It's been a rather busy start to February what with arranging my new trading sites and collections but finally everything is slowly getting into place now which means I can revisit one of my key roles, designing clothing again.
If there is one piece I do that gains the most attention out of all my military inspired work it has to be my take on the classic MA1 Bomber Jacket. I say my take as I'm yet to see anyone else that puts a 'Blood Chit' on the outside. I do look but yet all that's available is with The Chit's on the inside. Not suprising as this was their orginal position on the jacket when invented.
On the subject of invention I was inspired to use Blood Chits not just because of how they look on a olive background but also becasue of their initital use. How they came about was via a simple idea to communicate without the need to speak the language.
The Chit's I use are reproduction AVG Flying Tigers ones which more or less say, I'm fighting for your cause and please help me by taking me to safety. If you Google their meaning then you more or less come up with this albeit with a few slight variations on the theme.
When a bomber crew crash landed on friendly territory they simply had to take their jackets off and show whom ever found them the Chit on the inside. Clever as you're not going to train a whole squadron of aircrew at short notice a new language.
Back to the subject of designing clothes with my MA1 Blood Chit Bomber Jacket in mind.
I originally started out making 'off the shelf' versions of these as it was quite easy to get hold of The Chit's about 12 months ago. Sadly like most things 'supply chain' related the ease of sourcing has got slightly more challenging now. However this doesn't stop me checking and once they come up I usually get a few in from all around The World.
It's good to help other small outfits like myself out from here in deepest Kemptown every now and again :)
However what I now have decided to do is 'made to order' but in a specific way that hopefully is more cost effective for everyone especially my clients.
My client pictured here today is Bec who's taken the plunge and asked for one to be made which I am very happy to be able to do as she's wanted a new yet different kind of jacket for a while now since seeing mine a while back. Yes, I wear my own designs and why not.
How we have gone about this is Bec has sourced the jacket herself, a great e-bay win I'm told and also she's got the jacket she wants to use for the final piece of work.
I've sourced The Chit (Cuba) and local maker (up the road) who's going to professionally sew in using the 'Invisible Method' Then hey presto we get an original L55.BTN MA1 Blood Chit Bomber Jacket and one happy Bec.
So,my 'Made To Order' service kicks back in again and if you would like one of these then please drop me some signal.
Prices are fluid as it's to do with availability of The Chit's which can get quite costly or whether my clients want me to source their jackets or they want to do that bit themselves.
Prices for The L55.BTN MA1 Blood Chit Bomber Jacket (Chit On Outside Version) range from £200-£250 (fully sourced / completed) or less if you want to use a jacket of your choosing.
Don't forget, one of these with The Chit on the outside is from Me and The Store until this idea catches on.