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Nicknamed Monkey Pants, these combat trousers were developed in 1944 for the USMC as a replacement for the 1941-Pattern Herringbone Twill (HBT) Utility Trousers, the 1944-Pattern HBT trousers differed significantly, most notably in having a large pocket on the rear and hip pockets, while the all-cotton HBT fabric in light-shade olive drab was the same rugged, heavyweight material used to fabricate the earlier trousers and coats.

Buzz Rickson brand has duplicated these trousers to its usual high level of quality and authenticity, including having the HBT fabric made on vintage looms and sewing the trousers using all-cotton thread on vintage sewing machines, with all stress points correctly bar tacked for extra strength.  Additionally, the trousers are outfitted with black-lacquered USMC buttons and they have been given an industrial cold-water rinse to minimize shrinkage and provide greater softness and a look of vintage appeal rather than a rigid, out-of-the-box new look.  Buzz Rickson military trousers are intended for hard, active use and long life; these are uniform items, NOT costumery.

Please see our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Buzz Rickson’s goods are imported from Japan

Developed in 1941 for the USMC as part of a two-piece coat/trouser suit for combat and work, replacing the denim suits of earlier issue, the 1941-Pattern Herringbone Twill (HBT) Utility Trousers became the definitive combat trouser for the USMC in WWII.  The original design featured external patch pockets on the front thighs, which were replaced with internally hung pockets in a later design that first is seen in combat in early 1944, thus the first-model trouser is far more rare and the only correct HBT trouser for the USMC prior to 1944, though these early trousers can still be seen in use in 1945.  

Buzz Rickson brand is the only current manufacturer of the first-model trousers on the market at this time, and they have duplicated these trousers to their usual high level of quality and authenticity, including having the all-cotton, light-shade HBT fabric made on vintage looms and sewing the trousers using all-cotton thread on vintage sewing machines, with all stress points correctly bar tacked for extra strength.  Additionally, the trousers are outfitted with black-lacquered USMC buttons and they have been given an industrial cold-water rinse to minimize shrinkage and provide greater softness and a look of vintage appeal rather than a rigid, out-of-the-box new look.  Buzz Rickson military trousers are intended for hard, active use and long life; these are uniform items, NOT costumery.

Please see our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Buzz Rickson’s goods are imported from Japan

The master designers at Buzz Rickson's have recreated a GI classic made famous in the early years of the Vietnam War; officially known as "Trousers, wind Resistant," these formed the bottom half of the 1st-model jungle suit.  This is the highly desirable, rare 1st model made of poplin with exposed gloss-finished buttons and outfitted with leg ties hidden in the cargo pockets, as worn during the early days in Nam, though sometimes seen still being worn even at war's end.  This style clearly had its design rooted in the WWII U. S. Army parachutist's trousers, though issue of these trousers was to all troops and not specific.  The trousers were made instantly recognizable and famous in the 1967 film "The Green Berets," prominently worn by John Wayne and the rest of the cast portraying members of the 5th Special Forces while "in country."  

The overall design is incredibly practical, stylish, and so very functional in many capacities, thanks to the expandable cargo pockets with drain holes.  Combat attrition, post-service life among the veterans, sales in surplus stores for hunters, fisherman, and the like, plus relatively low production numbers before they were replaced by the 2nd model, rendered the 1st-model trousers scarce not long after the events of the era; today, vintage examples in new condition will fetch a hefty price in the collector market.

No design detail has been missed on this Buzz Rickson's copy, which includes custom manufacturing of the lightweight all-cotton poplin on vintage looms to perfectly match U. S. Army specs., including assembly using vintage industrial sewing machines.  The buttons have also been custom made of genuine urea, not incorrect, cheap plastic, and inside the jacket you'll find all of the authentic labels that appeared on these early trousers, making this the ultimate copy of an all-time classic.  Of course, this Buzz Rickson's trouser copy comes crispy new and unwashed, so if you don't want to look like some FNG who just got in from the World, you'll want to wash them a few times before wearing.  

The only other 1st-model "jungle trousers" to match the precision of Buzz Rickson's masterpiece are those prized, vintage examples in collections and veteran's attics.  Please note all of these authentic features and details:  

• Two expandable, bellows pockets outfitted with exposed buttons

• Custom manufacturing of genuine, gloss-finished urea buttons precisely matching the buttons of the 1st-Model trousers

• Button-down pocket flaps on butt pockets

• Two-position adjustment tabs at waist-back area

• Custom manufacturing of the exact weight and weave all-cotton, water-repellant poplin produced on vintage looms

• Custom manufacturing of the exact type of all-cotton labels found on 1st-Model trousers

• Hidden compass pocket inside left cargo pocket

• Leg tapes inside each cargo pocket

• Drawstring at the leg cuff opening of each leg

• Concealed buttons on frontal closure

• Internal flap with buttons behind frontal closure

Sizes available: Sm., Med., Lg. & XL.  Please see SIZING TIPS to obtain the correct fit.

