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Make her Christmas special
Having problems deciding what to buy that lady in your life? Running out of ideas? Never Fear, Duffle Coats UK are here. The team at Duffle Coats UK are so passionate about our range of coats, we know from thousands of customer testimonials, that our coats are top notch. So don’t worry yourself wondering what to buy your mum, your sister or your girlfriend this Christmas, get in the good books and purchase her a beautiful traditionally hand made British Duffle Coats.
Our women’s coats come in a range of sizes and lengths. If she’s the type who feels the cold quite easily, opt for a longer length Duffle Coat. The great thing about these fabulous garments is that not only do they look stunning, they are incredibly practical offering warmth, full cover, the repel the wind and keep out the rain due to the structure of the thick fabric.
In the Ladies range you will find block colour duffle coats as well as patterned tartan style coats, in different lengths. If its a bright colour you are looking for take a look at our fabulous long red Duffle Coat with toggles.
For something rather eye catching you could choose the new checked Indigo short duffle coat. If however, the lady you’re buying for doesn’t want to draw attention or would rather have something that’s more traditional, you should always opt for the Long Camel Duffle Coat.
Duffle Coats make incredible presents and will last a lifetime. The traditional tailoring ensures they will always be styling and provide that warmth and practicality that people crave in a winter coat.
Surprise your mum, sister or girlfriend this Christmas with a beautiful Duffle Coat, and see her reaction, plus think about it, when you wrap it, it’s going to look like a huge exciting present!
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And the winner is…
Many hopeful top UK designers have been nominated at the British Fashion Awards this year, one imparticular for the Menswear gong, the ceremony is being held this Monday night in London. The reason why he is up for the Gong is due to the designers version of an old classic, the Duffle Coat.
The nominated designer is an accomplished high street fashion designer even though they had no formal fashion training. In 1990 the designer set up their very own label and started designing coats and jackets, and has opened a number of stores across the UK.
The look of the duffle coat is a classic tweed military styled jacket that doesn’t follow the trend of any other coats on sale. It is avilable with leather buttons or sturdy pieces of lamb’s wool as the toggels that hold the wooden teeth together. This particular duffle coat style is more about the function rather than the design of the clothing, this version of the coat was created purposely to be worn and enjoyed by many, it’s not trying to be a fashion faux pas, it’s worn to keep you warm and dry.
Many famous people have been spotted wearing designer Duffle coats including Paul McCartney, Orlando Bloom, Alex James, Paul Weller and Jon Hamm. This shows that famous people appreciate the statement that the designer is trying to say by not making it a fashion statement rather than a coat that has no purpose to it, than to looking good.
One of the main reasons that this particular designer is in the running for this Gong is because they started up a fashion business from scratch. Since starting out in ’90 the designer has achieved many things leading up to this point. Their shows at this year’s London fashion show have been praised by many critics for their diverse casting. -
Duffel to Duffle.
Duffle coats are great to wear when it’s cold or wet outside, but do people in Duffel still wear them because of their origin and connotations to the town they were named after?
Duffel is a little town in the region of Antwerp in Belgium and this is where the duffle material was produced that would make the coats of the same name. For English spelling and pronunciation they had to change the letters around so it finished in ‘le’ and not in its original form of ‘el’.
Duffel was named after the discovery of this type of heavy fabric and material, which was later then used to make coats and bags.
Duffle bags were made mainly during the war to help service men and women so they were able to pack their clothes and travel with ease to different base camps.
Duffle coats have been around for a long time and are one of the UKs leading style of coat, they come in a variety of different styles and makes they come fashionable for every season.
style that seemed to hit it off was the tartan look that came with patterns that you sometimes can find on kilts. But many other styles can have hoods and button neck straps, with walrus teeth (which are the style of toggles named because they are huge in size and shape).
This style has seemed to be the regular product produced for the duffle coat and has followed the trend for many years. The only manufacturing change they seem to make is if it has a hood or not and what colour it comes in. The colour spectrum ranges from the traditional navy blue and jet black, to the light cream and snow white colours.
