Denim and Long Curl Lambskin: The Coat for When Fall Turns
Denim and Long Curl Lambskin: The Coat for When Fall Turns
Indigo cloth, a wild curled collar, and two of the oldest materials in the wardrobe in one coat.
When Fall Turns
There is a week every fall when the jean jacket stops being enough. The rain comes in off the Sound and the mornings go cold and gray. That is the week denim and sheepskin come out together.
Sheepskin has kept people warm for as long as there have been sheep. In the 1930s the U.S. Army Air Corps put its bomber crews in heavy sheepskin jackets, because the cabins at altitude were open to the cold. Denim came west on ranchers and riders. Put the two together and you have the outline of American cold weather style.
What Long Curl Lambskin Is
Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep tanned with the wool left on. Lambskin comes from a younger animal, and it is softer and lighter in the hand. Long curl lambskin keeps the wool long and lets it curl the way it grew. It is wild to look at and warm to wear.
It takes a great deal of it. On our Northern Dream jacket, a size medium takes four sheepskins. The long curl lambskin comes from northern British Columbia. One craftsman sews each jacket start to finish in Seattle, one at a time, and each one takes him a full day.
The Denim Coat
The Long Curly Lamb and Botanical Indigo Denim Winter Coat puts both materials into one piece. The shell is botanical indigo selvedge denim, dyed with indigo from the plant and woven in Okayama. The lining is long curly lambskin, and the collar is wild and warm.
Botanical indigo has a depth and a softer cast that belongs to the plant. Against the pale curl of the lamb, it looks like the season itself.
Horsehide and Lamb
The Northern Dream has a shell of Horween horsehide, and I worked with Horween on its particular tan. The same long curl lambskin is the lining, through the body and the collar, and the sleeves are lined in our own diamond quilting made in Japan. There is a tea dyed version, and a reversible vest that closes with a vintage TALON reversible zipper.
Our leather jackets open for preorder only three or four times a year. Between those windows there is no way to buy them.
A Way Of Life.
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Long Curly Lamb and Botanical Indigo Denim Winter Coat
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