AMISH CLOTHING

 

In summer 2010 I was out slinging remaindered textiles at Ohio flea markets with Chicago’s best fashion designer.  I kept seeing these plain clothes men and boys wearing these grey slacks which buttoned up across the top (‘the fall’) instead of zipping up the middle (‘the fly’).  Now the fall long preceded the fly but I hadn’t looked up the history yet.  Simply stricken with how flattering and functional.  The fellas were tossing around produce like it wasn’t a thing, squatting and lifting and looking all effortless and comfortable.

I made it a mission to make or buy a pair of these pants for myself.  No one that I asked really wanted to tell me where I could get the pants.   Maybe because I was an English who didn’t know how to ask right.  It wasn’t til a few more trips to Amish country before I finally hunted down the place where I bought a pattern and a sample pair to copy.

But there was a lot more in the bargain.  I had worn my sweetbutter series workpants (which were hot off the presses then) to the shop, and found some things in common with their farm pants.  First was that they don’t use a cheaper lighter pocket lining material.  Second was that they never use exterior labels or logos.  Third was textile selection: whereas I had gone for toughness via weight for my workpants, they used a tri-blend denim that is a poly/cotton/nylon combo, a bit lighter but still super tough and also stands up to field wear for a good while without burring up.  This stuff is expensive, but since it lasts so long it makes sense.  The value buy.

The Amish are starting to release their apparel sensibilities to the wider world under a label called ‘Plain Community Clothing’ which I am proud to work with on several projects.

The first collaborative release are these Amish farm coats, made with that same tough denim, except we added some roomy external patch pockets for (sub)urban folks.  More forthcoming…