The birth of an obsession: 1930s Laskinlamb Grizzly Jacket

This was found in a Goodwill Outlet store that sells clothing at 89 cents per pound.  I had made tons of discoveries from this place, but had no idea that these sorts of things were laying buried, one step away from being shredded and bailed.  The total cost for the purchase was $3.69.  A lofty price for an item from "the bins."  We sold it at the most inopportune time, mid-July (just when everyone is looking for a heavy fur motorcycle jacket) for just over $1200.00.  This sale started an obsession.

1930s Laskinlamb "Grizzly" Motorcycle jacket... in all it's glory:

Laskinlamb

Grizzly Jacket

They just don't make the patterns the same as they used to.  I'm a particular fan of the narrower shoulders and longer sleeves.  Modern reproductions don't seem to pick up on those subtleties that only someone who was trained in the old art of hand-pattern-making (Darcie) gets.

If you run across one of these...  Buy it! Then email me. I would love to make an offer.

Yeah... Another blog.

Born out of recession/necessity in 2009, Stumptown trading were two hard-headed, un-employable, junk-picking, creative knockabouts with $135-a-week in government funds and a huge dream of being able to pay the rent.

It seems like a century ago.  A lot has changed and evolved.  This blog wasn't created to chronicle the developments of our lives or company (although I might get Darcie to tell the story of her $10.86 Cal 29 Sailboat she bought at auction in Long Beach) but rather document some of the great finds we unearth and hopefully provide some help to fellow diggers in their research of tattered gems and the debacle of retailing them on-line.