There's thousands of Tumblr pages around these days, which makes it hard finding a good selection to follow. What we do like mostly are the simple style Tumblrs that just specialize in a certain type of images of photographs. A fantastic example is the Tumblr blog from Joshua Fountain, which goes by the same name, and shares old sepia and black-and-white portait photographs. Joshua Fountain features a great selection of gentlemen, newly wed couples, children, workers, soldiers and cowboys in their neat suits and workers style uniforms. Here's a selection of some of our recent favourites, but make sure to visit the blog regularly and be inspired by the old fashion of the time.
Around the time Levi Strauss met up with Jacob Davis to assemble the world's first riveted denim pants, most of the remaining American West was still undiscovered. Between 1871 and 1874 a team of government officials was exploring the untouched natural resources in the states of Nevada, Arizona and Utah. They brought photographer Timothy O'Sullivan with them, who brought his box camera to capture the scenery they encountered. The project was called into life to attract new adventurers to settle in the large uninhabited regions.
An interesting project in the first place and the photographs shot by O'Sullivan of the 'Wild West' are just astonishing. His pictures offer an insight into a world that was still unknown for most back then and picture land that seems almost inaccessible. The photographs include depictions of new constructed railroads, small settlements, local native Americans and most important some incredible shots of the dry and rocky landscape. Don't forget to breathe when you're gazing at these pictures.
Some of you might know the incredible photograph known as the "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper", where some eleven iron rangers dressed up in proper workwear are enjoying their lunch on a construction beam. The picture will celebrate it's 80th birthday in a couple of days, having been published in the New York Herald Tribune on the 2nd of October 1932. There's a lot of mystery about this picture, since it was published anonymously and, more important, the identities of the daredevils on the picture are unknown. Some of the few facts known are that these steelworkers were busy constructing the 30 Rock building in New York, and that the photograph was taken from the 69th floor of the Rockefeller Centre.
Irish director Sean Ó Cualáin recently did an attempt to solve the mystery behind the picture and made a documentary on these unknown heroes with leather boots dangling some 260 meters above ground. "Men At Lunch" premiered at the last edition of Toronto's International Film Festival and will hopefully soon hit some theaters here in Amsterdam as well. For now please enjoy the already fascinating trailer.
Today we introduce to you the just released Red Wing x Nigel Cabourn collaboration: The Munson Boot. The idea for these shoes derived from a vintage pair of WWI British Army boots Nigel Cabourn came across. Cabourn was totally mesmerized by this pair and wanted to replicate them with the quality standards of today. He knew that Red Wing Shoes was the only shoe manufacturer that could help him realize such a project.
The Munson boot is made using the original lasts by Edward Munson. Munson did a study into the perfect military boot in 1912 which resulted in a last for infantry shoes. The most common feature of the Munson Lasts is the shape of its rounded toe, that has the primary function of protecting the toes of the wearer. Red Wing Shoes made use of the Munson lasts for the design of boots during the World War I & II and kept on doing so until the late 60s. This is the first time these lasts were put back into use again in the Red Wing factories since five decades!
The boots are lined with a beautiful army green Harris tweed selected by Nigel himself. The upper is made with a heavily oiled rough-out leather to approach the original vintage army boots of Cabourn as close as possible. Rough-out leather is the flesh side, also called the rough side, of the hide facing outwards. As a result of turning the usual position of the leather around, the grain is unbroken which makes sure the shoe is perfectly waterproof. The sole is made from a combination of vegetable tanned leather and Red Wing's original chemigum cork. The shoes feature deep green thick leather shoelaces and matching eyelets.
The Munson Boot is available in 2 leather qualities and accompanying colors, see more of these by clicking on the following links: 4618 - Red Wing Shoes Hawthorne Muleskinner & 4619 - Red Wing Shoes Chocolate Muleskinner.
One of the most iconic shoes from the Red Wing Shoe Company is the 875 Irish Setter. These boots became known as the Irish Setter because of the leather they used: An orange-colored leather called oro-iginal. The color somehow reminded the designers of the Irish Setter's fur. The Irish Setter is a classic boot known for its traditional 'moc-toe' design. Moc is derived from the word "moccasin", the Algonquian Indian word for shoe. The combination of the u-shaped mock toe leather upper and the white crepe sole would become the iconic boot style for the Red Wing brand.
This particular pair of Irish Setter boots as featured on the Red Wing Amsterdam weblog was bought by David Lindsey around 1986 in Munich. While traveling and shooting photos, David made sure he had his pair of Red Wing 875 with him all the time. They gave him the arch support and comfort he needed while crossing the globe for his work as a professional photographer. Even after twenty-five years of almost everyday wear the boots are in excellent condition. David took good care of his boots, conditioned his Irish Setters every eight weeks and had them resoled whenever he needed. David entered the store with a question for the Red Wing Amsterdam team. He wanted to know if we could re-sole his boots. We politely refused to do that since these old soles are not available anymore. We could not put new soles underneath these unique shoes. It would have been sacrilege. We offered him instead to swop his old pair for a fresh one, so he could go on loving and wearing his Red Wing boots, yet differently. We promised him to give an honorable stage to his old boots and that's what we did. Special thanks to David, we are proud to keep an eye on your treasures.
GC featured this lovely illustrated map of Made in the U.S.A. brands. Eleven companies, founded between 1873 and 1999, four from the 19th century, the rest of the 20th, creating the best blankets, shirts, bags, jeans and boots. And as Red Wing Shoes we're proud to be featured as the 'Iconic producers of resurgent, Rust Belt-ready work boots'! Thank you for that.
(Read the feature here / The illustration was made by the talented Jon Han)
