for an all night session at in a nightclub, through to the hipsters of today who want to be a cut above the rest. Farah has delivered and exceeded the expectation of our end user for Ninety years, and we are proud of that.”
Wards thoughts are fuller when he addresses the double history of casual clothing (in America and the UK).
“This talks more about what was happening in the world at the time. In the US military products left over from the war were put to good use, and as the 50s arrived so too did the growth of a higher standard of living – aspiration anew in both the young and old alike,” he states.
“But the young wanted to look and dress differently from the generation that had fought the war and given so much to allow them this new freedom. Look at the relationship between James Dean's character and the father figures around him in Rebel without a Cause. They are trying so hard to fit into the new order of things as the world seems to be changing every day around them, but all that happens is they drive him further away.
This casual look of workwear (think denim, khakis, work jackets), was the opposite of the jacket and hat-wearing smartly turned out older (but not much older) generation who had returned from the war to live the AMERICAN DREAM. America was still a young country and needing to grow, hundreds of thousand of people arrived from across the world to find their small piece of fame and fortune.
This casualisation and its effect on the world was never more noticeable than the image on the silver screen, larger than life and in full vivid technicolor, this was how the rest of the world took up the new look of the generation.
The effect on the youth of early 70s UK was the desire to look as if you had come from somewhere else, other than the boring place (as most would have seen it) where you lived. Farah trousers arrived, they were from Texas, they did not look like anything else available. Why? Because they looked like jeans but weren't, so no night club would ever turn you away!
A simple reason for a product crossing from a social reason of being to a cultural one. Farah slacks as they became known found their place in the uniforms of many of the differing sub-cultures of the time, and still today they sit alongside the other legendary products born from that time. The Fred Perry Twin Tip Polo and the Ben Sherman button down.”
In his thoughts, Ward address heritage with an eye to the complex pieces that form the puzzle of longevity. He gives credence to the cultural and social changes - post world war and during Vietnam - that influence dress. Ward describes, with some degree of detail, why Farah product worked into the uniform of several sub-cultures.
From El Paso, Texas, a location chosen as much for the ability to produce cheaply as anything else, to today, Farah Vintage 1920 celebrates some 90 years with hands in different pockets of the garment industry. The fall collection revives classic pieces, items warn in service and in leisure. The duality of its history is shared through some lovely nostalgic advertisements, which tie in the full range of cultural associations - soldiers to mods, and all in between. Chambray shirts, the cloth from which the Farah story has been cut, sit with army spec trousers and jackets through to office casual shirts and knits. Emphasis on trend balances quite nicely with true and honest historical memory.
In essence, Farah's Autumn 2010 is a capsule collection that doesn’t just speak to current aesthetic choices, but marks important points in the life of the Farah label.
Exerts taken from an original article written by Nick Schonberger. Farah Vintage clothing can be purchased from our good friends over at Fashicon.co.uk
Founded by Monsur Farah, the Farah Vintage brand has roots in New York. There, the company namesake learned the tricks of the trade, studying shirt making and manufacture during the 1910s. In 1920, Mr. Farah opened a factory in El Paso, Texas. El Paso?
David Ward, Perry Ellis Europe MD, helps us solve that mystery.
“The folklore story is that having traveled around a lot across the mid-west of America the Farah family settled on the growing town with its dry air as it was good for the health of the young children of the family. Monsur Farah when able moved across the country to New York to learn the art of shirt making, returning in early 1920 to set up a small workshop making the now famous Apache chambray shirts that sold for 37 cents!”
And that is where the story truly begins. Farah cut its teeth making chambray shirts, soon facing competition from what would eventually become its biggest contractor - the US Federal Government. Facing adversity, Farah adapted... first moving to denim and later adding khaki trousers and shirts. The complete elements of the work uniform in place, Farah progressed through the 1930s into the 1940s well suited to meet war time supply needs.
The desire to grab opportunity from adversity remains a Farah trait.
“Opportunity fulfillment, even today the brand is always seeking a better way to bring the products the customer wants to the market in a timely way,” says Ward, “Not being afraid to get it wrong from time to time, and a willingness to test out a theory – if it works you’re off to a win, if not ask how can we improve this or change it to make it work.”
