Club Foyer>Uniform gaberdine raincoat>
I must say that I was thrilled to find you had for sale two traditional school gaberdine mackintoshes. I do believe that I know of "BS"; the gentleman has been particularly helpful to me with my requirement to have my daughter suitably dressed in sensible and practical clothing for school and leisurewear.
My daughter has worn a gaberdine mackintosh for school from the age of 13 until she left in July this year aged 18. This was in navy blue and traditionally-styled being double-breasted, belted and with a hood. I'm fairly "old school" and insist that it is always worn belted and done up to the neck; it is worn with the hood up when required. From the age of 13, she wore a school gaberdine that must have been around 25 years old; it was originally brought for me by my mother when I was at school!
Thanks to the help of BS, I was able to replace this with a gaberdine which I understand came from yourselves. It was acquired from a contact of BS and was virtually unworn. It was to the identical style of a traditional school gaberdine but had the added benefit of having a rubberised interlining to make it more waterproof. It is quite long, too, with the hem below the top of her wellington boots. This became her school mackintosh and was worn every schoolday between the beginning of September and the end of May.
The rubberised, waterproof interlining does make it quite warm to wear and she does get quite uncomfortable from time to time in the warmer weather but the benefits of such a smart and practical mackintosh outweigh this minor issue.
BS was also instrumental in me obtaining two further traditional school gaberdines for her, one in brown and the other in bottle green; again virtually unworn. These appear to be the same as the bottle green gaberdine on your Sales page, being made by Sartor in their "Junior 4" style. However, these were not worn for school but instead became her leisure coats. They are so smart and practical that I decided that there was no need for any other coat and so her fashion coats were given to charity some time ago.
Although styled for the younger child, they are perfectly suitable for the older girl and, indeed, young adults. My daughter does not agree, though, and does not like wearing them but that is where the special "security feature" suggested by BS has proved so useful. It does ensure than when my daughter is unsupervised, she cannot remove her gaberdine.
The brown gaberdine came with a rubber interlining but the bottle green gaberdine did not have this feature. However, BS was very helpful in giving advice on how to insert such a lining and now her three gaberdines benefit from this.
Given a choice, my daughter prefers to wear the brown gaberdine as her leisure coat on the grounds that it is a more sober colour than her bottle green gaberdine and so she feels more able to blend into the crowds and is not so conspicuous. However, I much prefer the brighter colouring of her bottle green gaberdine even though it is a colour more associated with that worn by much younger children. As a result, she now almost invariably wears this when shopping out with me, when out with her friends and for any other leisure activities. She does stand out in a crowd, with the bold check lining of the hood quiet prominent across her shoulders and the tapes of the hood hanging neatly down her back. As before, the mackintosh must always be worn buttoned up to the neck and belted.
She is now working and wears her navy blue gaberdine every day for work. It proved ideal in the cold weather before Christmas, with the rubberised interlining providing extra protection and warmth. She will wear this daily for work until at least the end of May.
Although she is now 19, she still has to wear her bottle green gaberdine as her main leisure coat and I do not see that changing in the foreseeable future. The "security feature" at the neck will ensure that my wishes are followed when I'm not there to supervise her. She looks so smart in comparison with others around her in their scruffy anoraks and jeans.
Best wishes
Chrissie
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