Extra Large Hudson’s Bay Blanket Coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271246957324
This vintage coat was made by the Hudson’s Bay company from their iconic point blanket material. It is in their “Olympic” pattern, a belted double breasted style, with handwarmer pockets and flapped patch pockets. In this particular example, the points of the four point blanket are on the inside of the coat on the wearer’s right shoulder. The coat is fully lined in gray. It is tagged a 46, but I would say it fits more like a size 50 or 52.

Chest (pit to pit): 29″ (doubled = 58″)
Shoulder to Shoulder: 21″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 27″
Length: 34″

A bit about the Hudson’s Bay Blanket Coat:
The Hudson’s Bay Company introduced their distinctive striped “point” trade blanket in 1780. The blankets were used in the fur trade, traded in exchange for pelts. The “points” represented the size and weight of the blanket. The blankets were soon being tailored into hooded, belted “Capotes”.
In 1811, 40 greatcoats were commissioned for soldiers stationed at Fort St. Joseph in Jocelyn, Ontario. They were made under the direction of John Askin, fur trader, and keeper of the King’s Store at that fort. Running short on proper supplies and in need of adequately warm coats for the men, Askin had the coats sewn from point blankets. The modern mackinaw was born.
The Hudson’s Bay blanket material was advertised for its, “warmth, durability, retention of color, non-shrinage”, for being “non-hardening when exposed to the elements”, and for their water resistant qualities. Combined with its heavy weight, and thick fluffy nap, the Hudson’s Bay Blanket made for ideal material in a harsh environment. They remained popular with fur traders through the 18th and 19th centuries. Along with their mackinaw-cloth relatives, they also proved popular with Lumbermen on both sides of the border.
Coats made from Hudson’s Bay point blanket material were truly investments, costing significantly more than identical coats in other fabrics. Some examples: In 1937, an Albert Richard coat in heavy mackinaw cloth cost $12.50. That same coat in the HBC fabric cost $22.50. In 1936, a different manufacturer was offering 32oz melton coats for $5.95. To upgrade to point blanket fabric doubled the price.
These coats were the ultimate in rugged, high-end outdoors garments. At the top of the price range for short coats, they were sold by such high-end outfitters as Abercrombie & Fitch and Von Lengerke & Detmold. By the 1930s, sportswear companies like Albert Richard and Maine Guide by Congress had joined the act. The Hudson’s Bay blanket coat enjoyed a surge of popularity on the United States market in the mid through late 1930s. Mirroring the Mackinaw craze of 1912-1915, the style was brought over the border to the US by tourists and seasonal workers who had seen the coats in use in Canada and been impressed with their warmth and durability. They briefly became a university fad in the 1930s, but really stuck with sportsmen who could afford the best.
Hudson’s Bay blankets were originally made in England. In the middle of the 20th century, they switched manufacture to Canada. Currently, they are again produced in England, by John Atkinson. Former competitor Woolrich Woolen mills has the contract to import Bay Blankets to the US, and other former competitor Pendleton now makes the blankets used in the coats sold by HBC.
As the 20th century wore on, the Hudson’s Bay point blanket coat remained a Canadian icon. It was the Canadian team uniform at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics.

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Pendleton Blanket Coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281141522504
This vintage coat was made by Pendleton Woolen Mills of Portland, Oregon. It is made from Pendleton Indian trade blankets. It is a single breasted style, with western yokes on the shoulders and back. There are slash handwarmer pockets at the chest, and flapped patch pockets below. The coat is unlined, save for the shoulders.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length: 30″

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Reproduction Shawl Collar Mackinaw

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281141046168
This coat is a recent reproduction of a style of Mackinaw coat which was popular from the early 1910s through to the 1930s. This style of coat started out with lumberjacks in the pacific northwest at the turn of the century. It broke into mainstream fashion starting around 1912, and was quickly adopted by the collegiate crowd. Workmen and railroad men quickly saw the practicality of its collar and short length and adopted the style.

This reproduction is made of heavyweight black herringbone knit cotton, with a fleeced backing. Like many originals, it is unlined, but the fleeced interior of the fabric makes for a very comfortable jacket. It has a broad shawl collar, and four flapped patch pockets. It is single breasted. There are button adjusters at the wrists.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″
Shoulder to shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-1/2″
Length: 29″

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Custom made Pendleton blanket coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271232918925
This vintage coat was handmade from a Pendleton Indian blanket. It is buttonless, probably meant to be worn with a belt, and has a hood. There are identical pockets on the inside of the jacket as the outside, which would seem to suggest that it is reversible. The finishing on the seams inside the sleeve suggests otherwise. There are holes in and by the pocket, by the corner of the cutaway and the start of one by the collar seam.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (Shoulder to Cuff): 22″
Length (bottom of hood to hem): 29″

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The half-zip, half-double breasted coat

This style is an oddity to be sure.  The bottom half of the jacket has a conventional coat-style zipper in the center, single-breasted style. The top has a six-button, double breasted panel.

