Avre Friday Briefing #54
Batch No. 3 — The U.S. Navy Shawl Collar Shirt
Pre-orders to close at 08:00 Monday 30th March
If you've been considering one, this is your last chance to get into this production run.
We usually take pre-orders, close the window, then open up again for a General Release a few weeks later. This time we're doing it differently. When pre-orders close on Monday, we're going straight to production. It'll mean that pre-order customers get their garments slightly quicker than usual.
If you miss the window, or you're reading this after the deadline, don't worry. We'll be running more cycles of Batch No. 3 in the future. But if you want to be part of this first run, Monday 30th March 08:00 is your cut-off.
Cone Denim
For Batch No. 3 the natural choice was Cone Denim who have been making American workwear in North Carolina for over a century.
Cone's White Oak plant opened in 1905 and ran until 2017. During that time it supplied denim to workwear brands, military contractors, and anyone who needed cloth to take serious punishment. The distinctive red-line selvedge that came off those White Oak shuttle looms became shorthand for American quality.
Cone Mills Corporation Employees," ca. 1940s. Courtesy of University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.
Batch No. 3 uses genuine Cone denim, woven on the same type of shuttle looms that made White Oak famous. It's heavy, characterful cloth that develops its own fades and creases with wear. The fabric has a lineage that goes back to exactly the kind of workwear the original shirt was designed for.
Vat 01
Last week we covered the operational orders that inspired the label. This week, we're focussing on another part of the package - the tissue paper.
Each bottle is wrapped in a piece of tissue paper on which is printed a reconnaissance photograph of the St Nazaire dry dock — the Normandie Dock, the precise target of Operation Chariot. The image was taken by RAF pilots flying over occupied France in early 1942, often alone and unarmed. The photographs let Allied planners study the layout of the dock, its fortifications, and the approach channels that HMS Campbeltown would need to navigate.
You can imagine the originals spread across a table in a briefing room while Allied planners plotted the logistics.
What we're reading
To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy. It's out of print, but second-hand copies are easy enough to find on Amazon or eBay, and worth tracking down.
Murphy is one of the most decorated American soldiers of the Second World War — and one of the more complicated. James and Al are currently running a four-part series on him on We Have Ways, which pairs well with the book if you want the full picture.
He was also the inspiration behind our Batch No. 1 jacket, the M1941 Arctic.