Here at Duffle Coats UK we stock a leading range of coats for you to choose from, which include many shades of colours and different styles to suit your personality and imagination. -
Coat Trends for 2012
When the beautiful Kate Bosworth, Sienna Miller, Rihanna and Taylor Swift are all spotted wearing Duffle Coats we know that they are going to be a hot prospect for 2012.
The ancient Mayans predicted that the world was going to end in 2012, I wouldn’t personally read into this too much, but the duffle coat trend is about to blast off for the coming year. Shops shouldn’t feel pressure when there seems to be floods of customers buying their coats in store, they shouldn’t feel these are people ‘panic buying’ but more that they following the trend that has been set by these famous and attractive people.
Duffle Coats have been keeping Brits warm since early 1900’s, the British Navy used these garments to cover their service men during The Great War and World War 2. This style created a boom in stock in the 1950’s as people were seeing the effects of wearing these warm and fashionable coats. The style has stayed strong through the decades and has stamped a mark on the cat walk and amongst normal everyday people, even celebrities have started wearing them, high fashion labels have created their own versions and the high street and online stores sell traditional versions.
With this in mind manufacturers and shops know how to regenerate a dated look of a duffle coat, they know how fashion works and how it can change through the ages. Lately they’ve gone back to the original classic look of the coat and turned it into a new age millennium look.
Even the Scottish style has had some influence in the duffle coat with tartan patterns and a hooded look. Duffle fans have seen that duffle coats can be influence by many walks of life. -
Even Football players wear Duffle Coats
In 1974 the Dundee United Football Club all fashioned Duffle Coats that were given to the team as a gift by a well-known UK manufacturer. They wore this coat out in public at the Scottish Cup Final, so thousands of people were there to view the different sports strip, this fashion move influenced hundreds of fans to go our and buy the coat. As well as giving the coats to the football team to get them marketed, the company also gave supplied schools with their coats for kids to wear. A very clever ploy to sell more Duffle coats.
Mark Smith who is the sales director mentioned that “so many people we speak to remember wearing our coats from an early age”.
The company is celebrating their 60th birthday this year and with this they have decided to remake one of their
marvels and send it out for production. Along with the footballers another famous person to wear a Duffle coat was Paddington Bear who
wore this style of coat week in and week out on national television.Recently clothes shops and high street chains have picked up on the old styled classic Duffle coat look and marketed these coats back on to the shop floor. The traditional coat boom has had thousands of shoppers purchasing the original style of the Duffle coat.
A fashion director at one of the high streets favourite fashion stores quoted “The Duffel coat is definitely a strong candidate for coat of the season, it’s not just for the young; a Duffel coat can suit all ages if worn with effortless style and elegance. Men tend to buy as a result of need, like when it gets colder, and a warm three-quarter length wool coat like the timeless, no-nonsense, Duffel will
work in more situations than shorter, more casual coats.” -
What your coat says about you
Like many things, Coats can speak volumes about your personality and how you style yourself. Sometimes you may see young men wearing leather jackets or coats that fit in the style with the newest music craze. Alternatively, you may see business men or women wearing coats or jackets that fit with their suits and high market clothing because of their work commitments and professional look.
But sometimes buying coats can be a hassle, thoughts can run through your mind as you stand there wearing it in front of the shop mirror. ‘What will people think?’ ‘Will it make me stand out in a crowd?’ ‘Will I fit in with the style?’ these are some of the thoughts fleeting across your mind as you stand, causing a queue for the mirror. All of these questions you’ve asked yourself are only to do with your personality in a social context, you should be feeling the pressure to purchase a new coat and “fit in”. The only person that matters is you, if you like the way you look and you feel great in it, it doesn’t matter what other people are going to think, it’s all about you.
Whether you follow seasonal changes and buy coats for their practicalities or are looking for a coat that is durable and can with stand all manner of weather, there will only be one critic with you and that’s your conscience, you need to make sure you only take the positive information you give yourself, forget everything else, if it looks good on you and you’re happy with the style then just buy it. You don’t always have to think about the fashion that people are in now and don’t always have to follow the trend, just be positive about yourself and you’ll be more than happy with your decision on buying the coat. Your coat will represent you, and will speak volumes to others, in a very positive way. -
Famous coats for auction
Sometimes you will come across famous people’s coats and jackets up for auction whether that particular celeb is still with us today or have passed on. When people bid for such items and win they are probably not buying them to wear on a daily basis, these people are mainly collectors and are adding it to their assortment of many of possessions that they might already own.
