years ago…when my girlfriends father passed away…she and her siblings had the daunting task of going through his things…her dad was a very simple man…clothes to him where nothing more than a necessity…most of his things were bought in local thrift stores…he did not look at labels…and he didn’t believe that clothes warranted a lot of spending…
as they rifled through his things…they pulled out a trench coat…the brothers recalled how he wore it for everyday use…not really caring all that much for it…they remembered a time that he had even taken it off and used it as a “rug” while he needed to check something on the underside of his car…
the mother confirmed that he had bought it for a few dollars at the local thrift shop…there was no denying it…the lining…the well-known check lining…
what it was…was an authentic burberry trench…a vintage burberry trench…a burberry trench that now sells for 1300 a piece…
now…of course when i heard this story i was beside myself…being an avid vintage collector…this was truly a find…my girlfriend’s sister is now the proud owner…of course…to her…it is much more than an authentic vintage burberry trench coat…it is a memory of her dad…the simple man that valued other people…and would have given the shirt of his back for pretty much anyone…
in 1856, the british sportswear manufacturer thomas burberry came up with the trench coat, a breathable alternative to the rubber-lined mackintosh…improving upon the shepherd’s closely woven linen smocks, he wove wool with cotton in a gabardine twill…the trench was a virtual uniform for nineteenth-century adventurers: burberry outfittet balloonists, expeditions to the poles, and travelers to india and other british colonies…lightweight and strong, his trench coat has sold more than a million since 1917…
the burberry check, registered as a trademark, was introduced as a lining to the trench coat in the 1920’s…the burberry check is what most people connect the burberry name to…
and now…a little over 150 years later…burberry is an internationally recognized luxury brand…
