Dating a blazer, anyone know Gay-Town Toronto?

Hi everyone,

Bought this beautiful blazer today, clearly vintage but I’m having trouble dating it and finding any info on the brand and I want to learn more.

I’ve scoured the internet including the Toronto archives, luckily I’m a local so I have a slight edge but apparently not enough. In the archives of directories I can definitively say the company was around in the year 1970 and 1964 in Quebec, so not Toronto. There’s addresses for factories and a bunch of employees from the time. Otherwise there’s no information about Gay-Town or Gaytown online that isn’t listings of other pieces. Also known as Gaytown Sportswear Co or Gaytown Textiles.

The CA ID number dates it as 1997 which is definitely incorrect. This seems to be a common error. Based off the care label I do think it’s from the 70s but today is my first day of even exploring the vintage clothing realm so I’m not trusting my opinion on that.

Any experience or insight would be highly appreciated!

 

The earliest mention I found for "Gay-town" Sportswear in Toronto was in a 1956 classified ad.

A 1964 ad stated: "Typical of Canada's 450 fashion houses is Gaytown Sportswear." For the accompanying photo it adds "President Manny Kimel, designer Rada Zurducki inspect a new design."

I saw many mid-to-late-1970's ads for similar blazers to yours by Gaytown.

I saw a death notice for Manny Kimel in August 2011 and a 1971 article about a Toronto Fabricland store mentioned "Toronto manufacturer Jack Kimel of Gaytown Sportswear Co." Jack was apparently Warren Kimel's son.

 

Ikranieri!

You sent me down a rabbit hole. I was looking for news paper archives and having a difficult time. Apparently they are under the newspaper section and not the archive section oop. I see them!

I ended up putting together Manny Kimel who was listed as Manuel in the directory and cross referenced it with the obituary and post made by his son after his passing. Thank you so much for your help and for confirming the approximate decade!

Unrelated but I’m a little surprised that that’s associated with Fabricland yet has been pretty much wiped off the internet except for archives of old directories and newspapers. I wonder if it’s deliberately been hidden from the current Fabricland history. Fabricland has minimal information on the the modern internet, even Manny/Manuel isn’t mentioned in association anywhere, just his son that has been the president/CEO for the past approximately 45 years. This sent me down a rabbit hole lol. Anyways, again, greatly appreciate your help, thank you!

 

The CA numbers often say 1997 because that was when the records were digitized. The owner of the company has to request the change be made so chances are if the date is 1997, the company is no longer in business. The coloured care symbols were in use only in Canada from c. 1973 - 1993. I haven't been able to track down a more specific start date, but the practice ended with NAFTA.