Trench Coat - the 'Ultimate' Thread!

[Doctor Damage]

an old Aquascutum ad

 

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[Doctor Damage]

Here's a very interesting US military trench coat for those who follow this sort of stuff. It's one of the modern-day (last 30+ years or so) "coat, all-weather, men's" which are issued for wear with service dress. They've come in single-breasted and double-breasted versions, coloured dark blue for the USAF, pewter for the USMC (who have now switched to black), and black for the USN and I think the Army. I've never seen one in "Heritage Green" like the one below. I guess the Army must have issued them in green for a while. If anyone has info/experience please let me know.



For what it's worth, this whole series of coats is a nice option for someone on a budget or who wants something waterproof but isn't fussed about civilian quality. They're tough but no-frills, and easy to find in good condition or even NWT on eBay, etc, for low prices.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Ode to the trench coat.
Made the mistake of opening this thread, which I used to routinely contribute to.
Up until my retirement 3 years ago, I used to live in a place and a climate (Vienna) where I could wear my classic trench coat from October through April. And I did… over my business suit.
There was just something romantic and elegant about that coat and it never failed to put me in a Casablanca mindset. Play it again, Sam.

Now I live someplace where a trench coat would be decidedly out of place (and hot). My trench coat lives in its dry cleaning bag and has not seen the light of day in quite a while. Sigh.

 

[Will Zach]

Ode to the trench coat.
Made the mistake of opening this thread, which I used to routinely contribute to.
Up until my retirement 3 years ago, I used to live in a place and a climate (Vienna) where I could wear my classic trench coat from October through April. And I did… over my business suit.
There was just something romantic and elegant about that coat and it never failed to put me in a Casablanca mindset. Play it again, Sam.

Now I live someplace where a trench coat would be decidedly out of place (and hot). My trench coat lives in its dry cleaning bag and has not seen the light of day in quite a while. Sigh.


View attachment 633574

I feel you man. I too live now in the land of sun, t-shirts and flip-flops, and my jackets live in a closet. Oh well, you gain some and you lose some.

 

[VansonRider]

Here's a very interesting US military trench coat for those who follow this sort of stuff. It's one of the modern-day (last 30+ years or so) "coat, all-weather, men's" which are issued for wear with service dress. They've come in single-breasted and double-breasted versions, coloured dark blue for the USAF, pewter for the USMC (who have now switched to black), and black for the USN and I think the Army. I've never seen one in "Heritage Green" like the one below. I guess the Army must have issued them in green for a while. If anyone has info/experience please let me know.

View attachment 633533 View attachment 633532 View attachment 633531 View attachment 633530

For what it's worth, this whole series of coats is a nice option for someone on a budget or who wants something waterproof but isn't fussed about civilian quality. They're tough but no-frills, and easy to find in good condition or even NWT on eBay, etc, for low prices.

I’ve been a lot more interested in the post WWII to Vietnam era made from 100% cotton sateen. I like the heavier hand of the fabric, but I haven’t seen one of these in person. Have you hefted one? Do they feel any thinner or still robust?
What I like about the earlier coat is that they were service uniforms not dress, and they fit my vintage work wear aesthetic a little better.
I have an AG44 trench and even though I love the wool gabardine I find the cut skews juuust a little more formal than I prefer.

 

[Doctor Damage]

I’ve been a lot more interested in the post WWII to Vietnam era made from 100% cotton sateen. I like the heavier hand of the fabric, but I haven’t seen one of these in person. Have you hefted one? Do they feel any thinner or still robust?
What I like about the earlier coat is that they were service uniforms not dress, and they fit my vintage work wear aesthetic a little better.
I have an AG44 trench and even though I love the wool gabardine I find the cut skews juuust a little more formal than I prefer.

I have unfortunately never owned or handled one of the vintage military coats from the Korean War, Vietnam eras, etc. No doubt the weight got lighter over time, since, as we discussed in I think the Overcoat thread, these coats ceased to be field wear and became service wear on-base, walking out, parades, etc, so the heavier weight was no longer necessary. I had one of the modern-day USMC pewter-coloured coats and the material was kinda raspy and overall it was a low-end coat but seem quite tough and no doubt weatherproof. I didn't keep mine long enough to get to know it well, if you know what I mean. As for the vintage ones, I stopped paying attention several years back, but I imagine you can still get them used now and then. I did see one up on eBay a few days ago in my size; in the close-up photos the shell looked to be a soft, tightly-woven poplin cloth with a sheen, almost like a satin or heavy sateen. Which incidentally is pretty common cloth if you look at old photos of movie stars in the black-and-white days. I strongly suspect (with no real evidence, I should note) that the ribbed twill we associate with trench coats today is actually a relatively modern cloth, and in the older days (up to the 1970s at the latest maybe?) a tightly-woven lightweight poplin was more common. Of course a few US companies like London Fog never stopped using poplin. In any case, this is all a bit speculative.

