Before you go any further, I want to clear something up... Whilst I have listed many well known brands here this is not a list of clothes that you must wear or we wont let you in the club, it is just a guide to some of the well known brands that seem to have become skinhead clothing over the years. I truely believe that it is how you feel inside that makes you a skin and it is the wish to be identified as a skin that makes us want to race out and buy "the right" brands.

As I was growing up and even now, I could not afford most of these items but found suitable substitutes at much lower prices. Fred Perry's can easily be replaced with $7 Polo shirts from Lowes, Best and Lest or Big W. Target and K-Mart sell button-down collared shirts that look just as good as Ben Shermans for around $20. Places like the Swell Store sell quarter-inch braces for $45 dollars when you can easily make your own simply by buying dodgy braces from woolies and quarter-inch elastic from any good material shop for around a tenner. I think Docs are probably the most expenses item on the list but with the sheer amount of people wearing them these days there are plenty of second hand outlets out there. You can even by $5 skully caps from Lowes.

Martin

The Ben Sherman company started out in a small shed in Brigton UK in the late 50's and hit the scene in the early sixties with their stylist button down collar shirts, tapered fit, bakc pleats, loop and additional collar button, which proved to be an instant success with the Mods, He opened his first shop in Brighton in '63 and quickly build a large empire of outlets. Mr Ben Sherman was know as a party animal and was often seen out in Carnaby Street, London during the swinging sixties, he died 1987 a very happy and wealthy man.

His products were quickly adopted as part of the Skinhead uniform in the late sixties and they have been a staple of Skinhead fashion ever since. There has recently been a resurgence into popularity as factories have sprung up throughout the world including Sydney, which has meant that prices are now very affordable and the range of patterns and prints has improved beyond Ben's wildest dreams.

Probably the most unique article of clothing adopted by the Skinhead movement.

Braces have been popular since the late sixties but have gradually got thiner and thinner. In the early years they were generally around 1" thick and were the button-on y-back variety . These days the clip-on, cross-over variety are the most popular and if your braces are wider than 1/4" there are concidered too wide (by some). There has been much talk as to whether diferent colours mean different things - it was often said that Red = Facist (But in some cites Red = Communist), White=White Power (Some cities White=SHARP), Black or Blue are probably the safest colors and Daglo and Rainbow are definately NOT cool. In my opinion judging somebody by the colour of their braces is no better than judging them by the colour of the skin or their hair!

Braces can be worn either up or down - Alf Garnett always wore his down and was credited with starting this trend. There is also a myth that wearing them down this means you are ready for action!

Whilst it is almost too hot to wear a Crombie in Australia, I felt that any 'Skinhead Clothing Guide' would not be complete without mentioning it.

A Crombie is a wool blend 3/4 length overcoat, with 3 concealed button, one slit in the back, a hanky pocket and two side pockets with flaps, most popular in black, but also available in navy or camel (Light Brown). Wearing a hanky in the top pocket was very popular, mostly red but favourite football team colours were popular too.

The Crombie became largely associated with the suedehead movement, who wore bowler hats, smart clothes, highly polished brouges, black crombies and carried either walking sticks or umbrellars to emulate the classic english city gent. This enabled many of them to get up to all sorts of mischief without drawing undue attention to themselves. This was not a common cult movement in Sydney but there were a few of us around in the mid to late 80's when both the general public and the police were continually out to give us a hard time.

Fred Perry was Britain's first tennis player to win the Winbledon men's singles, in 1933 he repeated ths achievement in 1934 and 1935, during this period he also three U.S., one French and one Australia Championships. He was well known as one of the world best dressed players and it was not long before he decided to bring out his own brand of sports clothing. although his intial range was white, it was not long before a range of colours were introduce and eventually pipping on the sleeves and collars, the unique weave and tuff fabric make it popular on both the teniss court and as street wear, these were shirts that could be worn during the day and still concidered acceptable night wear. In the mid sixties they were a popular choice with the British Mod movement as they were distictly "British". With the Skinhead cult hot on it's heels, the look was easily adopted and has remain popular ever since.

Nowadays, the Fred Perry (street wear) range has been extended to include jumpers, cardigans, Harrington style jackets, windcheaters, hoodies, socks and even underwear. Unfortunately with fame come a price increase, some shops can now charge up to AU$130 for a standard polo. As a result many young skins wear no-name polos to emulate their predecessors.

What is a Harrington? - it a lightweight jacket, named after Rodney Harrington, a character on TV's Peyton Place, who was always wearing them. Zip up front and button up collar in a range of colors including black, blue, red, gray and bone and always have a tartan lining. Since the 60's London has been the starting point for many of the most important trends which have always been characterised by songs, symbols and also clothes. Some of those have resisted through the years but only few of them have become a cult: one of these is certainly the Harrington Jacket. Basic but reliable, simple but fashionable the Harrington has nothing to do with new fibres or innovative textiles. People love the Harrington Jackets because of it's unique character: wearing a Harrington Jacket has something to do with a choice, skinheads adopted these jackets as part of everyday wear in the late sixties and they have proved a very popular item ever since. Many other companies now make them including Ben Sherman, Lonsdale and Merc.

Invented in 1873, Levi's® jeans are the original, authentic jeans. Levi were the most popular, although Wrangler were also popular too. The Levi's that were worn were always 'Red Tags', 501's or 505's usually with a small stitched in turn-up. The turn-up could be anything from a quarter of an inch to an inch. Some skinheads wore their jeans with an inverted turnup, but this is not very popular these days. The length of jeans can vary, but is usually short enough to show a bit of boot and/or sock. If wearing shoes then usually white socks are worn, but I know many skinheads who prefer to wear red, or Argyle patterned.

Like a lot of Skinhead clothing the Lonsdale company started life suppling Boxing equipment thru a little shop in Beak street, North London. In the early years, the brand was popular mainly for it's T-shirts and Sweatshirts but more reasently the company has branched out into all sorts of street and casual wear including, hoodies, spray jackets and even their own range of Harrington style jackets. They still continue to make sports equipment but no longer is the label only associated with the noble arts.