Mac with detachable liner

“Spring,” they say, “is just around the corner.” But, these days, what does that mean? The seasons have fallen out of season. This season is last season. People are portending the end of seasons as we know them. Either way, to the mac and its detachable liner, it matters not one jot.

Besides, the weather worry-mongers miss the point. Sunshine and showers and snow all in one day are what makes us who we are. Part of the national psyche and all that. The new Ventile mac is built for that psyche. It is the national psyche in raglan-sleeved form.

First of all — it makes an irrelevance of rain. The mac is made from Ventile. If you know Ventile then best to skip ahead. This is not the first time Ventile has been venerated around here and likely won’t be the last. Ventile is cotton so exceedingly fine and tightly woven that it is impervious to water. Get stuck in a shower, and water just beads up and rolls off — an effect not dissimilar to liquid metal; the sort of thing you need a license for outside a laboratory. But this hydrophobic super-ability is only part of the story. Ventile is also wonderful cotton in its own right. Crisp, smooth, and with a fantastic tendency to shrug off creases — while its rustle-free nature makes it the performance fabric of choice for the twitching community. Ventile was invented in the cotton stronghold of 1930s Manchester and, to this day, is one of the top reasons to be thankful for the north-west.

Climate fluctuation is likewise no matter for the new mac. So tightly woven are the yarns of Ventile that wind-chill is nothing to worry about — while, on the flip of the coin, its “high moisture vapour-transmission rate” (Ventile’s words) makes it very breathable too.

But where the mac really trumps temperatures from zero to thirty (celsius) is its lining. It has a detachable liner, see. Buttons simply in and out. Chill in the air? Detachable liner — a double-layer of edge-bound brushed cotton — goes in. Sun comes out? Detachable liner comes out; leaving the mac’s own lining, which is made from lightweight cotton. The plan later in the year is to offer a suite of detachable liners. Woollen liners for autumn; quilted ones, maybe, for winter — all of which will fit the same mac outer shell.

The mac itself has a raglan-sleeve construction — the last word in room and comfort — and a smart fly-front placket — meaning only the top button is visible with mac done up. The collar is a classically sized one; shaped and structured to hug the neck when up, and sit in satisfyingly convex manner when down. Nothing floppy and shapeless here. Pocket-wise, there are two A4 pockets on the front of the mac, which sit below the horizontal seam — providing a deep and decidedly rain-proof covering for the pockets — that runs around the mac. Nearby are also concealed twin side-seam pockets for the stuffing of hands and, inside, the goes-without-saying array of chest and storage pockets.

The new Ventile mac is available in three colours: navy, taupe-grey, and light-stone. Remember that a mac acquired now is a long-term investment. Good for spring, good for summer, and — with warm wool and other detachable liners now in development — good for winter as well. Providing the seasons are back in season by then, of course.