LR13 NTL WW2 TYPE I DENIM JACKET

The LR13 NTL WW2 evokes the 1940s wartime Type I jacket, assembled during a period when skilled labour and materials were in short supply, and when the workers sewing these garments were often newly trained. Each jacket was beautifully imperfect as a result — stitched freehand without guides, uneven, with sewing lines that wandered. It is this spontaneous, human quality that we sought to reproduce. Wartime accurate construction requires unlearning how to sew straight and perfectly, resulting in the meandering seams, run-offs, and loose threads deliberately left trailing, that we associate with WWII era denim garments.

No iron was used at any point during assembly: working without heat preserves the qualities of the loomstate fabric before its first wash, and because the seams are never pressed flat before sewing, the thread is able to sink deeply into the cloth. Sewing without ironing requires every seam to be folded entirely by hand, a specialised expertise relying on muscle memory learned through countless repetitions. This technique is now rarely used in clothing manufacturing, but we insisted on observing it for a result that no machine-pressed seam can achieve — a slight organicity, an unmistakable trace of the human hand.

True to the period, there is no pocket flap. Behind the chest pocket, a piece of vintage deadstock fabric drawn from our stock at random lines the interior, a nod to the wartime practice of using whatever materials were available, and a detail that is unique to each jacket. The buttons are crafted in nickel silver with the iconic WW2 U.S. Navy wreath-and-star design, and the vegetable-tanned cowhide patch is hot-stamped by hand and finished with a gold patina. Assembly throughout is carried out in 100% cotton thread, finishing with a 100% rayon label true to the period.