Cattle brands are physical imprints of ownership applied to the flesh of animals. They were, in t... more Cattle brands are physical imprints of ownership applied to the flesh of animals. They were, in the nineteenth century, indispensable to ranchers for differentiating their cattle from a competitors’ stock on the open range. The branding symbol’s utility as a legible marker of property ownership declined after widespread fencing delimited the plains. Yet cattle brands remained present in vernacular visual and material culture as decorative features and motifs signifying the Old West into the twentieth century. Cattle brand imagery, largely divorced from its functional origins, was recombined and repurposed to add decorative flourish to a variety of garments, wearable accessories, and domestic objects. This article explores the persistence of cattle brands as a popular trope in mid-century America and focuses on denim jeans, manufactured by Levi Strauss & Co., and, in particular, Lee, companies that fashioned their company logos in the guise of a brand. Through material culture analys...
This article examines the history and changing significance of the White Oak denim mill in Greens... more This article examines the history and changing significance of the White Oak denim mill in Greensboro, North Carolina. Built by the Cone Mills corporation in 1905, White Oak was a leading denim supplier to multiple workwear and jeans manufacturers in the United States and overseas through much of the twentieth century. White Oak manufactured denim and adjusted production in accordance with advancements in loom and textile technology, yet by the mid-1980s denim designers in Japan inspired by vintage American jeans procured by collectors began recreating the look and feel of older, vintage denim that White Oak no longer produced. Having re-installed vintage looms as sites of experimentation for high-end specialty denim design in the original mill, White Oak operated for 30 years as a specialty denim producer, making textiles for the consumer of heritage brands and classic American menswear. The divergent definitions of quality and taste evidenced through White Oak’s contribution to the shifting denim market are evaluated along three axes: the mill’s historical past, its revitalized role as a “heritage” American denim manufacturer, and the emotionally charged, nostalgic space in between that informs how its history is told.
Cattle brands are physical imprints of ownership applied to the flesh of animals. They were, in t... more Cattle brands are physical imprints of ownership applied to the flesh of animals. They were, in the nineteenth century, indispensable to ranchers for differentiating their cattle from a competitors’ stock on the open range. The branding symbol’s utility as a legible marker of property ownership declined after widespread fencing delimited the plains. Yet cattle brands remained present in vernacular visual and material culture as decorative features and motifs signifying the Old West into the twentieth century. Cattle brand imagery, largely divorced from its functional origins, was recombined and repurposed to add decorative flourish to a variety of garments, wearable accessories, and domestic objects. This article explores the persistence of cattle brands as a popular trope in mid-century America and focuses on denim jeans, manufactured by Levi Strauss & Co., and, in particular, Lee, companies that fashioned their company logos in the guise of a brand. Through material culture analys...
This article examines the history and changing significance of the White Oak denim mill in Greens... more This article examines the history and changing significance of the White Oak denim mill in Greensboro, North Carolina. Built by the Cone Mills corporation in 1905, White Oak was a leading denim supplier to multiple workwear and jeans manufacturers in the United States and overseas through much of the twentieth century. White Oak manufactured denim and adjusted production in accordance with advancements in loom and textile technology, yet by the mid-1980s denim designers in Japan inspired by vintage American jeans procured by collectors began recreating the look and feel of older, vintage denim that White Oak no longer produced. Having re-installed vintage looms as sites of experimentation for high-end specialty denim design in the original mill, White Oak operated for 30 years as a specialty denim producer, making textiles for the consumer of heritage brands and classic American menswear. The divergent definitions of quality and taste evidenced through White Oak’s contribution to the shifting denim market are evaluated along three axes: the mill’s historical past, its revitalized role as a “heritage” American denim manufacturer, and the emotionally charged, nostalgic space in between that informs how its history is told.
Uploads
Papers by Sonya Abrego