Mod to Suedehead

[covskin]



Would those have been ones that you got new off the rack in the late 70's or second hand/deadstock ones from earlier?

Brand new from a shop. Secondhand had a big stigma back then. Deadstock never occurred to me.

 

[Ivyskin89]



I've dropped in on this forum every once in a while for a few years, read a lot, but never had anything interesting to contribute myself. The other day however I snagged these trousers at a thrift shop for three dollars and change (they did have a 2" slice right on one ass cheek). I regularly come across Action Slacks, the jean pocket style polyester "Sta-Prest", and hideous flares that are all branded one way or another as "Sta-Prest". These are very different from any of these. The fabric is very light and quite similar to the sateen you'd find on OG-107 jungle greens. They have frog mouth pockets, no belt loops and a button adjustable waistband. I was wondering, are these actual legitimate late 60's Sta-Prest? For ID purposes I included shots of the tag, the details of the adjustable waistband and a stormtrooper in Sta-Prest.

Those are most definitely late 60s. Do they have a metal or nyalon zipper?

 

[LeviStubbsTears]

Those are most definitely late 60s. Do they have a metal or nyalon zipper?

Nylon.

 

[Bob the Badger]

Well - inevitably - there's this photo...



but of course the sheepskin covers where my pockets and waistband are. The first thing I can tell you is that when I bought them my girlfriend of the time (Mardie, an ex-mod from Southampton) didn't like them at all. I am racking my brains to remember whether they had fly-pockets or frogmouths, and I'm sorry to say I can't be definite. I have a feeling they are fly. Anyhow, I am sure I saw both on other blokes. They had two back pockets. Other details - labels etc. - I can't remember either. They were Levis. Round S E London no one seemed to wear anything other than stone/beige. I've said all this before, I'm sure.

We only wore stone/beige Levi's in East London/Essex. Fly pockets and worn high as in your photo and without a belt. Didn't see other colours in 1969. I bought mine from the shop near Aldgate East station that sold Brutus shirts .

 

[TomMc666]

 

[covskin]



Pardon me if this question has been posted before but does anyone know why Levi's don't make sta prest anymore?

What a mystery that is. Did some googling and found nothing that looks like Levi Sta Prest as we would understand it. Plenty of jean-style 5 pocket things in Sta Prest fabric but nothing that looks like a basic four pocket trouser with **** pockets and no jean-like features whatsoever. Closest is the 844, some weird hybrid with four **** pockets but a jean-like yoke and closure! It is like they never existed.

 

[roytonboy]

We only wore stone/beige Levi's in East London/Essex. Fly pockets and worn high as in your photo and without a belt. Didn't see other colours in 1969. I bought mine from the shop near Aldgate East station that sold Brutus shirts .

Yes, true for the Manchester area too.

 

[Newton heath]



Yes, true for the Manchester area too.

a pair of ox blood/cherry red docs never looked better combined with sta prest

 

[TomMc666]

Southend, Whitsun
1970

 

[Thin White Duke]



Pardon me if this question has been posted before but does anyone know why Levi's don't make sta prest anymore?

I went looking a few years ago and they were doing them in scarlet red and light gray but when I found them to try on they were skinny fit.
About three years ago they then released 511 sta pressts and I got two pairs in exotic colour names like platinum and timberwolf or some bollocks like that (very light gray and beige!). They are poly cotton twill with a rougher hand and heavier weight than what I would normally associate with sta pressts (like my old Merc for instance) and are more like a slightly refined Dickies but seem hard wearing and I get mine out more often in the winter.
I have no idea if these are still available right now. I reckon I have enough sta pressts so haven't really been looking.

