Our Adidas - Part I

 "We make a good team my Adidas and me. We get around together, rhyme forever and we won't be mad when worn in bad weather.” 

- taken from "My Adidas" by Run D.M.C

Soon to be up for sale, here is one of our iconic jackets, a social statement of the late 80s, this vintage red leather Adidas trefoil jacket prompts memories of music and culture at that time. Endorsed greatly by the hip hop artists Run DMC in the 80s, this half part of a tracksuit is highly sought after. 

 

Much influenced by their own personal style, their outfits of fedoras, leather jackets and unlaced Adidas shoes had an ulterior motive. They wanted detach the social stigma attached to certain styles and brands such as Adidas. “My Adidas only bring good news and they are not used as felon shoes”: quoted by DMC.

With their dedication to the brand recognised by Adidas themselves, the group formed a long-term relationship and $1.6 million endorsement deal with the sportswear brand.

Following the devastating murder of one of the group members, Jam-Master Jay, in 2002, devoted fans lay Adidas sneakers outside the studio where he died. This demonstrates the important relationship between the brand and the group and just shows what this jacket connotes to many fans.

This video is of DMC himself giving a more in depth explanation of the relationship between the group and Adidas:

Hell-bent for leather...

“He wore a vintage leather jacket, faded Levi's, and a gold watch she didn't recognize. His waist was slim, his smile gleaming, and he looked right into her eyes while they talked, focusing on her as if she were the only person in the room.”

-extract from “The Guy Not Taken” by Jennifer Weiner

We thought we would share with you one of our most exclusive finds, a vintage Levi's leather jacket. Unfortunately not up for grabs, this preserved iconic piece has taken on the role of family heirloom and is not likely to be put on someone's frame, but in one!

As you unfold the jacket, there is a newer lining which has kindly preserved the original one and peeking behind one of the rips you can see the Levi's neck label. On the front pocket the Levi's tab proudly sports a capital 'E'; signifying the piece was manufactured before 1971. However, due to wear you can just about make out the capital 'E'. We estimate the jacket to be at least 50 years old.

Levis Strauss, founder of the company, was running a shop in San Francisco during the gold rush of the late 1800s. Using some fabric he'd imported to make tents, he decided to make hard wearing trousers for the miners. When he imported it from Nîmes in France the word Denim was 'coined'; phonetically sounding like 'De Nîmes'.

We are currently in talks with a vintage specialist at Levis to get more information on the jacket, and when we do we'll let you know.
Here is a fascinating video documenting how Levi's preserve antique and vintage pieces from collectors or flea markets to buying from consumers or even pieces found in abandoned mines...

Vintage pieces at vintage prices...

Welcome, my fellow vintage enthusiasts, to Tear Away's blog. We hope to keep you updated with our latest finds and fashions of yesteryear. Like a good wine, vintage clothing gets better with age, yet still hold relevance in today's collections. Mirroring eras past, designers today look to previous iconic styles and radical movements and recreate modern pieces of wearable art.

We aim to bring you wearable vintage fashions, relevant of today, to reinvent your wardrobe with a unique, one-of-a-kind piece that will never be labelled 'old-fashioned'.

Influenced by art and culture, economic, political and social circumstance as well as music and film, designers of the past have cultivated their imagination impeccably and produced timeless revolutionary styles that still stand in the 20^th century.