Trench Coat - the 'Ultimate' Thread!

[norton]

Once upon a time, I walked into a Burlington Coat Factory. I was looking for a trench at a reasonable price...and I found one. I think I walked out with it for about $100. Here's my dilema. I haven't exactly been nice to it over the years (going on 8 years now...wow thats a long time...). Anyway, the coat has held up against the fiercest of Monsoons and desert weather. I think my only casualties are a button.

I want to find this coat so I can order a new one...but I have no idea where to find it. The inside zip out liner only says BillBlass...

I found what looks exactly like it on another site but its twice what I payed. Im a big guy and need at least a 58L in Black.

Here's the site:

http://www.bigmen.com/raincoats/clastren.html

Here's another link the coat is at the bottom...
http://www.menswear-discounts.com/cgi-bin/web_store/web_store.cgi?product=OuterWear&keywords=rain&cart_id=

Any help?

You found a great coat in an unusual size in an outlet store eight years ago and only paid $100. Now you can still find one like it but you don't want to buy it because it will cost $200.

Am I missing something here?[huh]

 

[PADDY]

**HELP** can anyone identify these straps on a 40's trenchcoat?

I have a 40's Gaberdine trenchcoat. But there are two straps hanging loose at the back beside the belt loop retainers (see photo).

The loose end looks as if it was stitched into something, but there is no obvious break in the material or stitch marks in the coat where this might have occured [huh]

Can anyone enlighten me as to what they are/were? Otherwise they are coming off as they seem to have no obvious function.

Who can clean up this mystery please...?

***(this thread will be moved eventually into the greater Trenchcoat piece)***

 

[Mike K.]

Paddy, I don't know if it will be much help but I have something very similar on a bush jacket I own. The bush jacket's waist belt had nearly identical straps - sewn to the belt, not the jacket. As far as I can tell, the function is to keep the belt from sliding completely out of the belt loops. Perhaps the straps on your trenchcoat at one time fastened to the belt to keep it in place (or were included as an option if somebody wanted their tailor to secure the belt to the coat). [huh]

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Mysterious straps

I have a trench coat which I bought at a discount store perhaps three or four years ago. The detail of it's construction is extraordinary for a coat I paid less than $100 for. I suppose it was remaindered, but it has straps like the ones Paddy described. There are two straps. Each has a button hole at either end. There are matching buttons sewn on the belt. When the buttons are fastened, the straps limit the amount the belt can move left or right, keeping the belt attached to the coat.

 

[PADDY]

I'll look into that gents. Thanks for the timely feedback.

I'll have another look at the belt itself to see if there are any faint stitch marks to denote if these straps have been attached at some point. Thanks for the pointers. Paddy.

 

[Edward]

Paddy, I don't know if it will be much help but I have something very similar on a bush jacket I own. The bush jacket's waist belt had nearly identical straps - sewn to the belt, not the jacket. As far as I can tell, the function is to keep the belt from sliding completely out of the belt loops. Perhaps the straps on your trenchcoat at one time fastened to the belt to keep it in place (or were included as an option if somebody wanted their tailor to secure the belt to the coat). [huh]

My first instinct was exactly this (incidently, I did end up, as yourself, cutting these off my bush jacket, though I've not yet seen fit to remove the poppers on the chest pockets).

 

[bartil]

I thought that the trench coat posted here earlier, that was made by www.raincoatsdirect.co.uk, was very nice. But does anyone know if the coat's buttons's made of real horn or just plastic?

 

[PADDY]

Thanks gents - you REALLY helped me out!!

You were right guys!! :eusa_clap very, very faint stitch marks on the belt showed where these pieces had once been attached, and now they are re-attached. It was a real mystery to me what these blinkin things were for, and now I know!! THANK-YOU, one and all :eusa_clap

 

[DragonJade]

I thought that the trench coat posted here earlier, that was made by www.raincoatsdirect.co.uk, was very nice. But does anyone know if the coat's buttons's made of real horn or just plastic?

I've ordered a coat from them and hopefully it'll be here within a week. I only know one test to determine whether something is horn or plastic, and that involved a needle, a lighter, and possible damage. The easiest thing to do would be to email and ask them.

 

[bartil]

I've ordered a coat from them and hopefully it'll be here within a week. I only know one test to determine whether something is horn or plastic, and that involved a needle, a lighter, and possible damage. The easiest thing to do would be to email and ask them.

Thanks for your answer! I have e-mailed them before, but only gotten a "we think it's horn..."-answer, so therefore I posted the quirie here if someone happened to be 100% sure. But I'll try to mail them again and if a definitive answer comes, I'll post it here!

 

[DragonJade]

Thanks for your answer! I have e-mailed them before, but only gotten a "we think it's horn..."-answer, so therefore I posted the quirie here if someone happened to be 100% sure. But I'll try to mail them again and if a definitive answer comes, I'll post it here!

I'll email them about it as well. Maybe with all the pressure they'll actually go and ask someone. I know I should have done this before actually ordering the coat, but I'm also going to ask them about their material as well. They say they've made stuff for Burberry and Aquascutum, and I'd like to know how their material compares.

 

[DragonJade]

A couple of questions.

