One more 1st pattern Denison smock with a twist

[lnijherald]

I guess many of you have seen this on ebay recently, I was quite surpised there was no competition in the end.
It is a size 3 smock made by CWS, not dated and no WD stamp. The tail has been removed and there is some moth to the cuffs. Three pockets may seem odd, but they are not repairs. They are simply made of the later screenprinted material while most of the smock is made from the early handpainted material.

Luc

[lnijherald]

Rear:

[lnijherald]

Tail has been removed very neatly:

[lnijherald]

The pockets are made of a double layer of cloth, the inside layer of all 3 odd pockets is from the handpainted cloth:

[lnijherald]

Label:

[Beau Brummel.]

OOOHHH Luc, thats one ugly smock This kind of thing Is what makes them all unique, good score.

Yours, Guy.

[grip3846]

something a bit different

Luc,
An amazing smock that has faded over the years as it was intended to do.Yet another example of tailoring done period at the soldiers request (tail removed) I suggest.Strange,though how the pockets are so obviously made from different dying techniques but married up to eventually produce such a ghostly looker.You probably had no competition as I did not see it!Well done.
Regards,Ivan

[force136]

smockie

Hi Luc

It does look odd with the vibrant colour of the pockets and faded garment behind. However I have seen this many times from smocks direct from veterans. I had an example 1942 dated from a GPR pilot which had the same fading throughout the garment and vibrant collar and epaulettes. Sometimes you see pocket flaps, epaulettes, pockets, panels on the back and sleeves like that. It always looked production to me and never replaced.

I am still trying to find out info on how the camouflage was dyed. I still do not think that either camo was screen printed. It is my opinion that both styles were hand done only the technique of hand application became more concentrated and prefected. I could be wrong however when you look at examples that we know were screen printed, the later 50's/60's types, there is a distinct difference in the pattern which looks printed.

The only other thing I can think of as a possibility is that it may have been a combination of printed and hand applied dye.

Anyway it is amazing that no one in the UK knows for sure and more importantly has any proof of their theory. I know that there are examples of first production smocks that are def. hand done however examples made in the same year also have the more concentrated camo effect? This leads me to beleive that there was more than one company contracted to dye the material and some companies did a better job of concentrating the colours than others.

People tell me that they have found a repeating pattern to the camo yet dont provide the proof. THat or it is the 1960's type whcih we know was printed.

I have put some ads in textile association newsletters and hopefully someone will know. It would be cool to find the documents as well. The only document I could find on production at our archives states that vat dyes were used however they do not say how they were used.

However it was done, it is a mystery and it still makes no sense to me that these garments were printed. It would have been a higly complex operation which would involved a multitude of screens to achieve the effect. Other camo patterns such as that used by the German's and US during the war have obvious traits of being screen printed. You can also see the tiny slivers that separate one screen from the other, however this does not exist in the wartime British garments. Nor are there any recognizable repeats that I can find. While there were multiple companies manufacturing the garment, this does not explain how many were involved with dying the material. US manufacturers did not dye the material, this was done before the material was sent to the manufacturer. So how many companies were involved with dying material in the UK??? I would guess far fewer than actually put the material together.

Anyway it would be nice to solve this mystery.

Ken

I guess many of you have seen this on ebay recently, I was quite surpised there was no competition in the end.
It is a size 3 smock made by CWS, not dated and no WD stamp. The tail has been removed and there is some moth to the cuffs. Three pockets may seem odd, but they are not repairs. They are simply made of the later screenprinted material while most of the smock is made from the early handpainted material.

Luc

[Beau Brummel.]

Hi Ken,

always a pleasure to have your invaluable Input.

I know where you are coming from, there are lots of theories but little tangible evidence to support them. I've puzzled about this for years and really got no further ahead.

As you say the first smocks are definitely hand done and accepted wisdom leads us to believe this was with large brush/mop type arrangements. This makes perfect sense and Is, I'm sure, how It was done but I would like to know where that particular piece of Information originated. I used to think the later 1st patterns and 2'nd patterns could be partially screen printed but now I'm not so sure.The later examples show much more, pronounced and indeed uniform shapes but no discernable repeat lengths, ie they are also hand done but using some type of tooling for some of the detailing? I really don't know.

