[WillisGeigerFan]

I cannot read Japanese but navigating the various webpages suggests something is afoot.
https://willis-and-geiger.com/wg_outfitters/lc.html

 

[Fraser Tartan]

Lands' End 10-K SEC filing shows that the Willis & Geiger trademark was still owned by Lands' End as of early this year.

...Lands' End owns or has rights to use certain word and design trademarks, service marks, and trade names that are registered or exist under common law in the United States and other jurisdictions. The Lands' End® trade name and trademark is used both in the United States and internationally, and is material to our business. Trademarks that are important in identifying and distinguishing our products and services are Guaranteed. Period.®, Lighthouse by Lands' End™, Square Rigger®, Squall®, Super-T™, Drifter™, Outrigger®, Marinac®, and Beach Living®, all of which are owned by us, as well as the licensed marks Supima®, No-Gape®, and others. Other recognized trademarks owned by Lands' End include SwimMates™, Starfish™, Iron Knees®, Willis & Geiger® and ThermaCheck®. Lands' End's rights to some of these trademarks are limited to select markets.

 

[Oldsarge]

That last sentence is significant. If LE's rights to W&G don't extend to Japan something may, indeed, be afoot. Or possibly things have changed since early this year. In either event this is cause for cautious rejoicing. All the products listed in the OP are ones that were standard in the old W&G catalog and, frankly, though at my advancing age I really don't have the use for any of them anymore ( :icon_pale:) I would be delighted to see them once more on the open market. I just fear that they will get the fiduciary boost that seems to come from the Japanese getting enthusiastic about something, like they do denim!

 

[derum]

It just may be that LE do not have the trademark rights. A U.S. company which holds a trademark in its domestic market does not constitute holding that trademark in another country.
To get an international trademark a company must make an applivation under the Madrid Protocol. The trademarks mentioned may have been subject to an agreement which predates LE.
Or it could be something more sinister.......

 

[Oldsarge]

Prying W&G away from LE hardly qualifies as sinister.

 

[xcubbies]

This so much reminds me of the kind of stuff that Banana Republic marketed when they first launched in the early 1980s, before they went Eurochic, the same allusions to Hemingway, et. al. Even living in Africa I would have been too embarrassed to actually wear the bush jacket. A friend bought one, but had a difficult time finding a dry cleaner on the Somali/Ethiopia border.

 

[Oldsarge]

My bush jackets always got washed and dried in camp. Ironed, too, as there was this really obnoxious bot fly that laid its eggs on drying laundry . . .

 

[xcubbies]

My bush jackets always got washed and dried in camp. Ironed, too, as there was this really obnoxious bot fly that laid its eggs on drying laundry . . .

The laundering instructions clearly said, "Dry Clean Only".

 

[Oldsarge]

Then it was not a Bush jacket. My original Hemingway jacket says wash cold, line dry. The idea that one should dry clean a garment designed for use in the wild is the pinnacle of absurdity.

 

[xcubbies]

Then it was not a Bush jacket. My original Hemingway jacket says wash cold, line dry. The idea that one should dry clean a garment designed for use in the wild is the pinnacle of absurdity.

That was my point.

 

[TimF]

If the jacket is structureless, no lining, then why not wash it?

Afaik manufactures like to put "dry clean only" tags even on washable items to handicap their own liability. With the tag on, no returns due to shrinkage, color fading, button falling off...and when they do come in, blame it all on the dry cleaner! Total win!

I've seen dry clean only tags on linen pants, silk shirts, sweaters, and I have washed them no problem.

 

[straw sandals]

The Japanese site states that Accord Inc is the "brand holder" for Willis and Geiger. Clicking through to the brand description on their website gives an overview of W&G's history, the type of clothing associated with it, and various famous people that wore their clothes (Hemingway, General MacArthur, General Eisenhower, Sir Edmund Hillary, &c.

 

[Oldsarge]

That's actually encouraging. Now if only they will bring back that wonderful catalog and start sending them to me . . .

 

[Flanderian]

My bush jackets always got washed and dried in camp. Ironed, too, as there was this really obnoxious bot fly that laid its eggs on drying laundry . . .

Did you know that Bot Fly larvae secrete both anesthetic and antibiotic? Thoughtful little buggers, no?

I purchased perhaps a half dozen Willis and Geiger items during Lands End's brief iteration thereof. About 20 years ago? Some OK, some less so. Its level of quality was consistent with general Lands End quality of the time, which is to say, not bad.

Missed the original.

 

[cosmotoast]

They may bring the name back but it will never be the same. Willis and Geiger had decades long relationships with decades old quality makers and tailors from all over the planet. I'm sure after the disbanding of W&G some of those small suppliers folded.

 

[Oldsarge]

I don't know about that. I still see the same kind of cloth offered at other websites. You may be right but it is still possible to have hope.

 

[Vecchio Vespa]

The laundering instructions clearly said, "Dry Clean Only".

Trads know that those instructions aren't really the full story. If you are careful you can launder most anything. The big hitch is careful, extra careful, drying of anything with a lining. I still remember how nice my blues came out when I was in the Navy, using their famous Armstrong washing machines.