Prep Life, Continued
Having swiftly discussed t-shirts in my last entry, I will now turn attention to pants.
Combining the utility of wind pants with the comfort of sweats, the pants supplied to and preferred by prep school athletic programs are a distinct breed. My own were acquired through the hockey team. A classmate, promoted to varsity goal keeper for practice purposes mid-season, was on a frantic search to fill minimum numbers. Such are the pull of the pants. One isn’t on the team without them. Being an advantageous bastard, I agreed to help… with the request that he pay for them.
And, with that I arrived at these:
Owing to the fact that hockey was not my game, I opted against using my real name. Nick Danger, a character from Firesign Theater provided inspiration. The number 3 chosen via an Allen Iverson fetish.
Enough of these particular pants, let’s get to more general detail.
Like many prep pants these were produced in the Philadelphia area. Rennoc is based in Vineland, NJ and like Boathouse Sports, supplies general athletic garments directly to schools and universities. At Loomis, the bulk of our jackets (more on these later) came from Boathouse. Both manufacturers fall into a long history of athletic garment production in the Philadelphia area.
While New England is regularly understood as the heartland of American textile weaving (at least during the 19th and 20th-centuries), Philadelphia’s range of garment and textile related industry far surpassed its northern neighbors. In 1909 Philadelphia was the world’s largest textile center. Without going into enormous detail (something I will be in doing in a current project), the city is remarkable for birthing iconic brands like Stetson and simultaneously maintaining a diverse cross-section of the textile industry. Sportswear, and most explicitly athletic apparel, has been well represented in Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey.
Rennoc has been in operation for 50 years. They have recently discontinued the manufacture of nylon goods, focusing exclusively on wool. Though Rennoc will no longer produce the trousers that reminded me of their existence, the style of the warm-ups – like the tab t-shirt – fit a particular vision of prep school life.
As I mentioned before, the usual trappings of a “prep” look are not those that defined my prep school life. Athletic apparel, on the other hand, did. And, looking back the connection between the schools and relatively small American manufacturers helped to define both a distinct look and refine an appreciation for the pieces.
I’d be hard pressed to imagine any lasting feeling about our warm up pants had they come from Adidas or Nike. That they were made in America was hardly important, but the open cuff, short zip and sweat lining was. The details make the pants peculiar, far more casual than athletic. As such they become part of the prep weekend uniform. Coveted more, in some respects, by the bulk of the student body than by the athletes.
When I arrived at Loomis, Bubba Berenzwieg was on his way to the University of Michigan. The Wolverines triumphed in the NCAAs, Pelican hockey generated less glory. Like any freshman, I looked around my new surroundings and noticed what conveyed status. Hockey gear. Lacrosse gear. Not the technical attire, but the sweats.
My own desire was certainly prompted by the pull of varsity cool. These are pants that evoke a feeling. They don’t have a spectacular hand. They are not produced of the best material. In that way, they are quite indicative of most American made things. Purpose built through garment know how rather than technological expertise.
Like the tab t-shirt, these warm-ups make up the fabric of my prep life. It is distinctly American. It’s also, in my opinion, a touch under the radar. Sure, Abercrombie has made similar looking wind pants. But, they never quite get it right. The pieces made by small American firms and creating garments for the schools I attended did so with complete disregard for fashion. So, like all good things they became fashionable… or were given new use… through appropriation.
