when is a demob suit not a demob suit?

cooltriker

cooltriker

Registered Guest
ok i know i am confusing..lol..

yesturday when i had my ton of clothes from the local landfil there was a lovely brown suit, typical demob signs of button holes on each lapel etc..

inside there is a label with the gentleman's name a presume is rank no.
plus the date which is 18.2.52

why i am asking, is that most of the pictures of demob suits i have seen have the 'gangster' stripe so to speak and are from mid to late 40's, nothing early 50's

or would it be just a normal suit issue for someone that left the forces ?

will get some picks done and post later..

i must admit i am on cloud nine, as i very rarely get any vintage men's clothes in and not in bad nick either...:clapping:
 
Sounds like a great suit!

Mens' styles change slower, and older men especially still get things made in out of date styles - I've seen a few suits with early 50s dates but distinctive 40s styling like pinstripes, double lapels, double breasted - I'm just glad that they're considerate enough to date good tailored stuff back in the day!

Your suit: I vote for not demob but 40s style made a few years later.
 
The buttonholes on each lapel is, I thought, a sure sign of an ENglish demob suit -- so that war medals can be worn on the civilian suit. However, maybe that wasn't the purpose after all...
The suit is obviously made to order for the man in 1952 so that is too new for a demob suit as they were distributed to the demobilized soldiers for about a year starting in the of summer of 1945. The true demob suits looks very much like prewar suits, with turn-ups and narrow waist and tight fitting jacket. Striped suits remained in fashion into the early 1950s, so you can't go by that as much, but the jacket and pants should get much fuller in cut after 1947.
 
hi.. jonathan hope you are doing well..... thanks will get some photos done in the hour and post them for to to get a better look...

the workmanship and detail in the sewing ...has really amazed me...not like in todays suits...

right better get some photos done...be back later...
 
here goes... some photos..sorry if the quality is a bit naff but my new camera batteries went flat..lol..

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That looks pretty classic late 40s - early 50s to me. The brown colour, the wide lapels, wide legs. Its a bit narrow through the body but its not on a proper size form, so its hard to tell. The number on the label is not a military number --its just a model number for the suit. Demob suits weren't custom tailored, they were off the rack and adjusted to fit. With the last name of Davies it looks like you have a Welshman's suit there! Its a great suit - you will do well with it. I have seen similar suits sell for 200 pounds or thereabouts. Depends on size and condition.
 
thanks jonathan....it must have belonged to someone local to me, it looks as though the gentleman must have died and had his belongings cleared out and basically put into the local amenity skip...

which to be honest breaks my heart as obviously this guy loved his old suit...but at the end this is happening all over the world not only in my local area.....( thats why i went into being a rag merchant )

the suit is on the small side so the guy must have been quite small

so would have the no. been a design no or maybe a ref no.. to mr davies's order ?

has anyone heard of willerby & co of london ?

condition....... there is a very small hole/break in the fibre near the elbow, and a very small hole type blip near the bottom of one of the trs... apart from that( well what i have seen at mo) its in pretty good condition....

was going to take it to the dry cleaners next week before i put it onto ebay....
 
Yes, demob suits were given to British servicemen when WW11 ended in 1945. They came in limited sizes and choice of suiting fabric. If the full suit, including waistcoat and other items such as shoes and hat, were purchased, the customer had bought the 'Full Monty'; a term derived from the owner of the Burtons clothing store. Montagu Burton won the government contract for manufacturing the suits. The twin buttonhole isn't typical for a demob suit. A chalk grey pin-stripe suit was one of the styles produced. Interestingly, Burtons are currently selling men's trousers described as 'demob.'

The company Willerby & Co. Ltd. were on Tottenham Court Road in London and had several London and provincial branches. They sold made to measure suits.
 
That's good to know the twin buttonhole is not a feature of the demob suit. Good info here - thanks for posting - and especially the bit about the Full Monty!
 
"yesturday when i had my ton of clothes from the local landfil there was a lovely brown suit, typical demob signs of button holes on each lapel etc.."

Landfill? Did I miss something?:BAGUSE:
 
Originally posted by TheVintagePeddler
"yesturday when i had my ton of clothes from the local landfil there was a lovely brown suit, typical demob signs of button holes on each lapel etc.."

Landfill? Did I miss something?:BAGUSE:
Click to expand...

ok a quick run down...lol..

i hah been collecting vintage/retro clothing and accessories for about 20 odd years.... when i got married and had kids, they were put into the attic and forgotten about, then one day i went up there and it rekindled my interest again.

so started buying and selling on ebay.. charity shops etc do not put a lot of the items on the rails, they put them straight into the 'rag bags'... so to get the finds that i wanted i then turned my hobby into a business, got registed with the enviromental agency got all my waste licenses and exemptions etc.... and started buying 'ragbags' off charity shops the textiles from landfil sites etc.... and go through them, and cherry pick out what i want, and then sell the rags on,

sounds great, but it is hard work.. very competitive ..price wise per kg, so not much mark up there, plus aq lot of the time its rubber gloves and a clothes peg job on the nose...lol..

to be honest that is why i havent been on the forum in a while as this year things have starting coming together with the business...

it is suprising what people throw out when it comes to clothes/textiles old vintage ( which lets face it a lot of people just think that they are old and no one will want them) to expensive items bnwt

here is a small amount of bags that we get in..

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