Called "weatherproof" for a reason, this cloth. Rain, no matter how much, beads up and rolls off. Aramid fibres are highly water resistant, see. It is also as light as a feather, is highly breathable, and has industry-leading heat-transfer properties: when the day is warm, the wearer is cool, and vice-versa.
"The trench provides, from throat to knees, a double safeguard of the greatest value when exposed to wet and cold,"goes a century-old trench coat ad. The same seems true then as now: a full-length, double-breasted coat, this, which will cover everything you wear beneath and keep you smart, warm, and dry.
The trench, being a trench, is a coat of great versatility. It may be worn open, or buttoned right up to the top, or various intervals between. The collar is large and full, and is cut such that it's just as happy standing up as it is sitting down; that it tidily rolls down at the front; that it cuddles the neck at the side.
There is also the matter of the throat-latch. It may be buttoned across the throat or back on itself, onto the collar-stand, out of sight. Having it dangle out front, insouciantly, isn't out of the question, either.
The buttons on the trench are large, and are horn — dark in colour and matte in finish — and each is a little different from one to the next. They are in that regard as if alpha-keratin snowflakes — such is the beauty of being a product of a high-grade natural material, rather than, say, a plastic replica.
The belt runs through a channel, hidden beneath the flaps of the pockets, and fastens with a brass buckle at the front. There are two brass components at the back, too: like a bag-strap, the length of the belt can be adjusted to the perfect length, depending on abdominal girth and personal preference.
Not everyone likes belts, of course — divisive as they are in more ways than one — and since the trench has no belt loops, and the belt runs under the pockets-flaps, no one will be any the wiser if the belt is removed.
There are additional brass fixtures at the cuff, where a cuff strap resides, with a handful of eyelets (alarmingly known as "grommets" in some parts of the world) to adjust to a preferred degree of tightness.
The yoke is low and deep — running fully over the upper back — and the storm-flap at the front is a little shorter, though still deep. Effectively, you have two layers of cloth protecting the back — plus the lining, on which more later — and, with the double breast at the front, you have a coat impervious to rain.
Bellows pockets sit at the front, accessible from the top and the sides. In effect, then, you have four pockets at the front of the coat, for hands and for belongings. These pockets are strengthened, top and bottom, with bar-tacks: there are indeed more bar-tacks on the pockets (at least 12) than on most coats.
With the outside being so eventful, the interior is as clean as it is simple, with a jetted chest pocket on the left side as worn.
The trench has a half-lining of even more weatherproof ripstop. In this way, when also taking into account the facing on the inside-front of the coat, you have a double-layer of cloth on the most weather-exposed parts of the exterior. Elsewhere, meanwhile, the seams are bound smartly with black cotton.
The trench has a half-lining of even more weatherproof ripstop. In this way, when also taking into account the facing on the inside-front of the coat, you have a double-layer of cloth on the most weather-exposed parts of the exterior. Elsewhere, meanwhile, the seams are bound smartly with black cotton.