Buzz Rickson’s products are imported from Japan

Blowout Clearance Sale - Regular price $175.00, now sold at our TRUE cost of $100.00 - This is as good as it gets for buyers!!!

These low-top basketball shoes (sneakers) were a true item of athletic issue for U. S. Army basketball players in the 1970's, but produced in white and never in camouflage.  The designers at Buzz Rickson's decided to reproduce these sneakers in exacting form utilizing their amazing "Golden" tiger-stripe camouflage all-cotton twill, resulting in a unique, stylish, cool-as-hell sneaker that marries design authenticity and fabrication in a limited-production offering.

Fabrication is completely performed in Japan by hand at one of Japan's last-remaining factories (there are only two left) that still produce classic sneakers using the old machinery with true vulcanization of the rubber parts.  So great is the worldwide demand for old-world quality, vintage-style sneakers made on vintage machinery, that these last two factories are booked solid for no less than two years before they can even generate a sample!

Tiger-stripe camouflage was deemed the "stuff' during the Vietnam War, any it was highly desirable back then just for informal wear as a status symbol; now it's considered an icon of style, far transcending its original military application.  Rock a pair of these limited-run, vintage-style sneakers while they last!  

Please note these authentic features of quality and workmanship found only vintage sneakers and those produced using the highest production standards today in conjunction with vintage machinery:    

• All-cotton twill uppers produced on vintage shuttle looms (just like in the 1960's and '70's) and authentically dyed and printed in the highly sought-after "Golden" tiger-stripe camouflage pattern made famous by U. S. special forces during the Vietnam War
• Steel eyelets lacquered black
• Natural rubber sole vulcanized in place
• All-cotton laces
• Double-stitched stress points
• Taped heel seam in olive green all-cotton canvas for extra strength
• Fully lined in all-cotton canvas
• Reinforced heel
• Reinforced toe
• Exact reproduction of the issue style, including mid-sole glue markings, a testament to the use of vintage production techniques
• Original-style military shoe box

Sizes available:  7 -10 in half sizes.  Please see our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Hand made in Japan

BLOWOUT SALE - $20.00 off retail price of $55.50 until supply is exhausted!

We are very excited to offer this vintage tee-shirt graphic featuring the Bell YFM-1 Airacuda.  The Airacuda was one of the most intriguing, attractive, innovative fighter planes of the 1930's; while less than 20 were produced, it was highly trumpeted and published at the time, though graphics on tee shirts, pillow shams, and matchbooks are all but non-existant today.  Even the better vintage-aircraft aficionados will likely be stumped when you wear this tee shirt!

Buzz Rickson's tee shirts take us back to when tee shirts were not moo-moo dresses outfitted with short sleeves that flirt with our elbows; rather, these are vintage-style tee shirts of the 1930's - 1970's that are trim fitting, shorter in the body length, and with quarter-length sleeves.  

The original tee shirts were made on “body-size” looms which yield a shirt with no side seams, thus weaving a perfect tube.  To do this requires special looms that are only used by specialist manufacturers these days; subsequently, the looms are hard to source and expensive to produce garments on because you need one loom for each size you want made - but it's the proper way to make a vintage-style tee shirt, and it's the only way they were made in the 1930's - ‘70's.

The expertise for making such a garment is largely only found in one place in the world these days - Japan.  The Japanese have become renowned as world experts in vintage-style garment manufacture and home of body-size construction, being able to produce super-accurate, vintage-quality fabrics. 

These tee shirts are made of a robust cotton, heavier than typical undershirts, and the cotton is washed for a softer hand, a vintage look, and to eliminate guesswork in fit vis-a-vis shrinkage.

Available in sizes Sm - XXL.  Please see our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Imported from Japan

BLOWOUT SALE - $20.00 off retail price until supply is exhausted!

We are very excited to offer this vintage tee-shirt graphic featuring the Bell YFM-1 Airacuda.  The Airacuda was one of the most intriguing, attractive, innovative fighter planes of the 1930's; while less than 20 were produced, it was highly trumpeted and published at the time, though graphics on tee shirts, pillow shams, and matchbooks are all but non-existant today.  Even the better vintage-aircraft aficionados will likely be stumped when you wear this tee shirt!

Buzz Rickson's tee shirts take us back to when tee shirts were not moo-moo dresses outfitted with short sleeves that flirt with our elbows; rather, these are vintage-style tee shirts of the 1930's - 1970's that are trim fitting, shorter in the body length, and with quarter-length sleeves.  

