Californian LOT64 – “Frontier Duck Canvas” – Dark Navy

SPECS

Pattern: Our classic Californian Lot64 blue jeans feature a mid-rise, straight leg and a slightly tapered silhouette for that desirable 1960’s vibe. Visit the Californian Family-page for more info on our blue jeans offerings.

Fabric: Dry 100% cotton “Frontier” duck canvas, 12 Oz., milled by Mt Vernon Mills, Georgia, USA.
Two color options, rusty brown and deep dark navy.

Pocket bags:
Navy canvas option: NOS 100% cotton fancy Dobby stripe weave, grayish/blue stripe on off-white background (left-over yardage from the production of the MF® Aristocrat Shirt.)

SPECS

SIZING/FIT

The Californian LOT64 Frontier Duck Canvas jeans come UN-WASHED and are cut so that actual measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry. We recommend the usual protocol before wearing:

• Cold soak for about 30-40mn, with occasional hand agitation.
• Machine spin dry and line dry.
• Hang until fully dry.

The canvas Californians are considered true-to-size.
A tagged W32 will most-likely be the right size for an individual with an approximate measured waist of +/- 32 inches, and with average body proportions. Note that your natural waist is a bit bellow belly button level, not bellow the hips.

CL’s Advice: 

I opted for a W30 in these (5’7 ~142 Lbs.), for a fit silhouette, and went un-hemmed and un-cuffed for “sloppy” period stacking.
The size that will work best for you depends on your body type and how you like your jeans to fit.
Please refer to size chart, reflecting rinsed measurements.

CARE

Launder when needed.
We recommend turning the jeans inside out to avoid marbling during laundering. Machine wash, cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry.
Potential attractive patina may develop according to one’s activities, and frequency of wear/wash.

STORY

We’ve issued the Mister Freedom® CALIFORNIAN in a plethora of premium fabrics through the years.

Since its 2010 introduction, our original classic five-pocket jeans pattern has been released in a wide range of NOS traditional indigo selvedge denims, eclectic premium Japanese fabrics such as double indigo twill, “Midnight” denim, Bedford cord Pique , corduroy, Jungle cloth, and cotton sateen.

For this iteration, we decided to give the CALIFORNIAN Lot64 an old school cotton canvas treatment,. For the denim collector, there was a fair amount of Lee® NOS floating around in the vintage world in the early 1990s, easily recognizable by the iconic yellow “boot and bucking bronco” Lee® paper flasher and desirable black/gold waistband label. I remember scoring a few stacks of those canvas specimen in old western wear stores at the time, and also sporting a pair.

For this project, we wanted domestic fabric and went out to source some nice and dry 12 Oz. cotton “Frontier” duck yardage, milled by Mt Vernon Mills in Georgia, USA.

We opted for two color options. A rusty brown similar to our Lee® brown duck jeans source of inspiration – also typical of classic Carhartt workwear – and a deep dark navy blue. For those considering a farmhand tuxedo, please note that the CALIFORNIAN rusty brown “Frontier” duck fabric is of a different dye lot from the “Frontier” Ranch Blouse NOS Duck.

This canvas duck fabric is woven on wide looms, resulting in unfinished edges, i.e. non selvedge. Therefore, as with the Californian Jungle cloth issue, the leg outseams of the pants are finished with overlock, another classic 1970s Lee® jeans trait.

We kept our MF® classic contrast orange/yellow combo stitching for the brown duck, and went tonal for the navy.

As often with our domestic production, we are using older NOS (New-Old-Stock, aka “Dead Stock”) fabric for the pocket bags. Not only as a “vintage aesthetics” choice, but in an effort to always use-up all yardage we have in stock.

Discarding left-over material is common practice in our overproducing fashion industry, an obvious waste of virgin raw material and resources, and pretty much an insult to our species’ intelligence at this point! We can do better.
Valuable and painstakingly-milled unused and uncut fabric yardage, let alone recently-manufactured clothes, should definitely not end up in landfills, nor in smoke.

The Mister Freedom® CALIFORNIAN Lot64 jeans, “Frontier Duck Canvas” edition, are designed and manufactured in California, USA, by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.