December 13, 2011

Ban-Lon, Shirt-Jac, Perma-Prest, What-Next

Ever see a Ban-Lon label and wonder what that means? What's a Ban, or a Lon, for that matter?

1960s Ban-Lon was soft and comfortable, better quality and very popular in casual shirts.

Clothing companies have been creating names to distinguish themselves since branding began. In the 1950s & 60s, branding clothing started getting really popular, so that sometimes even the fabric itself was branded and marketed as its own selling point.

Combined with the urge to make names quick & snappy-sounding, marketing folks began cutting words short and adding them together. The result was hyphens galore.

A 1965 advertisement for display forms ponders the conundrum of a jac-shirt.

With these abbreviated marks, you could (sometimes) decipher their meaning by unpacking the word portions. With Ban-Lon, however, it's not so clear. The shirts themselves are polo style or ring-neck style with banded sleeves & waist for a crisp casual look. We knew the "Lon" part stands for nylon, because that's what Ban-Lon is made of. Maybe the "Ban" means the knit bans wrinkles?

A little digging found a less obvious answer. "Ban" stands for Bancroft, the company that developed the knit. The shirts are pretty wrinkle-free as well, so maybe using "Ban" was a one-two punch in the marketing department.

The jac-shirt becomes a shirt-jac in this 1966 Sears ad. The two names were interchangeable.

Here's a few more examples, unpacked and written out, of kitsch vintage clothing labels:

Shirt-Jac = Shirt Jacket, a shirt tailored enough to wear open as a jacket (AKA Jac-Shirt)
Pla-Jac = Play Jacket is our guess, as it usually is seen on athletic style jackets from the 60s

Perma-Prest = Permanent Press, a cotton blend idea developed in the 60s that attempted to eliminate ironing



What's in a name? A lot during this hyphenated heyday. And we're sure there are more... Write us if you think of another!

10 comments:

  1. This trend has been going on for years and we're in love! - You can easily create a casual look while wearing your favorite jeans with a denim shirt. If you want to try something as unique as the look below, match your denim shirt and bodice with jeans for an innovative denim jeans look. You can also take a twist on the basic denim trend over jeans by pairing your white jeans with a blue or black denim jacket and seeing the magic of this white denim outfit.Jeans Shop

    ReplyDelete
  2. Several retailers offer all the latest fashions in skirts, dress, jeans, pants, tops, and more. All you need to do is figure out your budget and enter the virtual world of shopping for a variety that you may not be able to go through otherwise. women's jumpsuits

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting. I never thought about the brand names of clothes that much. Reading your post, i'm amazed they named their brands like that. whatsapp mod

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thats amazing post. Keep it up for writing good post. Just check this interesting game. I drop the link here: https://somaapp.org/tekken-3-apk-download/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Watch and Download world's famous Turkish action drama Kurulus Osman Season 3 in English on link below
    👇
    Kurulus Osman Season 3

    Kurulus Osman Season 3 Episode 1
    On link below
    Kurulus Osman Season 3 Episode 1

    Crypto trading course
    👇
    Crypto quantum leap

    YouTube course
    Be a professional YouTuber and start your carrier
    Tube Mastery and Monetization by matt
    ........

    ReplyDelete
  6. FMWhatsApp APK is a modified and enhanced version of the original Whatsapp. Though the original contains no bug, still it lacks some of the features and sometimes it becomes irritating to use the app.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was reading some of your content on this website and I conceive this internet site is really informative ! Keep on putting up. Car Accident

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice post! This is a very nice blog that I will definitively come back to more times this year! Thanks for informative post. chrome hearts sweatpants

    ReplyDelete
  9. pgāļŠāļĨ็āļ­āļ• āļŠāļĨ็āļ­āļ•āļ­āļ­āļ™āđ„āļĨāļ™์ āđ€āļ§็āļšāļ•āļĢāļ‡ āđāļ•āļāļ‡่āļēāļĒ āļˆุāļ”āđ€āļĢิ่āļĄāļ‚āļ­āļ‡āļžāļ§āļāđ€āļĢāļēāļ™ั้āļ™āļžāļ§āļāđ€āļĢāļēāļ็āļˆāļģāđ€āļ›็āļ™āļ•้āļ­āļ‡āļ‚āļ­āļĒ้āļ­āļ™āđ„āļ›āđƒāļ™āļŠ่āļ§āļ‡āđ€āļ§āļĨāļēāļ—ี่āļžāļ§āļāđ€āļĢāļēāļ™ั้āļ™āļĒัāļ‡āļ›āļิāļšัāļ•ิāļ‡āļēāļ™āļ›āļĢāļ°āļˆāļģāļ­āļĒู่āđ€āļĨāļĒ pg slot āļŠ่āļ§āļĒāđƒāļŦ้āļ—่āļēāļ™āđ„āļ”้āļŠāļ™ุāļāđ„āļ›āļัāļšāđ€āļĢāļē

    ReplyDelete