There are many types of fabrics associated with work wear, especially originating in the 1800's when it was first produced. Every one knows about denim, it's been time tested and worn throughout the ages but what about the other types that are not so well known? We're going to start off with some easily identifiable fabrics, one that was so well known but faded away into obscurity. Let's start with Wabash, there are many styles of wabash but one company was famous for it: J.L. Stifel & Sons from West Virginia.
It originated in West Virgina around 1835 and they were the most famous of all the dying/printing of wabash fabrics in their time. They used a myriad of diamonds, dots, floral, and calico styles; each one is unique and easily identifiable from the other. The dotted line fabric was recognized as Rail Road work wear since they wore the hickory stripes and dotted fabrics. Yet it is as timeless as the denim we all wear today, it should be known that there are two ways of producing any kind of wabash fabric; Discharge Printing or Starch Dying.
But we'll talk about that another time, for now we're going to continue to discuss the Dot Wabash. It's a striped fabric but instead of using a straight white line for the stripes, it uses a series of dots formed into a line. Original wabash fabric is highly sought after in this day because of the collector's value associated with it. A true piece of Wabash Stifel will fetch quite a few thousand despite it's condition. Some companies replicate it but none will ever be a TRUE Wabash Stifel as it was only produced by J.L. Stifel & Sons in the 1830's. It is stamped with a boot that says "STIFEL" on the inside. If you truly want to own such a unique piece then be prepared to fork over a hefty sum for it but if you want a reproduction, you'll be able to get your hands on one for a few hundred dollars.
Another fun fact is that true wabash comes from the Indian Wabash tribe of the American mid-west. They modified work wear staples which were created from denim then they traded them to the settlers which worked in manual labor positions such as railroads, mines, and other jobs. It was considered "decorated work wear" by the settlers but it was also used as a way to determine profession upon a single glance. If you wore dotted wabash then you were a rail worker, miners wore cadet blue overalls, and fisherman wore wabash or calico patterned fabrics.
It originated in West Virgina around 1835 and they were the most famous of all the dying/printing of wabash fabrics in their time. They used a myriad of diamonds, dots, floral, and calico styles; each one is unique and easily identifiable from the other. The dotted line fabric was recognized as Rail Road work wear since they wore the hickory stripes and dotted fabrics. Yet it is as timeless as the denim we all wear today, it should be known that there are two ways of producing any kind of wabash fabric; Discharge Printing or Starch Dying.
But we'll talk about that another time, for now we're going to continue to discuss the Dot Wabash. It's a striped fabric but instead of using a straight white line for the stripes, it uses a series of dots formed into a line. Original wabash fabric is highly sought after in this day because of the collector's value associated with it. A true piece of Wabash Stifel will fetch quite a few thousand despite it's condition. Some companies replicate it but none will ever be a TRUE Wabash Stifel as it was only produced by J.L. Stifel & Sons in the 1830's. It is stamped with a boot that says "STIFEL" on the inside. If you truly want to own such a unique piece then be prepared to fork over a hefty sum for it but if you want a reproduction, you'll be able to get your hands on one for a few hundred dollars.
Another fun fact is that true wabash comes from the Indian Wabash tribe of the American mid-west. They modified work wear staples which were created from denim then they traded them to the settlers which worked in manual labor positions such as railroads, mines, and other jobs. It was considered "decorated work wear" by the settlers but it was also used as a way to determine profession upon a single glance. If you wore dotted wabash then you were a rail worker, miners wore cadet blue overalls, and fisherman wore wabash or calico patterned fabrics.