Campus Blouse - "Santa Fe"

PATTERN:
An original mfsc pattern inspired by 1930’s sportswear ‘Cossack’ type unlined leather jackets, with all construction/pattern edits necessary for a woven fabric MF® original adaptation.

FABRIC:
Fancy “double-cross” 100% cotton corduroy, 8 wale cord, jet black, 14 Oz., milled in Japan.

Side gussets & pocketing: NOS 2×1 dark indigo 10.5 Oz. Japanese denim.
Trims: Black tea-core leather trims (pocket stops/side straps).

DETAILS:

* Woven fabric interpretation of our classic veg-tan leather Campus jacket.
* An original pattern inspired by 1930’s sportswear ‘Cossack’ type unlined leather jackets, with all necessary construction/pattern edits.
* Arm/cuff construction borrowed from our Ranch Blouse pattern.
* Trim and short 1930’s silhouette, complimenting mid-to-high-waisted trousers and dungarees.
* One-piece back.
* Fully unlined, clean and challenging flat-felled seam construction, no overlock seams.
* Slash pockets with leather arrowhead pocket stops.
* NOS 2×1 denim accents on side gussets/pocket welts/under collar facing with interesting contrast texture, will develop attractive patina with wear.
* Adjustable side strap style inspired by our 2012 Drover Blouse.
* Keyhole buttonholes.
* Black corozo wood (aka ivory nut) ‘Cat Eyes’ buttons.
* Black tonal stitching, 100% cotton thread.
* Mister Freedom® original ‘The Sportsman’ black & gold rayon woven label.
* Made in California, USA, in an ethically-responsible and small family-owned factory.

This explains how we size and measure our garments.
The CAMPUS Blouse “Santa Fe” comes UN-WASHED, and is cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry.

We recommend this usual protocol before wearing:

• Cold soak in a tub for about 30-40mn, with occasional hand agitation.

• Line dry, no heat dryer.

At ~5’7 & 145 Lbs, I opted for a comfortable size 36, consistent with the sizing of my recent Campus Blouse Awa-Ai, and previous Campus Blouse Midnight Denim.
Please check actual post-soak measurements on the product page chart to dial in what works for your specific body specs/preferred silhouette.

To save on unnecessary frustration and size-swaping shipping fees, please reach out to sales@misterfreedom.com to tune-in sizing if unsure. Please do provide body type and measurements, silhouette expectation, and, if available, measurements of a similar garment you own that fits according to your style.

Disclaimer: Using alternative methods for the initial shrink (such as soaking in hot water/full machine wash/heat dryer etc) may result in different sizing measurements. Do not boil this jacket, as it has leather trims.

Turn garment inside out. Machine wash on DELICATE, cold water, mild eco-friendly detergent. Hang dry.
Wash with similarly-colored garments.
Do not use the washer’s heavy-duty cycle. Heat dryer is also not recommended and may result in excessive shrinkage and damage.
Do not boil this jacket, as it features genuine leather trims.

The CAMPUS Blouse is a staple of the Mister Freedom® USA-made roster, an original pattern released in a wide range of premium denims so far, some domestic New-Old-Stock, some milled/imported from Japan.

For this edition, we developed a very special grade of vintage-inspired 1940s all-cotton wide-wale corduroy (8 wale cord) in Japan, a perfect candidate for a fancy black cord cowboy tuxedo!

This fabric is reminiscent of traditional “Velour d’Amiens” (the famed sturdy wide-wale cotton corduroy material from France, for those familiar with French 1930s vintage hunting wear/workwear), discussed in this blogpost:

“Competing with the British Lancashire textile industry at the time, French mills established around the City of Amiens had been producing this workwear corduroy grade since the 18th Century. If some still refer to heavy corduroy fabric as Manchester in some parts of Europe, “Velour d’Amiens” is the term that is familiar to French old-timers.
Cosserat, a French mill founded around 1793, and one of the last velour côtelé manufacturer from Amiens, permanently closed its doors in 2012. With low-cost corduroy manufacturing coming out of China flooding the market, management of the long-standing Coserrat mill eventually gave up on restructuring attempts, and genuine “Velour d’Amiens” is sadly no longer manufactured.”

That fancy fabric initially made it into our mfsc catalog with the Mattock Jacket, in a camel brown version, followed by another special dye lot in “vintage” black for our Roamer Car Coat.
For the textile techie and traditional weaving enthusiast, this material falls under the “double cross” corduroy family — a process referred-to in Japan as “niju ori”, literally “double weave” —, a premium woven cord with special interlaced pile and ground yarns.

The semantic sound of a CALIFORNIAN “Santa Fe” edition may be a bit geographically puzzling, but the scoop is that the New Mexico moniker was initially chosen for our corduroy Campus Blouse, as a mere style nod to sport jackets produced by Janscraft in the 1930s-40s (and other period makers), featuring colorful Chimayo-style blankets combined with contrasting corduroy panels. The idea of a matching Californian came later in our design process, but the moniker stuck.

Whether you decide to go full-on Rio Grande, or mismatch the combo with traditional denim, vintage-style slacks, old-school leather jackets etc, both garments are versatile on their own, and easy to incorporate into classic wardrobes.

The Mister Freedom® CALIFORNIAN & CAMPUS BLOUSE “Santa Fe” edition, in black 14 Oz. wide wale “Double Cross” 100% cotton corduroy, are designed and produced in California USA, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co, from premium fabric milled in Japan.