avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream wabash fabric
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream buddy lee
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream cover
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream wabash fabric
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream buddy lee
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream
avant magazine Stifel The American Blue Dream cover

Stifel, The American Blue Dream

$39.00

The first book ever AVANT published on Stifel, the legendary American maker of calico and Wabash fabrics that collectors call the Holy Grail of workwear.

Inside you’ll discover

  • The Stifel family story and how the famous boot became an icon

  • How Wabash fabric was made (indigo, printing, multi-step process)

  • Why Stifel garments became so rare — and so valuable

Specs

  • Softcover

  • 170 × 240 mm

  • 196 pages

  • Full color

  • Language: English

  • Shipping: Worldwide

The first book ever AVANT published on Stifel, the legendary American maker of calico and Wabash fabrics that collectors call the Holy Grail of workwear.

Inside you’ll discover

  • The Stifel family story and how the famous boot became an icon

  • How Wabash fabric was made (indigo, printing, multi-step process)

  • Why Stifel garments became so rare — and so valuable

Specs

  • Softcover

  • 170 × 240 mm

  • 196 pages

  • Full color

  • Language: English

  • Shipping: Worldwide

Stifel Pin by Avant
Stifel Pin by Avant
$9.00
Pack of 10 Stifel Pins
Pack of 10 Stifel Pins
$70.00 $90.00

After five anthologies dedicated to workwear, military and western wear, AVANT devotes its sixth issue to a brand that makes collectors the world over dream: Stifel.

This is the first book ever published on Stifel by AVANT. We trace the life and legacy of the Stifel family, who for over a century produced some of the finest calico fabrics in the United States — including the legendary Wabash cloth: indigo-dyed blue fabric with white dots, stamped with the famous boot symbol.

Today, workwear made with Stifel Wabash is considered the Holy Grail. Why are these garments so fascinating? Why have they become so scarce — and so expensive on the vintage market? To answer, we interviewed everyone who keeps the Stifel story alive: collectors, historians, fabric specialists, vintage dealers, and even the descendants of the Stifel family.

The result is a deep dive into an American industrial saga — and a tribute to how one man’s dream reshaped an industry and still resonates nearly two centuries later.

What’s inside (Highlights)

    • Johann Ludwig Stifel’s Incredible Destiny

    • Life After J.L.: three generations and 70+ years of leadership

    • One Boot to Rule Them All: the story of the legendary logo

    • How Stifel produced its fabrics: a meticulous manufacturing process

    • Stifel’s customer list: brands that worked with Stifel (non-exhaustive)

    • Wheeling and the wider Stifel legacy

    • St. Louis: the family’s other stronghold

    • Cory Piehowicz: rare photographs and workers wearing Stifel

    • The Stifel Exhibition: nine collectors share a garment from their archive

    • My Stifel Archive, by Eric Maggiori

    • Interview with Takeshi Watanabe (“Stifel” on Instagram)

    • The roots of indigo

    • The origins of calico

    • Why it’s called “Wabash” — and how it differs from calico

    • The art of repairing Wabash (with Kanae Kato)

    • Seven things you don’t know about Stifel

    • The Wabash Buddy Lee

    • The most popular Stifel patterns

    • The American Worker, a painting by S.M. Chavez