Wool blend coat

[Bibbiz]

Hi I’m trying to identify how old this coat is.. my first guess was 40s or earlier and possibly military due to the scratchy wool mix material and the numbered label..

I have referred to this post but there are no matches

Please help If you can or correct me if I’m wrong, thanks!

[Le Prof]

Hi,

Not a military pattern.

Not prewar, since Nylon was only commercially available from 1938. In WW2 it was mainly used in Parachutes and stoclings, and only started being seen in linings and blends with other fibres in the late 1940's as the maker Dupont looked for other postwar markets for it. Previously, silky linings were either Rayon, Cellulose Acetate or, well, Silk.

In the UK, 'Dry Clean Only' lables don't start much before the 1960's, and the 'Made in UK' also makes me think quite a bit later, since it would be more normal to see 'Made in Gt Britain' on earlier goods.

The 'iron' symbols are an international code called GINETEX, and they state on page 5 here:

https://ginetex.net/userfiles/files/Ginetex_fifty years.pdf

that Great Britain adopted this system in 1975.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Adrian

[Bibbiz]

Very useful information, thank you Adrian this helped a lot!

[John F]

Good info from Le Prof there.

Also, the use of full stops after acronyms (e.g. "U.K." in this instance) had fallen out of fashion in British English by the mid to late 1980s. Maybe that'll help you get a bit closer to the date of manufacture. 

[Bibbiz]

That does help thank you very much

[Bibbiz]

I actually have another coat which is a rain coat I would have dated 60s or 70s And given the info on ginetex it would confirm ‘75 or earlier! How long would they have used ‘made in England’ for?

Also any sources of reference that you know of would be particularly helpful to confirm manufacturing date of any other clothes that I find! Thanks!

 

[Le Prof]

Hi Again,

It's always wise to bear in mind that 'abscence is not proof'. Not finding the Ginetex symbols helps indicate a date, but they might be hidden in the lining, or have fallen off, or been removed by someone trying to make a coat look older.

An interesting phrase on the lable is 'Do not use Biological Powder'. In the UK, Bio was only generally available at the end of the 1960's, and I'm not sure how longit would take for a manufacturer to start putting this detail on a lable. A couple of years?

Below is a Morcosia lable from a late 1960's coat (fashionable Leopard's skin print (-: ), you can see the washing instructions are similar, but do not include Bio. Also the whole typeface looks older than your lable. So, I guess (without seeing the style) your coat is early 1970's.

Morcosia Coats Ltd. had two lives,  founded 18th March 1944 (so presumably military contracts) to 4th February 1991.

The name is now owned by a company called Covecall Ltd.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00386288

Made in England can still be used, if the component parts are all made in England, so it's not much use for dating.

Most research is learning from observation and experience. I've found this site quite useful for clothing:

https://forums.vintagefashionguild.org/

Best Regards,

Adrian

[Bibbiz]

Thank you again Adrian I will keep that in mind.

I had actually made an account and posted regarding the wool trench on that website! I thought I would try on here too as I already had an account. I’m sure it will come in very useful going forward 🙂
 

Thanks again 🙂