 

[VansonRider]

I have unfortunately never owned or handled one of the vintage military coats from the Korean War, Vietnam eras, etc. No doubt the weight got lighter over time, since, as we discussed in I think the Overcoat thread, these coats ceased to be field wear and became service wear on-base, walking out, parades, etc, so the heavier weight was no longer necessary. I had one of the modern-day USMC pewter-coloured coats and the material was kinda raspy and overall it was a low-end coat but seem quite tough and no doubt weatherproof. I didn't keep mine long enough to get to know it well, if you know what I mean. As for the vintage ones, I stopped paying attention several years back, but I imagine you can still get them used now and then. I did see one up on eBay a few days ago in my size; in the close-up photos the shell looked to be a soft, tightly-woven poplin cloth with a sheen, almost like a satin or heavy sateen. Which incidentally is pretty common cloth if you look at old photos of movie stars in the black-and-white days. I strongly suspect (with no real evidence, I should note) that the ribbed twill we associate with trench coats today is actually a relatively modern cloth, and in the older days (up to the 1970s at the latest maybe?) a tightly-woven lightweight poplin was more common. Of course a few US companies like London Fog never stopped using poplin. In any case, this is all a bit speculative.

Oh! I wasn't clear in my posting. It always makes sense in my head, too!

I DO own a few of the early versions in cotton sateen, and I was asking about this poplin blend.

I really like the workwear weight models, and it sounds like I'll be avoiding the later dressier models. I do like the look, and completely understand the appeal, but I'm trying to avoid synthetics wherever possible. They do look fantastic though...

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's an amazing old Willis & Geiger coat, which I spotted on eBay while looking for something else. It's wild.

 

[StewartU]

I just bought an older Brooks Brothers trench coat off of eBay and am awaiting its arrival. It looks to be from the early 80's. Does anyone know who would have made these for Brooks Brothers?

It has all of the classic characteristics and is 60/40 cotton/polyester.

 

[Doctor Damage]

^ From what I can tell, from spending far too much time trawling eBay and whatnot, it appears most BB trench coats were made by London Fog or whatever factory was supplying them. The US brand Botany 500 also had some coats which were basically the same as BB coats of various periods. So yeah, a third party was supplying BB. The cloth was almost always a poplin (i.e. no ribbing like a twill) with a heavy poly content. I did just recently get a BB trench coat which was 100% cotton twill, but it's one of the recent models before the company shut down, and not representative of older BB offerings. The one you show above definitely has Burberry proportions and styling, although obviously not supplied by them. Pease post a photo of the tag when you get the coat (the tag will likely be sewn to the inside the right-hand skirt).

 

[StewartU]

^ From what I can tell, from spending far too much time trawling eBay and whatnot, it appears most BB trench coats were made by London Fog or whatever factory was supplying them. The US brand Botany 500 also had some coats which were basically the same as BB coats of various periods. So yeah, a third party was supplying BB. The cloth was almost always a poplin (i.e. no ribbing like a twill) with a heavy poly content. I did just recently get a BB trench coat which was 100% cotton twill, but it's one of the recent models before the company shut down, and not representative of older BB offerings. The one you show above definitely has Burberry proportions and styling, although obviously not supplied by them. Pease post a photo of the tag when you get the coat (the tag will likely be sewn to the inside the right-hand skirt).

Thanks!

 

[Doctor Damage]

^^ The nice thing about the USA made coats in poplin, is that they are machine washable. You can wash Burberry coats, which I have done, but as I found out the hard way sometimes the cheap crappy lining Burberry put inside the sleeves of some of their coats shrinks in the wash, which caused the sleeves to wrinkle up. It's hit or miss with Burberry. So yeah, old BB, Botany 500, London Fog, etc coats that were made in the USA are really great since you can just chuck them in the wash, which cleans them a million times better than dry cleaning.

 

[StewartU]

Can someone point me to how the belt on a trench coat (and a safari jacket) is supposed to work? On both my Brooks Brothers trench and my Willis-Geiger safari jacket, the belt has extra buttons and extra straps that are clearly meant for a purpose. But I've not been able to find any instructions on exactly how they are supposed to be used. Thanks.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Can someone point me to how the belt on a trench coat (and a safari jacket) is supposed to work? On both my Brooks Brothers trench and my Willis-Geiger safari jacket, the belt has extra buttons and extra straps that are clearly meant for a purpose. But I've not been able to find any instructions on exactly how they are supposed to be used. Thanks.

I think we talked about this earlier in this thread, but I don't know where. Basically, it's a small secondary strap that is intended to hold the main belt in a certain position, as well as make it's loss less likely. Look closely at the left-hand side belt loop: does it have a smaller loop inside? When you feed the main belt through the outside loop, you also feed the small secondary strap through the inside loop, then button both ends to the main belt.

Here's our past discussion of this feature:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/trench-coat-the-ultimate-thread.94/page-92#post-2774803

 

[StewartU]

I think we talked about this earlier in this thread, but I don't know where. Basically, it's a small secondary strap that is intended to hold the main belt in a certain position, as well as make it's loss less likely. Look closely at the left-hand side belt loop: does it have a smaller loop inside? When you feed the main belt through the outside loop, you also feed the small secondary strap through the inside loop, then button both ends to the main belt.

Here's our past discussion of this feature:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/trench-coat-the-ultimate-thread.94/page-92#post-2774803

Thanks, Doc. I'd searched hard but hadnt found this post. Much obliged.