Collar stands

[Sideslip]

Probably a noob question, but I see that a few A-2 contracts did not have collar stands more or less from 1942: Cable 24759 and 27753, Aero 27435, Dubow 27798, Star 28557, Knopf 28558 (and others), but some kept it e.g. Perry 27618 and 1756.

I gather that this had to do with slightly simplifying the manufacture as war production ramped up. Notwithstanding, I am curious:

- was the purpose of the collar stand to simply raise the collar slightly, like one has on a dress shirt, therefore, purely an aesthetic purpose? Does it actually change the appearance or comfort?
- what would the typical height be? 1 cm / 3/8th inch?
- why would Perry keep it and no one(?) else?

Contract references are from the ELC book. Appreciate that this is a minor detail on an overall jacket but could not find a thread on this in the Forum.

 

[ausreenactor]

https://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/search/24306/?searchform=1&q=Collar+stand&c[title_only]=1&o=date

 

[Sideslip]

https://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/search/24306/?searchform=1&q=Collar+stand&c[title_only]=1&o=date

Thanks for that - don’t know what happened as I did a search with exactly those words and it came up with zero results. Very weird.

 

[ausreenactor]

All good. As long as your quest for information has been put on the path.

It's what we do here...

 

[Micawber]

Thanks for that - don’t know what happened as I did a search with exactly those words and it came up with zero results. Very weird.

Try using Google to search as most forum software search facilities, VLJ included, are rather limited.

 

[ausreenactor]

Try using Google to search as most forum software search facilities, VLJ included, are rather limited.

Try our Defence search function. You can type in the doctrine publications by name and not have it appear in the results pages? You will get a Spreadsheet for Navy HR stuff.... every time!

 

[mulceber]

For the most part I think it was aesthetic, but I seem to recall that, on the earliest A-2s, back when they had a collar latch (so, just on the Goldsmith), the stand made it so that when the collar was up and the collar latch in use, the wearer’s neck would be neatly covered, without any gaps. It was pretty much never used that way, but I imagine that was the reason for the collar stand in the first place.

 

[Nickb123]

For the most part I think it was aesthetic, but I seem to recall that, on the earliest A-2s, back when they had a collar latch (so, just on the Goldsmith), the stand made it so that when the collar was up and the collar latch in use, the wearer’s neck would be neatly covered, without any gaps. It was pretty much never used that way, but I imagine that was the reason for the collar stand in the first place.

fascinating^

 

[mulceber]

fascinating^

But take it with a grain of salt. I was pretty new to the board when I read that, so I may have misunderstood or misremembered.

 

[Sideslip]

As I understand it, the collar stand serves so that when the collar is down, it sits in place and rolls nicely. When it is up, the stand section supports the collar so that it does not sag. If one has a long neck, a slightly higher collar stand balances out the collar appearance. This would have been arbitrary where it was a standard issue jacket though, as there would have been a range of individual heights so presumably the original 1931 A-2 design had some sort of averaged dimension for the collar stand. Just an opinion, so open to the views of those more familiar with the A-2 than I.

 

[Grant]

Collar stand construction was not unique to A-2's from the 30's thru the 40's. For one, denim workwear jackets from the same era were made with stand collars and often included throat collar tabs to allow the user to button up tightly for warmth. The same jackets from to 50's were made without stand collars.

It's truly anyones guess why stand collars went away, but I'd bet it was to save on costs in construction, materials and labor.

 

[Smithy]

It's truly anyones guess why stand collars went away, but I'd bet it was to save on costs in construction, materials and labor.

Almost certainly Grant. The material saving and consequently cost saving over an entire contract run would have been enormous.

 

[Micawber]

I would think time and labour savings were the biggest consideration.

 

[Smithy]

I would think time and labour savings were the biggest consideration.

Material and so money too. Think how much leather is saved over a several thousand sized contract run.

 

[Micawber]

Material and so money too. Think how much leather is saved over a several thousand sized contract run.

Granted that is a given but as I say I imagine bigger savings in time and labour. Think about the construction of the collar stand v the simpler later method.