How is one coat more water resistant than another, apart from the weave? Do they add a waterproofing wash to it, like on snowboarding clothes in the washing machine?

Also, if I were to pick up a second hand trench and it was missing, say the strap on a sleeve or an epaulet, is there a place to get replacement parts apart from the makers of the coat?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

A couple of questions.

How is one coat more water resistant than another, apart from the weave? Do they add a waterproofing wash to it, like on snowboarding clothes in the washing machine?

Also, if I were to pick up a second hand trench and it was missing, say the strap on a sleeve or an epaulet, is there a place to get replacement parts apart from the makers of the coat?

if you have a phone with internet access i would google the makers info right there in the store & try to contact them.

just a thought.

 

[DragonJade]

Thanks for your answer! I have e-mailed them before, but only gotten a "we think it's horn..."-answer, so therefore I posted the quirie here if someone happened to be 100% sure. But I'll try to mail them again and if a definitive answer comes, I'll post it here!

Just got the coat in. Don't have time for a detailed look, but the buttons are definitely plastic. The stitching on the buttons isn't the greatest in the world.

Will write a review and get take some pictures when I have the time.

 

[DragonJade]

if you have a phone with internet access i would google the makers info right there in the store & try to contact them.

just a thought.

I was just wondering on the chance I saw something on ebay and I picked it up cheap because it was missing bits. I'd hate to get it and then not be able to get parts for it. I don't know, but it might be difficult asking the makers if it's an old coat, especially a vintage. I was hoping there was a place you could pick and choose for a best match if the makers couldn't/wouldn't help out.

 

[DragonJade]

Ok, so I just got home and had a better look at my new trench I bought from http://www.raincoatsdirect.co.uk/

It cost me £238.15, so it's not a small amount of money.

After a quick inspection, I have to say I am not very happy. The stitching leaves something to be desired (loose stitching and some material not sewn down properly), and the pockets on the coat do not have the reverse flaps as shown on the website. They have standard pockets, like on the ladies coat featured on their website. And, although I can't be too picky about the buttons, they appear to be the same ones as used on the ladies coat from the website. The one thing they seemed to have gotten right were the storm flaps; two of them and in the same design as on their website.

I haven't tried to put the lining in yet.

I'll have a more details and pictures in a few days time.

 

[strider_ani]

So I'm looking to buy one too, though I'm not sure where to get it from. A few websites have been mentioned and I've looked through most of them. I'd like one that looks as close to Bogie's as possible. What's the best place to get one like it?
The one at this website:
http://jpeterman.com/product~cat~140201~sku~MOW 1869.asp
I liked the look of, but I'm not sure if they are selling them anymore. I've sent an email and will hopefully get a reply soon.
I'm using this as a reference point:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/thunderw21/017-2.jpg
(Someone posted it before)
The ones on the left and right are what I'm looking for. I just love the way they look. If I can get one from jpeterman I will, but otherwise I don't really know where to go. I'm in Australia also, though shipping isn't a problem for most places, but useful to know anyways.

 

[DragonJade]

Raincoats Direct Trench Coat - Review

Ok, so here is my review of the trench coat I relieved a few days ago from http://www.raincoatsdirect.co.uk. Despite what I have written about it earlier, I want to present as fair a review as possible. When I talk about left and right, it is from the perspective of the wearer. So, here goes.


Raincoats Direct
Who are they? According to their website they are better known as The Manchester Weathercoat Company and were “formed in 1978 to provide a manufacturing service to high quality brands such as Burberry, Mulberry, Daks and Aquascutum,” and “…are proud to be able to bring you a high quality traditional trench coat unrivelled for value and quality!” (their spelling mistake)


Build Quality
My mother was a seamstress for a while so whenever I buy clothing I have a natural urge to check the build quality of the clothing I’m buying. When I first opened the box with the coat in I was very happy to finally get my coat. I didn’t have much time as I had to leave for work so I had a quick look and the first thing I did was have a look at the stitching. This is what I found: The first two pictures shows a section just above the right sleeve armpit. You can see that the material has a fold in it and not stretched flat before it was sewn down, leaving a piece sticking up.

The next picture shows the bottom of the left armpit. The stitching here is loose. It looks like the check material wasn’t long enough for the stitches to hold on to and it has pulled away leaving the stitches showing.

This really put me in shock. As you can see from the following pictures, there are some big gaps here. This is under the left shoulder/neck section, under the flap that you attach the removable lining to.
Hole on the left: the material is too short. It could have done with being 1cm longer so that it would have actually been stitched to the rest of the coat instead of exposing the filler.
Hole on the right: again, the check material wasn’t pulled flat before stitching, and also the material isn’t long enough. The stitching looks like it was actually on the fringe of the material and the stitching couldn’t grip onto the material properly, meaning it came away easily, leaving the gaping hole that you see.

(for a better idea of scale)

The stitching on the buttons was a bit inconsistent. You can see the stitching looks a bit of a mess in these examples, while the bottom picture shows one perfectly done. Generally, the main buttons on the left of the coat were a bit messy, while the ones on the right looked fine. Although they looked a bit messy I don’t think the buttons would come away any easier than the ones that looked neatly done.

