Leather Bush Vest

Introduced in the Fall 1985 catalogue: “There comes a time when a bush vest calls for something harder than cotton. In search of a suitable material for harsher, colder climes, we went everywhere from the wind-whipped pampas of Argentina to the sandblasted Outback of Australia, scrutinizing calfskin and cowhide, pigskin and peccary, kidskin and kangaroo. Nowehere could we find a leather that satisfied all our rigorous demands of strength, comfort and above all (in this overtanned world) naturalness. Then, in southern France, we happened upon that not-too-notorious creature, the Mediterranean hair sheep. Raised in the Pyrenees, hair sheep travel seasonally across the mountainous border between France and Spain, so their hides are lithe and resilient. To our delight, the old-world tanneries in France understood precisely what we meant when we said we didn’t want a lot done to this leather. Accordingly, they kept the hide soft and supple, and the rich russet color unshiny. As for the final product, it combines in leather the fine features of our cotton bush and photojournalist vests.”