 

[Inks]

I decided to hunt out a sheepskin for myself on 'the bay' today. Blimey, it's a minefield of toot out there. As usual, any half-savvy seller knows the keywords of 'mod', 'suedehead' or 'skin' will bring him/her a premium asking price. I usually buy stuff from US ebay, but the weight and postage of said item would be prohibitive.(A heavy coat would be comparable postage cost with an engine-block)
So UK ebay it was.
Sometimes a UK seller doesn't know quite what they have, or the cultural significance amongst 'men of a certain age' it has. Anyhoo, no such luck with my 'cheap bastard' sub-searching.
Now, there was a lot of old pony knocked-out down the markets (Harringtons, tonics,'Crombies' etc) when I was a young-un, but there was still decent-ish sheepskins. After all, the thing is either sheepskin, or it ain't. A tonic suit can be poly/viscose without a trace of Dormueil or mohair and a Harrington will certainly not be Baracuta, but a sheepskin will defo be made from a dead Shawn.
Five hundred plus 'sheepskins' came back on the search. Nearly all blummin' awful. One seller was asking £375 for a 'Del Boy' sheepskin. One of those oversized jobs that was 'patchy'. You know the type. It kinda looked inside-out the way it was put together. It was marketed as a 'Del Boy' sheepskin too.
I'm a sort-of well-off middle-aged fella, and I can't afford to buy a coat that M-o-M bought when he was a teenager.

 

[skinny legs]



Southend, Whitsun 1970

Did the habit of turning up at seaside resorts on Bank Holidays carry on through the suedehead/ bootboy era I wonder, or was there a sabbatical until the 78 revival?

 

[roytonboy]

I've just found this in an old file, originally written for the Royton Rag about a dozen years ago - might jog a few memories.......



Blackpool

​

It was a tradition in the 60’s and very early 70’s to get to a seaside resort on Bank Holiday Monday. This was probably a throwback to the Mods ‘n’ Rockers era of the early to mid 60’s when hundreds of teenagers would descend on seaside towns to do battle. For us the obvious choice was Blackpool and so it was that the ‘in crowd‘ of Royton arranged to go on Easter Monday 1972. ‘Everyone’ was going to be there and a meeting place of the ‘Manchester’ pub was agreed, at 12 noon. People made their own travel arrangements, most by coach, some by scooter, Mick Gazey and I chose to go by train. I still can’t think why we decided to do this if nearly everyone else was going by coach, but we duly made our way by bus to Victoria Station (Manchester), then train to Blackpool. There were 3 of us, Mick Gazey, Paul Abbott and myself.. We met up with a bunch of Middleton lads on the train and had a laugh with them. When we arrived it was a bit odd to be met by a cordon of police demanding to know who we supported – they thought it odd too to be told “City” and “United”, obviously not what they expected. (What we didn’t know was that Blackpool were at home to Middlesborough that day and they were expecting a large contingent from the North East – more of that later)

Then it was onto the prom, then the beach, which was pretty quiet, it being still quite early. There we indulged in the obligatory practice of making our mark in the sand “M.C.F.C.”, “Royton Rule”, “M.U.F.C. O.K “ etc. etc. It was not long before we were being tracked by a growing gang of youths up on the promenade, we were just starting to get a little concerned about this when they suddenly shot off, full pelt, down the prom. We, being of an inquisitive nature, legged it off the beach to see where they had gone. They had been local lads and were now being pursued by a train load of ‘Boro supporters, all decked out in Denims and Doc Martens. This was hugely entertaining for us as:

{C}a) The hunters had become the hunted (luckily for us!)
{C}b) The Boro fans were all dressed much as we had done 18 months earlier (archetypal skinhead gear) but some of them where carrying rolled umbrellas!
For a few weeks, some 6-8 months earlier, it had been quite trendy to carry a brolly – it went with the ‘look’ at that time – Crombie over coat, sharp, pressed parallel trousers. But denims and brolly? – talk about mixing your fashion statements!!!!
(Hey, these things are important when you are 16 or 17!) We, on the other hand were wearing long sleeved ‘v’ neck pull-overs over Fred Perrys, Parallel Trousers and ‘Royals’ (long-wing brogues)

