Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Liberty House and assorted labels

I made a run today to see what I could unearth. I found a few items from the 1970s but nothing worth picking up. 

My first find was a Tori Richard for Liberty House shirt. Liberty House is one of the venerable vintage Aloha shirt labels, but the were still around at least until the early 1990s. And Liberty House opened Mainland stores in the 1970s, although all were closed by the end of the decade. I checked out this co-branded label and have found a pretty wide range of guesses. One Ebay seller had a shirt with the label and dated it early 1960s, which I think is waaaay off. The Museum of Hawaiian Shirts has a non co-branded version of the label as 1967, and another version (without the trademark symbol and with "Honolulu") as from the 1970s. My guess, based on the label configuration and patina of the shirt, I would agree with the 1970s date.


I found a second co-branded shirt for Liberty House. I couldn't discern the name of the manufacture: Mark Raynton, Mark Rayiton, or Mark Rayrton. I suspect the first, but I couldn't find anything about this guy. The shirt felt like it was 100% polyester, which would date it to the 1970s. The shirt also had four buttons, suggesting it is older than the 1980s. 

The fabric label was missing and I'm a bit wary about trying to discern polyester by touch. I picked up a Lauhala shirt that I first thought was polyester. The fabric had a shine to it and it felt rather slippery to the touch. But the fabric label did say 100% cotton and I suspect it is some kind of high-quality weave. From what I can tell, the polyester of the Liberty House shirt has a lighter weight to it than the cotton Lauhala.


This last shirt is new, but it highlights a potential risk to new collectors. The label has a retro look to it, but this shirt is not only vintage, it wasn't even made in Hawaii. Upon closer look, you can see this shirt was made in Pakistan. Labels can be tricky to master, so beware in relying on just the design of the label.

I wonder if the crescent moon on the label has anything to do with the fact this shirt was made in a Muslim country.


5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I have a really nice one from the 70's that is my guess. It's almost like new.

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  3. I would love to share on your blog

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  4. I would love to share on your blog

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  5. I have a really nice one from the 70's that is my guess. It's almost like new.

    ReplyDelete