(nicely done)

(a bit messy - loose thread)

(a bit messy - loose thread)

The materials used seem to be of very good quality, although there are a few burrs (can’t remember the correct word) where there are bums in the threads. This is an extremely minor point, however, and generally nothing I would worry about.

The removable lining fits perfectly into the coat and is zipped all the way around.

 

[DragonJade]

continued...

Style
The trench is stylish. It would have been more so had they actually sent me a trench with the pockets as advertised on their website. The reverse flaps add a very distinct style to the coat and not having them there really affects the look and style of the coat, helping to separate it from others. It was one of the reasons why I wanted the coat. As you can see, the picture on the left is what I received; the picture on the right is from their website. I have to say I was extremely gutted to find that they had made this mistake. After looking at their webpage I noticed that the women’s trench had standard pockets like the one I reviewed. Had they made a mistake, thinking it was a woman’s coat? Could they have been trying to recoup the loss of material they used on the second storm flap I requested?

The second storm flat was requested by me and provided at no extra charge.

(all buttoned up)


The back of the coat has a wedged back with a back saddle. The wedged back has a button down flap to hold both sides of the wedge close together or can be unbuttoned to allow the coat to flare out.

(wedged back)

(button down flap)


The epaulettes are single pieces of material folded over that are buttoned down at the top of the shoulder. Very nice. From the website pictures you can’t see this. I was hoping to get epaulettes like this as opposed to the stitch down type and I wasn’t disappointed in this area.

(nice collar work and you can just see the epaulettes buttoned down)


The back of the belt has three D rings and appear to be made of brass.

The buttons look very plasticky because they are indeed made of plastic. A darker shade would have worked better, I think, and would have complemented the dark leather of the coat. The website pictures show darker coloured buttons. The coat buttons I have resemble the women’s coat on the website in colour.

(their house check)

(removable lining)

(nice leather work)

(slightly dirty belt)

Customer Service
The customer service thus far have proved to be excellent. I emailed them with may questions and they have been very polite in their replies. I asked about an additional storm flap and they were willing to provide it free. I asked them about VAT, they did the research and told me I didn’t have to pay. I also asked them about adding an extra cm to the sleeves, which they said was no problem.

Though my emails I’ve found that it can take a couple of working days for them to respond.

Additional
I opened the box from the bottom, seeing that this was easier than from the top because of all the labels on it and that Customs had already got to the box that way. The coat was the first thing there with the removable lining underneath it. It wasn’t till later when I took the lining out to have a look at it that I discovered a coat hanger! I was very impressed with this. And if you like brand goods, then you’ll love to hear it came with BURBERRY stamped across the front of it.

Also included were spare buttons; three small and three large.

Delivery
The information I got on delivery time was a bit odd. I sent payment on 9th June. On the 26th (Friday) I was told that the coat had been sent out earlier in the week. I got the coat on July 13th. The dispatch note shows that it was actually sent out on the 8th of July; two weeks after it was supposed to have been sent out. So from time of payment to actually sending out the coat was about a month.

Raincoatsdirect have an excellent fixed £5 delivery rate, regardless of where you are in the world. My coat was sent via FedEx, International Priority.

Cost
The asking price for the coat is £275. I ordered while they had a 10% off promotion and being in Japan I didn’t have to pay UK VAT. The total before delivery being £210.38. A very good price and what tipped me over into getting it.

EDIT: I just noticed in a previous post I said the price I paid was £238.15. This was going off the FedEx docket. Unfortunately this is the total I’ll be taxed on in Japan for importing a coat (Japanese consumption tax – kind of like VAT, plus any duty).


Final Comments
As always when you buy something online you take risks. I was really hoping for a high quality garment, as they repeatedly say they provide on their website, so I had high expectations and really, really wanted to like the coat. Unfortunately it’s been too many disappointments. If it hadn’t been for the two big holes in the coat and the lack of flaps for the pocket, I would have said it was an excellent coat and would have everyone it to the world to get one. Right now it’s still a good looking coat so long as you don’t look at the inside of it and don’t compare it to the picture on the website.

I think I’ll be returning the coat. I’ll be taking a hit of about £50 sending it back and paying consumption tax on an item I won’t even have, and that’s before any Japan duty I might have to pay. Good money I worked hard for down the hole. Ideally I’d like to work something out with Raincoats Direct as I'd still like to have one of their coats (sucker for punishment?) if they actually make one with some quality control, but I doubt they’ll want to deal with me any more. We shall see. I emailed them a few days ago to tell them I was disappointed with the coat and gave a few brief reasons why. I haven't had a reply yet. I'll point them to this review so they can see the pictures for themselves.

 

[RP McMurphy]

DragonJade

That's a real shame! It does look like a nice coat... but you're right that those gaping tears in the lining are unacceptable. Any company with a return policy ought to be smart enough to take that back... send you a new one in working order as well!

I don't know how common these types of things are where you live, however, I've had good luck finding quality men's coats at my local thrift shop. I found a no-name trench just like yours for $50 USD (25-30 GBP I believe). In any case, I hope you find what you're looking for!

Best of Luck

RP