This Hudson’s Bay point blanket example sold on ebay a number of years ago.
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An ad from 1939 for a similar style, also made from Hudson’s Bay point blanket material. Marketed in Children’s sizes.
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A German ad from the same time frame, courtesy Florian Kremers. Also made from striped blanket material, but not Hudson’s Bay. The model name “Eskimo” references what seem to be the Canadian origins of this unusual style.
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http://blog.livedoor.jp/mcfly_store/archives/50731859.html
A modern reproduction of this style, by Freewheelers. This blends the styling of the blanket mackinaw originals, with that of hunting coats of the 1920s and 1930s, and throws in extra ’30s style zippers for good measure.
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Hank Snow’s Hudson’s Bay Blanket Coats

Headshot, 1946
It’s only appropriate that Hank Snow wore a Hudson’s Bay Blanket coat. This style of blanket coat was a Canadian icon, as well as being favored by cowboy star, Tom Mix. His coats can be seen here. Like Mix’s coat, Snow’s was custom tailored, and had the unusual detail of the sleeve stripe running lengthwise. Early in his career, Snow wore a similarly styled and creased cowboy hat to Mix. Both also favored bow ties.
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Christmas with Hank Snow, 1967
By the 1960s, Snow was wearing a new coat, also custom tailored. It had four pleated patch pockets with an unusual round shape. The coat had a 4×8 double breasted front, and a wrap-around belted back.
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Hits Covered by Snow, 1969
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For much more on Hank Snow and western style please visit Golden West Clothing.

Buck Skein blanket coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271199111185
This vintage coat was made by the Buck Skein company. They advertised these coats with the “Thermalized Weather Control Lining” from 1955 to 1959, and this coat likely dates within that time frame. This striped blanket material was a high end fabric of the time, and generally sold for significantly more than other variants in the same cut. The buttonholes wore out and were re-stitched and the label has been worn down. Sometimes wear comes from abuse, but these are signs of a coat that was worn daily for decades, and loved. That kind of wear seems fairly typical for coats like this, which were truly investments when new, yet were casual, outdoorsy garments. This one is a single breasted style, with a four button front. It has double button belts at the wrists and large patch cargo pockets. The lining is quilted.

Chest (pit to pit): 25″
Shoulder to shoulder: 21″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length (base of collar to hem: 34″

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Tom Mix’s Hudson’s Bay Blanket coats

Tom Mix, the king of the cowboys, was a fan of Hudson’s Bay blanket coats for decades of his career, wearing his in a variety of films as well as off the set.
The first picture I can find of him wearing one is in 1918, in the film Ace High. He seems to have worn the style for the next 20 years until his death. During this time, there were three coats that I have been able to track down. The first and the second one are the same pattern, with subtle differences in the way the stripes line up distinguishing the two. In particular, the stripes on the shoulder yoke are a giveaway. The earlier version had a dark stripe centered with the pockets, while the second version had a white stripe. There were also differences in the color of the belt loops, and how the stripes lined up with the pockets.
The second version was a departure. The overall cut is somewhat simplified, without the large bellows pockets. Notch lapels replace the shirt style collar of the first two. The edges are trimmed with sections of dark stripe, and a dark zig-zag stripe is sewn to the chest, an exaggerated version of the western scalloped yoke. I particularly like the multi-tonal arrows running down the sleeves. Like other elements on this coat, these are cut out from the different color fields of a blanket and applied to the coat, creating the unique pattern.

1918- Ace High.
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1919 – The Wilderness Trail.
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unknown date-
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1923 – North of Hudson Bay
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c.1926 – Though the same cut as the c.1918 version, the stripes line up noticeably differently, particularly in the shoulder yoke. On the earlier version, the dark stripe lines up with the center of the pocket. On this version, it is the light background stripe which is centered. This version appears to have a buckle on the belt instead of buttons. The stripes of the body line up differently with the pockets.
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1928 – A different blanket coat comes onto the scene.
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1930 – Nash Car ad. The old style coat is still in rotation, but this appears to be the second version of it. In this picture, another difference from the first version of the coat is visible- the belt loops. On the earlier version in the same cut, the belt loops are made of the white portion of the blanket. In this version, they are part of a dark stripe.
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1931
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Unknown Date
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Leather Car Coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281088084255

This vintage leather jacket was made in the 1950s. It is of a simple single breasted style, with yoked shoulders and slash handwarmer pockets. It has a quilted bottom section to the lining, and a sherpa top. There is heavy wear to the shoulders and to the collar, and stitch marks on the sleeves and chest from where there were once patches. There is flaking and damage to the bottom of the coat.

Chest (pit to pit): 24″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length (bottom of collar to hem): 30″

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Pendleton Indian Blanket Coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281088061065

This vintage coat was made by Pendleton Woolen Mills. It is constructed from one of their famous trade blankets. It is a single breasted style, with a wide collar, and yoked shoulders. It has patch pockets with scalloped pocket flaps, and handwarmer pockets. It has a four button front. The coat is unlined. It has a 1960s style tag, but does not have the Woolmark you normally see on later tags.

Chest (pit to pit): 25″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (Shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length (bottom of collar to hem): 34″

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