Sometimes these coats can have a weird history attached and are sometimes the reason they’re being auctioned off, but this can add to how well it sells. Usually a famous person’s wardrobe may be cleared out and the proceeds go to a charity of their choice or their next of kins choice.
Recently an auction has been held for the velvet coat that Jimi Hendrix wore the night that he died. The coat was left with his friend to look after believing Jimi was going to pick it up from him, but unfortunately Hendrix soon passed away. With this in mind he gave it to a collector who left it at his mother’s house to keep watch on. Unfortunately he thought his mother gave the coat away to charity and spent days trying to find it but couldn’t find it anywhere. 10 years passed as he gave up hope of seeing this special coat again, until one day as he was clearing his mother’s house out, he found it hidden away from sight. The collector has put it up for auction and it has been said to be valued at $40,000.Jimi is well known for his crazy and funky performances at Woodstock where he managed to play the guitar whilst rolling around on his back and then setting his instrument on fire.
Auctions for famous pieces of clothing seem to be going on all the time, they can sometimes be a private auction for collectors only or an open auction for public to attend.
I’m just wondering when my curry stained denim jeans are going to be auctioned off and how much they will eventually fetch. -
The lifetime of a coat
At this time of year it is very important to make sure you wrap up warm and the people you love. Buying a new coat can mean you get rid of your old coat. You can throw it away, give it to charity or use it as a Guy Fawkes mannequin, which is a fabulous and fun idea. It’s nice to see these charity pledges happening within the community because it’s helping other people out and making sure they’re warm enough for the winter season. No other Coat Drive has been going longer than a charity in Yadkin County, North Carolina, USA. Over the past couple of days they have celebrated their 25 year anniversary of Give a Kid a Coat.
Last year they collected just over 30,000 coats and managed to clean every single one of them and made them suitable for wearing. They then went throughout the area and state region and donated coats to people who needed them. This year they plan to exceed the record for coats donated and distributed. Due to their 25th year of incredible kindness they’ve had TV and News crews to come document exactly what they’re doing. Along with the media, the press have interviewed the charity about what they are doing and how brilliant it is for the community. During one of their coat distributions they had the backing of one of the high schools marching bands playing jazzy music to entertain the crowds.
This is a fantastic idea, and they haven’t forgotten what they are doing it for, the people of the Yadkin area. Due to their programme and incredible kindness the press have made a big deal about this particular charity that has been going for a quarter of a decade.So if you have a duffel coat that you don’t use anymore, always give it away to charity rather than throwing it in the bin.
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Niagra has more than one wonder
There’s a place on earth that has more than one wonder happening at the moment, one is natural and one is man-made.
The Horse-Shoe Falls in Niagara displays 600,000 gallons of water per second and is a marvel to behold and a natural wonder that everyone should go a visit at least once in their lives. But something else is happening in Niagara, a group of people have collected coats and are giving them away. The Coats for Kids campaign is an annual event where a surplus amount of coats are sent to a destination and are given away to young kids that might not have the right means or that much money but may suffer from the cold. If the winters in Niagara are cold enough to freeze the falls to a complete stop imagine what it would be like for those children that are without a coat.
The person who first started this event in Niagara and has carried on with the great work is a Joe Petrozzi. The story goes that he was looking out of his window towards the end of autumn and beginning of winter and he saw a lone child walking home from school without a coat on, thinking on his feet, he says “My father grabbed one of my (winter) coats that he had just cleaned and he gave it to the little boy, that’s how it started.” Joe’s father Russ who found the coat to give to the kid is now a full time partner in action for what they do.
Due to this single act of kindness coats are collected for the annual event year round to make sure they have enough of demand for the masses of people coming from either Canada or over the border from America.
Joe mentions that there’s a great solace and comfort in life when you see families coming to this event with their children and everyone is smiling and happy.
So if you ever want to go to Niagara Falls don’t forget to take an old coat and give it to the charity event, making space in your suitcase for you to buy a new seasonal one over there.