I believe Kammoman, AKA owen Is a dab hand with the Inks and knows far more about hand/screen printing than I. Perhaps when he Is aware of this thread he will be good enough to give us his theories on how It was done.

One things for sure, the enigma of how they were made Is part of the charm of these smocks. In 30 years of collecting them I have never seen any photos or documentation pertaining to their manufacture. As you've pointed out before Ken, someone with the time and inclination should get down to Kew and see If there's anything In the archives that could expand our knowledge.

Yours, Guy.

[grip3846]

Dyes

Great thread, this.There is a theory that the dye used in early 1st patterns were vegatable dyes,these would fade through time with washing and exposure to the sun.S.O.E operatives were issued smocks and parachuted into France,the smock was very similar to French farm workers smocks and apparently these would eventually blend in through wear.Not for me I have to say.It is very apparent though from Luc's smock that they did fade to a very pale colour.I can only see these smocks gaining in popularity and thus price, as their German counterparts are well out of the reach of the average collectors' pocket,so any that are snapped up now will be great investments.
Regards,Ivan

[Greg B]

Here's one I aquired a while back from Steve, A Wareings (N Ton)ltd 1942 . It is an early hand dyed example but having the screen printed styled sleeves. I tend to lean towards the theory that the latter are screen printed for the same reasons Guy gives. However one little detail that I have noticed on 4 of the 5 hand dyed 1st patterns I have owned is they apear to have the odd drip spot..... something I have'nt seen on the later patterns. Now I would expect the odd spot with the hand dyeing prosess . But perhaps we dont see it on the later patterns as they took more care because they wanted more uniformity in the screen printing prosess ?

In saying that I would like to see evidence of a repeating pattern as well.

Greg

[Greg B]

pic1

Reverse

[Greg B]

pic2

close up

Notice the spot/drip about 100mm above the right pocket. Also notice pocket flap is same pattern as sleeves. These early smocks just have so much character even if they are completely faded out.

[jelle]

Well done ,Luc!Nice size 3,one of the rarer sizes to find.I think a lot off people thought the pockets were a later addition.I saw it too,but as I have a nice size 3 ,so I let it go.But its a nice Denison,especially at that price.

I love these early handpainted Denisons,and they show up in a lot off pictures of the first airborne at Arnhem.Easilly recognisable by the fact that they are faded so that they show no cammopattern.

You will find more screenprinted Denisons in 6th airborne pictures,as they were raised later in 1943 except for units like the oxf&bucks who were part of 1st airborne originally and again mostly had handpainted smocks.

Here is mine also size 3.

[force136]

Research and Kew

Hey Guy

I have already tried to find something at Kew. There is zilch online and I never got a reply from an archivist.

To be honest. I think the best way to go about this (before it is too late) is to advertise in a newpaper in a part of England where much of this stuff was made. You could advertise a request to get into contact with anyone who had anything to do with the dying or manufacture of camouflage clothing during World War Two. The problem there is, which would be the best place to advertise? and in what sort of paper? This may be the only hope as I have already tried various institiutions in the UK and associations.

Anyone got any ideas as to the best area to advertise in? Where companies lke Hoffman, CWS, Gordon, Wearings, Frankenstein etc. situated in the same areas?

Ken

Well done ,Luc!Nice size 3,one of the rarer sizes to find.I think a lot off people thought the pockets were a later addition.I saw it too,but as I have a nice size 3 ,so I let it go.But its a nice Denison,especially at that price.

I love these early handpainted Denisons,and they show up in a lot off pictures of the first airborne at Arnhem.Easilly recognisable by the fact that they are faded so that they show no cammopattern.

You will find more screenprinted Denisons in 6th airborne pictures,as they were raised later in 1943 except for units like the oxf&bucks who were part of 1st airborne originally and again mostly had handpainted smocks.

Here is mine also size 3.