Not only for Paddington: is the standard duffel coat having a trend second?

[ad_1] It’s the coat most related to a beloved youngsters’s character, so it is sensible that the duffel is a well-known sight in playgrounds throughout the nation. However this yr additionally it is – as soon as once more – quietly having fun with a second on grown-ups.

Within the Christmas advert for Waitrose, comic Joe Wilkinson wears a duffel coat whereas within the grocery store with Keira Knightley. Footballer Cole Palmer wore one in 2024’s Burberry marketing campaign, subtitled “It’s At all times Burberry Climate”, and Tyler, the Creator wears a brief one within the current video for Darling, I. In the meantime, Paddington Bear is sporting his on stage within the West Finish in the meanwhile.

Duffel coats are on the excessive road too, from a £279 cream design in Labrum’s vary for John Lewis to a £64 checked design at Marks & Spencer, a trend favorite. John Lewis experiences that duffel gross sales are up 75% in contrast with final month, whereas searches on resale app Depop are up 159% within the final 4 months.

The coat might sound genderless, however its newfound reputation is basically with males. Andrew Groves, director of the menswear archive on the College of Westminster, says that is a part of a wider pattern. “Menswear is shifting again to clothes with clear origins and unambiguous performance,” he argues. “[It] provides weight, insulation and a straightforwardness, which is what quite a lot of males need proper now.”

John Lewis x Labrum duffel coat, £279 {Photograph}: John Lewis Though the coat is usually considered as quintessentially British, the identify really derives from Duffel, a city in Belgium the place the thick material initially used got here from, whereas a part of the design could derive from Polish frock coats. Duffels first turned popularised after they had been worn by the British Royal Navy.

The coat was an emblem of heroism within the second world warfare, as worn by Area Marshal Bernard Regulation Montgomery. The officer turned so related to the coat that it additionally turned often called the Monty. In postwar years, it was offered at military surplus shops and have become a favorite of artistic and progressive varieties, worn by Jean Cocteau, younger folks marching in opposition to the Vietnam warfare and David Bowie on the quilt of his 1977 album Low.

A Depop spokesperson says the pattern aligns with an curiosity in “heritage trend”. “Conventional items that convey a contact of the countryside are more and more being introduced into road model,” they are saying.

Regardless of their reputation, Teo van den Broeke, editor-in-chief of Esquire, believes duffels ought to stay on Paddington or within the playground. “There’s one thing actually infantilising about them,” he says. “I actually don’t like seeing a grown grownup in a duffel coat. I discover it extremely unsexy.”

He acknowledges, nevertheless, that the duffel appeals as a result of it ticks quite a few packing containers. “Males love issues that perform. They love issues which have heritage. They love issues which have tales behind them, clothes which have been associated ultimately to navy pursuits.”

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The duffel has lengthy been a favorite of rock stars together with Liam Gallagher, Graham Coxon and Alex Turner. Van den Broeke says the coat works for them as a result of they “subvert” the duffel’s performance. “It’s all about your perspective,” he says. “When you’re a musician, and also you appear like you don’t actually care, then you may most likely get away with it. If there’s an earnestness to your sporting of a duffel coat, it’s recreation over.”

Regardless of his misgivings, van den Broeke is nicely conscious the duffel goes nowhere. He describes the design as one of some gadgets of outerwear that “exist within the annals of sartorial historical past that may go on loop”.

“It’s a traditional as a result of you may’t actually reinvent it,” says Groves. “No matter designers do to it, from Burberry to Prada, a duffel stays a duffel.”