The original tee shirts were made on “body-size” looms which yield a shirt with no side seams, thus weaving a perfect tube.  To do this requires special looms that are only used by specialist manufacturers these days; subsequently, the looms are hard to source and expensive to produce garments on because you need one loom for each size you want made - but it's the proper way to make a vintage-style tee shirt, and it's the only way they were made in the 1930's - ‘70's.

The expertise for making such a garment is largely only found in one place in the world these days - Japan.  The Japanese have become renowned as world experts in vintage-style garment manufacture and home of body-size construction, being able to produce super-accurate, vintage-quality fabrics. 

These tee shirts are made of a robust cotton, heavier than typical undershirts, and the cotton is washed for a softer hand, a vintage look, and to eliminate guesswork in fit vis-a-vis shrinkage.

Available in sizes Sm - XXL.  Please see our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Imported from Japan

Closeout SALE - in-stock items only $45.00 off retail price of $145.00!

Some AAF units and bases had their own baseball teams and their athletic apparel was often military-spec. and government issue.  Our baseball shirt is the type typically worn on cooler days under the short-sleeve, button-front baseball shirt and has the classic three-quarter sleeves in the team color, in this case red.  These "undershirts" have been forever popular worn on their own as just an outer shirt, and the detailing found on this copy is one you'll want to be seen wearing and not have mostly hidden under a baseball outer shirt.

The vintage baseball undershirts were manufactured to a standard back in their era that was very much the norm, utilizing circular tube-knitting machines that produced shirts with a perfect tube body and no side seams.  Tube-knitting machines can only weave one set diameter per loom; this means the factory needs a different loom for each size - very expensive - which is why you hardly ever see true tube construction in modern-day garments. Even the most expensive designer sweatshirts will usually have a side seam - sometimes two seams!  Tube construction ensures true shape is maintained, not only during its construction, but during its life of wear.  This is the proper way to make a sweatshirt; in the good old days, the proper way was the only way.  It's cheap and easy to make shirts from a flat piece of cloth, and most customers would never notice the difference, though they may wonder why their not-so-cheap sweatshirt seemed to lose its shape after only a few washes - but now you know.

A year of meticulous research and development has gone into this baseball shirt that was copied from a vintage example.  Japan is home to the masters of tube-knitting and we enlisted the great John Lofgren, master of vintage American clothing, to help bring this shirt to its insane levels of vintage perfection.

Please note the following vintage features found only on a shirt of this pedigree:

• Heavy-weight, all-cotton fabric for years of enjoyment under hard use

• All-cotton thread used throughout construction

• TUBE-Body construction utilizing vintage, wartime circular-knitting machines - there are no side seams

• Set-in sleeves

• #18 Toppushi yarn perfectly matched to the original vintage fabric

• The fabric is produced using a combination of two dying methods - sakizome (pre-dyed before weaving) and atozome (woven then dyed)

• Dying is performed in one location and sewing in another - very costly

• Exact copy of the original-style, printed-on-cotton labels

• True vintage fit for flattering appearance, not a sloppy, relaxed fit with droopy shoulder seams

Take a bite of old-time machismo and see how true baseball undershirts used to look and feel.  Limited quantities available.

Sizes:  36 - 46.   Please note that the individual modeling the shirt in the photos has a 38" chest circumference and he is wearing a shirt in size 40.  Please our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Imported from Japan

LAST one left 50% off retail price of $90.00!

The Henley is a classic vintage-style tee shirt if ever there was one.  This is produced exclusively for ELMC by the John Lofgren workshops of Japan. The expertise in making such a garment is really only found in one place in the world these days – Japan - and John Lofgren is the master.

These Henley tee shirts are created using a thread that was developed in Japan that replicates the look and feel of vintage fabric; because these cottons all have different length staples (fibers), the thread has a distinctive texture that is similar to vintage fabric. This specialized thread is called ‘Raffy’, which is a combination of American Supima cotton, Egyptian cotton and Turfan cotton.  The body section is produced by one company and another makes the ribbing - each specializing in their own field of expertise. The cost is, naturally, much more expensive than regular mass-produced material, but the finished product is superior.

Of course, all of the authentic detailing is incorporated in the design, thus these classic, vintage Henley tee shirts have  the vintage fit, which is sensibly trim and lacking sloppy, droopy shoulders, excess blouse in the body width and length, and no sleeves hanging down to your elbows. Both over-lock and flat-seam sewing are deftly executed in this design as per the vintage garments.  Lastly, genuine, seashell buttons are employed at the neck closure and the labels in the neck are woven on vintage shuttle looms for the correct vintage look and feel.

The Henley tee is often duplicated but we offer the real deal - a sleek-fitting classic styled to vintage perfection and built to last.

Available in sizes 36 - 46.  Please see our SIZING TIPS for advice on how to get the correct fit.

Imported from Japan