Fade Friday – Homemade Denim Jacket Circa 1970s (40+ Years)

This special Fade Friday comes to us from Brian in the US and although he is the current caretaker of this shirt, the submission really starts with his dad, and wouldn’t be possible without his grandma. Have you figured it out yet?! Oh, wait, the title.

Back in the early 70s, Brians’s dad was doing what any successful hippy was doing, living in Venice Beach, CA — wearing denim. But not many could hold a lighter to what pops was wearin’. Made from scratch by his mother out of denim scraps — I’m seeing a lot of Levi’s/Lee looking denim here — this shirt was basically a DIY Cowboy Shirt, flap pockets, western yoke ‘n’ all. But it’s the addition of pressed dimes for buttons that seal the deal, here, making this piece wearable folk art.

But here is why Brian’s grandma was truly a design genius. When I say these were denim scraps, I don’t just mean denim in general, I mean specifically jeans. From leg panels turned into sleeves and the majority of the body, to the back shoulder panel which literally looks to be a seat from an old pair of 505s (judging by ghost pocket shape), talk about clever engineering. And then of course there is the knockout punch realization that all the jeans that made up this shirt could have been runaway fade submission and took on another life of fading when turned into a shirt and yet another life of fading when passed down to Brian.

Thank you for sharing Brian, this one will be hard to top this year.