Nautical British-Made Men's Coats — Voted by the Community

Coats have long been essential in British dress because of the country’s changeable, often cool and wet climate. Over the centuries, British makers adapted outerwear to practical needs, while tailoring skills shaped how coats were cut and finished. One well-known British contribution is gabardine, a tightly woven, weatherproof and breathable cloth. Thomas Burberry, who was apprenticed to a draper in Surrey and opened an outfitters in Basingstoke in 1856, invented the fabric in 1879 and patented it in 1888. Its yarn was waterproofed before weaving, and the cloth was later used for the trench coats that British officers wore in the First World War. Another British-linked style is the duffle coat, named after the heavy woollen cloth of Duffel in Belgium. The British Admiralty bought hooded, toggle-fastened coats in quantity for the Royal Navy in the 1890s, and they were widely issued in the Second World War. Surplus stocks then made the duffle a common civilian coat in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. British coat makers today continue to combine tailoring with practical needs, using classic and modern cloths to make coats for everyday wear in changeable weather.