Lee stumbled into workwear after he had trouble getting adequate supplies from his Eastern workwear suppliers and began producing overalls for his workers in house. Overalls became coveralls, coveralls became locomotive jackets\u2014and finally jeans and denim jackets.<\/p>\n
Lee 101J. Image via Ebay.<\/p><\/div>\n
Over the course of the 1920s, Lee pushed the envelope by developing pragmatic, heavy workwear; but it wasn’t until the 1930s that the brand began to release pieces that captured the American imagination. In 1935, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, H.D. Lee corp. used the phrase “Lee Riders<\/strong>” for the first time.<\/p>\nThe Lee Riders collection featured the now-iconic Lee cowboy jeans as well as a new jacket:\u00a0 the 101J<\/strong>. The “Cowboy” jacket, as it came to be known, was much closer in style to a Levi’s Type I, but unlike the Type I, was soon offered in a slimmed down cut, made popular by a rodeo star named Turk Greenough. The jacket could also be lined, and this particular model was designated 101LJ<\/strong>.<\/p>\nTurk on a bucking bronc. Image via The Portal to Texas History.<\/p><\/div>\n
By the close of the 1930s, Lee was well-immersed in the world of rough n’ tough cowboy clothing, but their best-known pieces were yet to come. It wasn’t until 1948 that the New Lee Rider Jacket<\/strong> came out, one of the best-fitting and most iconic denim jackets to ever be produced. Released 19 years before the Levi’s Type III, the New Lee Rider was remarkably ahead of its time.<\/p>\nLee Rider ad. Image via Pinterest.<\/p><\/div>\n
You would know the Lee Rider jacket immediately by its characteristic zigzag stitch on the front and its jauntily slanted yoke. Like its boxier predecessor, the New Lee Rider used the designation 101J, and in 1949 released a lined alternative to this new jacket. This new 101L<\/strong> featured a corduroy collar and a heavy saddle blanket lining.<\/p>\n