More than a decade beforeSANFORIZEDwould become synonymous with pre-shrunk garments (not to mention the most excellent Work and Rugged Wear blog), Sweet-Orr & Co. had their own version with the "Ace of Spades" Shrunk overalls, "The Overalls that Don't Shrink".
The Sweet-Orr print ad from 1914 below states "All the shrink has been taken out by a special SWEET ORR process. No matter how often you wash them, SWEET -ORR "Ace of Spades" will never shorten up... not even one-sixteenth of an inch"!
1914 Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" print ad
Deadstock salt & pepper whipcord breeches with Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" button
Deadstock indigo dyed cotton overalls with Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" SHRUNK label
Deadstock indigo dyed cotton dungarees with Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" button
Deadstock white cotton drill overalls with Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" button
Deadstock dark brown duck overalls with Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" button
Vintage hickory stripe overalls with Sweet Orr "Ace of Spades" button
All garments and advertising pictured above are either part of the vintage workwear.com archive or have been sourced and proudly sold via The San Fernando Valley Mercantile Co.
1917 Stifel print ad. Love the over-sized Stifel boot stamps see on the gentleman's overall cuffs. Likely not found on the actual overalls. Nice example of early branding.
Early 20th Century Stifel's Indigo Cloth tag courtesy of Everyone Eats Cookies
The Erwin Cotton Mills Co. of Durham North Carolina was founded in 1892. The two-story brick factory included a picker building, dyehouse, boiler room, and engine house. The mills had 11,000 spindles and 360 looms producing a variety of fabrics.
Rows of houses were built for the workers.By 1895, some 375 families were living in the mill village. The end of the line for Erwin Mills came in 1986.
Erwin Mills Machine Shop circa 1967.
Vintage 1950's era ERWIN Work Jacket / Chore Coat constructed using BLUSERGE SANFORIZED indigo dyed selvedge denim. From The San Fernando Valley Mercantile Co. archive .
The SANFORIZED Shrunk process was patented in 1928, and was first used by Erwin Mills in 1936 to make denim for overalls marketed under J.C. Penney’s Big Mac label.
The community of Erwin began with the erection of a cotton mill in 1903.
The Erwin Mills Company was formed in 1892 by a group of financiers who included W.A. Erwin and J.B. "Buck" Duke. Construction started in the spring of 1903, and the mill was in full operation by the latter part of 1905. The site had been selected because of the proximity of the Cape Fear River, the proximity of the cotton fields, and the probable supply of adequate labor.
The town which was constructed to house the workers of the mill was originally called Duke, but its name was changed to Erwin in 1926 when Trinity College in Durham became Duke University.
The mill hosted an annual celebration for the mill employees called “Overall Days” and from there the Erwin chamber of commerce started sponsoring a fall festival that is now called “Denim Days”. This festival is held each fall, the first weekend of October.