Opportunity shifted from government to corporate contract in the 1950s, the brand producing for J.C. Penny while establishing its presence as a stand alone label, the heritage of today’s vision of Farah finding foot in that period, as Ward neatly notes,
“Farah Manufacturing ran producing for other people until the early 1950s when the very first product with a Farah label (they were jeans by the way) came to the market. So by the time it reached the UK and Europe it had been growing in ideas and strength for some twenty years as a brand, and almost fifty years as a business. It was really that switch point - seized upon by the trend setting sub-cultures of the early 70s in the UK that the modern day Farah image took hold. This period is the backbone of the Farah Vintage line we see today.”
A story of both cultural and corporate heritage is, essentially, the reason I find Farah fascinating. The brand hits military history, plays a roll in the “casualisation” of both America and England, and in the latter hints at an important point - heritage in brands can have several meanings.
Questioned about that notion, the difference between cultural and corporate heritage, Ward says, “The two sit well together in this brand as it has been on a long road to get where it is today, there have been a number of de-tours and a few dead ends but it never lost its sense of purpose, these products serve our consumer well – as well today as the first person buying an Apache shirt, or our khaki pants keeping the G.I's warm when they landed in France during the second World War. Or the young guy in the early 70's heading for an all night session at in a nightclub, through to the hipsters of today who want to be a cut above the rest. Farah has delivered and exceeded the expectation of our end user for Ninety years, and we are proud of that.”
Wards thoughts are fuller when he addresses the double history of casual clothing (in America and the UK).
“This talks more about what was happening in the world at the time. In the US military products left over from the war were put to good use, and as the 50s arrived so too did the growth of a higher standard of living – aspiration anew in both the young and old alike,” he states.
“But the young wanted to look and dress differently from the generation that had fought the war and given so much to allow them this new freedom. Look at the relationship between James Dean's character and the father figures around him in Rebel without a Cause. They are trying so hard to fit into the new order of things as the world seems to be changing every day around them, but all that happens is they drive him further away.
This casual look of workwear (think denim, khakis, work jackets), was the opposite of the jacket and hat-wearing smartly turned out older (but not much older) generation who had returned from the war to live the AMERICAN DREAM. America was still a young country and needing to grow, hundreds of thousand of people arrived from across the world to find their small piece of fame and fortune.
This casualisation and its effect on the world was never more noticeable than the image on the silver screen, larger than life and in full vivid technicolor, this was how the rest of the world took up the new look of the generation.
The effect on the youth of early 70s UK was the desire to look as if you had come from somewhere else, other than the boring place (as most would have seen it) where you lived. Farah trousers arrived, they were from Texas, they did not look like anything else available. Why? Because they looked like jeans but weren't, so no night club would ever turn you away!
A simple reason for a product crossing from a social reason of being to a cultural one. Farah slacks as they became known found their place in the uniforms of many of the differing sub-cultures of the time, and still today they sit alongside the other legendary products born from that time. The Fred Perry Twin Tip Polo and the Ben Sherman button down.”
In his thoughts, Ward address heritage with an eye to the complex pieces that form the puzzle of longevity. He gives credence to the cultural and social changes - post world war and during Vietnam - that influence dress. Ward describes, with some degree of detail, why Farah product worked into the uniform of several sub-cultures.
From El Paso, Texas, a location chosen as much for the ability to produce cheaply as anything else, to today, Farah Vintage 1920 celebrates some 90 years with hands in different pockets of the garment industry. The fall collection revives classic pieces, items warn in service and in leisure. The duality of its history is shared through some lovely nostalgic advertisements, which tie in the full range of cultural associations - soldiers to mods, and all in between. Chambray shirts, the cloth from which the Farah story has been cut, sit with army spec trousers and jackets through to office casual shirts and knits. Emphasis on trend balances quite nicely with true and honest historical memory.
In essence, Farah's Autumn 2010 is a capsule collection that doesn’t just speak to current aesthetic choices, but marks important points in the life of the Farah label.
Exerts taken from an original article written by Nick Schonberger. Farah Vintage clothing can be purchased from our good friends over at Fashicon.co.uk
