Duster in cotton cambric in bran brown
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£570.00 — ex VAT
Coat with detachable hood, made in London, with lightweight (6oz) weatherproof cotton from Scotland and horn buttons from the Midlands.
Sizing
The duster fits true to size, and so the man of calico and wood here, who is as standard a 40 chest as ever the world saw, is wearing size M. Make no mistake: it's a true over-everything overcoat, and best sized down if ultimate-tier layering and a loose, relaxed fit aren't desired.
| XS | S | M | L | XL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To fit chest | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 |
| Pit-to-pit | 21½ | 22½ | 23½ | 24½ | 25½ |
| Waist | 22½ | 23½ | 24½ | 25½ | 26½ |
| Sweep | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| Back length | 45¼ | 45½ | 45¾ | 46 | 46¼ |
| Sleeve from centre-back | 33½ | 34 | 34½ | 35 | 35½ |
The method of sleeve construction, with the sleeve cut as one continuous panel from neck to cuff, means the shoulders accommodate and drape smoothly over human contours of every shape and size — rendering a shoulder measurement both impossible and irrelevant.
A long and sweeping but lightweight number, this, continuing in pared back fashion a lineage of coats favoured by outdoors, country, and horse-straddling types for a century or more. Most notable perhaps are the shoulder caps, which add extra layers of cloth between man and outside world.
The duster has a hood, and the hood is detachable: fixing to the back of the collar-stand with the help of five buttons stationed at regular intervals.
The hood covers all parts of the head save the face — such as is the least requirement for a hood — and, with a shapely three-panel construction, hugs the crown and curves cleanly around the forehead and temple. It also, importantly, is doubled layered, making water ingress nigh-on impossible.
It can also be adjusted, the hood, with the assistance of a little tab around the back. Its connection to the body of the hood is sheltered from precipitation with elementary origami.
You can't spell detachable hood without detach, and the duster loses absolutely none of its charm when the hood is taken away. The collar can sit obediently down, with a subtle, pleasing roll, or up, or halfway up and halfway down, and indeed every infinitesimal degree in between the two.
At the back lurks a deep vent, extending all the way up the back of the coat to the yoke. There's thus more coat to the coat to expand when the wearer lurches forwards. The yoke, meanwhile, is a second and third layer — an in-built umbrella — to keep out the rain to a nigh- impervious degree.
The buttons on the duster are horn, dark in colour and matte in finish. Because each is a thing of nature, they each differ subtly in shade and marking, one to the next. The duster has a fly front, with the front buttons hidden away when fastened, making them unlikely to catch on barbed wire and other everyday snags.
There's a cuff strap near the base of the sleeve, emanating from the seam, which can be fastened to additional wrist-gripping and storm-proofing tightness.
All is not quite as it seems with the pockets. The patch pockets — those most obvious at the front of the coat — are accessed from the sides only. They're your hand pockets, in other words. The flaps above, meanwhile, are actually coverage for jetted pockets: the ones typically used to hold personal effects.
Bar-tacks make frequent appearances on the duster, such as at the entrance to the pockets. These tacks serve to strengthen the coat at all points of stress. Long-term wear without the tear.
The duster has a one-piece raglan sleeve, with tremendous forwards movement, great comfort in sliding off and on — satin-lined as it is — and great potential for layering. It's a simple style of sleeve to cut — until you try doing so, wherein pitching it just right with a single length of cloth proves complicated indeed.
Four pockets outside plus two inside — the one here, at right chest, and one on the other side, too — gives a total of six. Research shows this is a sensible balance of storage (the amount of space you have for personal effects — e.g. your wallet) and memory (recalling where you put your wallet at short notice).
Meanwhile, the coat is fully lined with a slinky, lightweight satin, making donning and undonning it a breeze, and helping to reduce friction with whatever is worn underneath.
Crisp, light cotton from Scotland, this, with a water-repellent finish. It has a very high number of fine threads per inch, so is smoother, stronger, and, crucially in this case, better in the rain than your average cotton. It is highly breathable, too, and is highly adept at wicking moisture away from the body.
As worn
The gent here is 38 in the chest, so the duster he's wearing here, over a cotton sweater, is his usual S.
Makers of
The coat is made at an outerwear factory in London: the best, many agree, in the capital. The coat is cut by the hands of a cutter with some 30 years in the trade, and sewn by one of four seamsters whose meticulousness and pursuit of perfection would be caricature were the end results not always so good.
The cotton comes from Scotland, from a mill on the coast, where the making of heavy, waxed, and otherwise element-proof materials emerged in hand, centuries ago, with local seafaring trades. Industry-strength cottons finished in industry-leading ways is very much the order of the day here.
