Raincheetah

An advertisement appearing in the Toronto Daily Star

Catch the Raincheetah and cheat the rain

Raincheetah had a factory in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. They sold to the trade which included in a very small way the rainwear boutique my wife used to run.

The best known raincoat from Raincheetah featured a leopard-skin pattern. Later they made single-texture jackets for famous names in London, including Swaine Adeney, but these didn't really catch on. The boutique had some seconds that had been returned - with brand names on the labels inside , which had to be removed.

The punny word “Raincheetah”, the name of the raincoat, sounds like “raincheater” while the word “raincheater” derives from “windcheater”.

There is another line of rainwear which uses the the plural 'Raincheetahs' (with an s), featured in vintage clothing blogs today eg the Couture Allure Vintage Fashion Blog. E-bay often has these as well - as well as pictures of them.

Richard