So it was down to the ‘Manchester’ to meet up with the Lads ‘n’ Lasses of Royton. Here we split up with the Middleton crew and caught up on the day’s craic so far. We had our story, but far from the Boro fans presence being applauded, it turned out they had had a run in with our lot. Dinky Mellor had tripped during the melee and made the close acquaintance of Dr. Martens’ finest, courtesy of the ‘Boro boys. Revenge was in the air and we were soon on the street looking for Middlesbrough fans, teamed up with some Brummies who had met a similar fate. It was not long before another running skirmish was under way, resulting in us all getting split up when the police arrived (ever seen Quadrophenia?) . I ended up heading towards the North Shore with a lad I hardly knew, not really knowing what to do. Well, this was Blackpool and I had never been up the tower, so that’s where we went. It was a bright, clear, spring day so the view was great. The added bonus was that we could see what (and who) was going on up and down the sea front and after seeing a group we recognised as some of the Roytoners making their way towards the South Shore we decided the Pleasurebeach was the place to be. Once down on the fun fair it was not difficult to locate about 30 lads and girls from Royton. We must have gone on some of the rides, but my memory is of simply hanging around, chatting, swapping stories of the day. Some of the group were in couples, some small knots of lads or girls within the main ‘gang’ with some clearly having had ‘a little more than usual’ to drink. I was re-united with Mick and Paul and as the light faded our thoughts turned to the train for home. The journey back was pretty uneventful, but once at Victoria station we decided to get the train back to Oldham Mumps, rather than the bus to Royton. On the station we met a couple of Oldham girls who had been to Rhyl for the day. One of them caught the train with us back to Oldham. I don’t know if we were skint, were in a hurry for the train or what, but for whatever reason we ended up on the train without tickets. The Oldham girl, who had short, blond hair and rejoiced in the name of ‘Manbeater!’ (in recognition of her willingness to fight with the lads - I remember she was a Latics fan) got off at Wernerth so I cadged her ticket. At Mumps we were queueing up by the barrier when Paul suddenly pushed past the ticket collector and ran off towards the exit. Quick as a flash Mick Gazey shot after him calling “Hey, come back!” The railwayman called “Catch him, lad!” and looked at me with that ’Kids these days’ look on his face. I duly raised my eyebrows and shook my head as if in agreement (after all, I didn’t want him inspecting my ticket too closely!) I would like to claim that we had concocted this ploy on the train, so sweetly did it work, but in truth it just happened!
We can’t have been skint because we called in ‘The Candlelight Club’ which had Mondays as Soul Night in those days. We met up with my schoolmate, Herbie and his Crete Street mates and recounted the whole day’s events, as we would do numerous times in the following week. I can quite clearly picture one of the girls with them dancing to ‘Rocksteady’ by Aretha Franklin, which was one of those records that had its own dance. Isn’t it strange, some of the things you remember?

I don’t know if this tradition continues these days but it certainly lasted for a while. Years after I had left Royton I was in Blackpool over the Easter period and was walking along the crowded Golden Mile, when I heard a voice say “He’s from Royton” I turned to see who had spoken, to hear “Oi, Royton Boy!”* being shouted from a lad, now some 8 or 10 yards away in the crowd, travelling in the opposite direction with some of his mates. (I think he was known as Hughsie or possibly Huggis – another former Royton Skin who had been in the year below me at school)

{C}· He really did shout “Oi, Royton Boy!” and that’s where my on- line pseudonym comes from.

Certainly as late as Easter 1972 (the tail end of 'Suedehead' in our area......)

 

[Newton heath]



Certainly as late as Easter 1972 (the tail end of 'Suedehead' in our area......)

i can't believe I've just read this Roytonboy,our crew was there that day and the battling with the boro fans was unbelievable rucking on the beach and then on the pleasure beach with them but to be fair they were a tough lot, I remember the bouncer on the door of the Manchester pub cracking me across the shoulders with his cosh cos I tried to take my pint outside,

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



Southend, Whitsun 1970

Now, that photo shows the style of trilby we used to wear.