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Dunn & Co.

cmalbrecht

Familiar Face
Messages
70
Location
Sacramento, CA
In 1982 I was wandering along a London street and stopped at a Dunn & Co. window display. I don't remember everything in the window. What caught my eye was a pair of leather gloves, the kind I'd been looking for. They had a button on the inside of the wrist. I had thought these were no longer made.
Inside the shop was almost bare, lined with dark wood cabinets. The employee and I knelt down before a drawer and he sorted through gloves until he found what I wanted. Then he had to go to another room to get change.
Very British!
Those gloves are nearly 30 years old and still good as new. The leather palms have darkened over the years, but aside from that, they're great. True I don't wear them all the time, but they get their wear in winter or when I go to a colder place, Oregon, Tahoe, etc.
A year or so later, back home, I spotted a clean Harris tweed driving cap ($25) in an antique store. It came from Dunn & Company. I wear that now and then. Much more recently I came upon a very heavy (Think an overcoat cut like an English riding jacket with 3 buttons) stylish Harris tweed hacking jacket from Dunn & Co. Like new and just my size. Had to have it even though it cost a whopping $4.99US at the Goodwill Store.
In California I don't get too many opportunities to wear a jacket like this, but there will be days. Just having it in my wardrobe gives me a warm feeling all over.
That prompted me to look for Dunn & Co. on the web and now I find to my chagrin that the company is gone. Sad.
Someone else said it was a fuddy-duddy store. That's my kind of store. I'm an old fuddy-duddy. :cool:
www.cmalbrecht.com
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Hal

Practically Family
Messages
590
Location
UK
I am not at all surprised that some of Dunn's merchandise has lasted this long; while mass-produced, it was very well made.
The company was "middle-of-the-road" in all respects; its styles were stuck in a time-warp of around 1955-1960, avoiding the extremer changes of the later 1960s and of the 1970s and 1980s.
(No doubt this was the reason why it was thought "fuddy-duddy".) As I particularly liked the stylistic period where it stuck (sorry, FL - you prefer the period 25 years before that!) I was a regular customer until its demise around 1990. One particular virtue in the eyes of FL members was that hats continued to be promoted throughout its life; I believe they may have required their staff to wear a hat on the way to and from work. Certainly, when I once expressed interest in buying an overcoat there, an assistant far younger than I reminded me about the desirability of a hat (this was in the early 1970s, I think).
Another "middle-of-the-road" firm took over Dunns, "cherry-picked" the best stores and closed the others, and tried to modernise the styles sold; this failed and both firms came to an end.
A pity - the disappearance of a source of good quality and traditional styling.
 

avedwards

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,425
Location
London and Midlands, UK
This is a 60s Dunn & Co suit, though as Hal points out it may be much later and done in a 60s style. It's the only poly-wool blend suit I've every liked. Too bad the trousers are too short for me to wear it anymore.
38971_420573589830_531509830_4499326_2806588_n.jpg


This jacket has no labels but could be Dunn as I know my father bought a lot of clothes there around the time he bought this.
Photo446.jpg


I think it's a shame that many shops like Dunn no longer exist, whilst others like Burton now sell hideous monstrosities passed off as suits.
 
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cmalbrecht

Familiar Face
Messages
70
Location
Sacramento, CA
Being a Yank, I never heard of Dunn until that fateful visit in 1982. I liked the appearance of the shop and the employee was very courteous and helpful. Unfortunately I have only a vague memory of tweed jackets or something like that in the window.
I fully expect my gloves (and the insulated lining is still like new), my cap and my bloody hacking jacket to outlast me by many years.
RIP Dunn & Co.
 

John1988

New in Town
Messages
22
Hi could anyone tell me more about this hat please ?
 

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