Images(2)

Pants

Object number2012.122.73

Manufacturer Carhartt

Retailer Ilkuvitz Clothing Store

Date1980-1990

OriginUnited States of America

MediumCotton, thread, metal

Credit LineGift of Joan and Steve Isack

DescriptionCream-colored work pants with double-layered knee. Red stitching on the belt loops, hip pockets, and back pockets. Two utility pockets on the proper right side and one on the proper left side. Left-leg hammer loop and rear right loop.Dimensions0.5 x 18 x 43.5 in. (1.3 x 45.7 x 110.5 cm)
MarksGold snap above fly that reads: "Carhartt".

Large paper tag attached to the back of the pants. On the front reads: "CARHARTT / WHITE PAINTER / AND PLASTERER / PANTS / C / SINCE 1889".

On the back reads: "CARHARTT / HERITAGE / The life of an outdoorsman is not an easy / one. Every day the fields and streams, farms, / construction sites and oil fields of America / test the fiber of a man and the clothes he wears. / Life was no easier in 1889, when Hamilton / Carhartt first sold his rugged outdoor wear. / A good pair of Carhartts was just what a man / needed for homesteading in the Oklahoma / territory, hunting deer in Michigan or stoking / the fires of Mr. Carnegie's mills. / From the time he pulled on his first pair of / Carhartts, a man knew he'd found a work or / leisure mate he could count on. / Nearly a century later, rugged outdoorsmen / still demand quality in their outdoor wear. / The kind of quality that's built into every / garment we make. / Times change, but one thing remains the / same: Carhartt Outdoor Wear is still as rugged / as the ment who wear them. / Rugged as the men / who wear them. / 72W CRAFTED WITH PRIDE IN U.S.A."

Back proper right pocket is a gray square with a yellow "C" with the word "carhartt" in red below.

White tag below back proper left pocket reads: "8 39107 / 72W / SIZE 40X32".

White tag inside fly reads: "AFLCIOCLC ISSUED BY / UNITED GARMENT / WORKERS OF AMERICA / (R) BY 242";
On back reads: "788 391 / CRAFTED WITH PRIDE IN U.S.A. / 72W / 40X32 / MACHINE WASH-WARM, USE / ONLY NON-CHLORINE BLEACH / WHEN DESIRED. TUMBLE DRY- / LOW, REMOVE PROMPTLY. / STEAM IRON, WHEN DESIRED. / SHELL-100% COTTON / WPL 12559"
Historical NotesPart of a collection from the Ilkuvitz Clothing Store in Clairton, Pennsylvania. The store was founded by Edward J. Ilkuvitz, an Orthodox Jew who immigrated to the United States from Hungary in the early 1900s. He started out peddling to the mill community of Clairton, Pennsylvania, before finally opening a store in the 1920s. The store was located on Miller Avenue and Edward Ilkuvitz built the store and the apartment above it, which still bears the name on the building. Edward's son Norman took over the store and operated it into the 1990s. The last 10 to 20 years that the store operated, Norman did not order much inventory, and it was mainly a social spot for some of the older residents in Clairton. Norman kept merchandise from the 1940s on the shelves and it remained a time capsule of a typical 1940s/1950s general store in a mill community. The collection includes a sampling of records and inventory to represent the kinds of things people were purchasing and much of the records show who Edward and Norman were ordering from, stretching back to the early 1900s when Jewish wholesalers on Fifth Avenue were providing much of the merchandise to outlying general stores. The collection also includes a small sampling of items from the family's apartments above the store that represent their Jewish heritage.

Related person Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)

Related person Edward J. Ilkuvitz

Related person Norman Ilkuvitz

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