Duffle Coat /Toggle Coat/Undesputed Classic

 Gentry magazine, winter 1951. Caption: The Duffle coat with fishing hemp loops and wooden peg buttons, seen at Meadowbrook. This is an adaptation of the British and Norwegian naval officer's coats.



A duffle coat, or duffel coat, is a coat made from duffle, a coarse, thick, woollen material. The name derives from Duffel, a town in the province of Antwerp in Belgium where the material originates. Duffle bags were originally made from the same material.
Duffle coats are a traditional British garment, dating from 1890 when John Partridge, a manufacturer of outdoor clothing, started to market coats made from duffle fabric.
There are many varying styles to the duffle coat, although the most common British style would be composed of the following features:

• Made of genuine Duffel, lined with a woolly tartan pattern.
• A hood and buttonable neck strap
• Four front wooden or horn toggle-fastenings (known as "walrus teeth") with four rope or leather loops to attach them to.
• Two large outside pockets with covering flaps.
• It should be three-quarter length.

The wooden toggle-fastenings were made to be easily fastened and unfastened while wearing gloves in cold weather at sea. Current designs have toggles made of buffalo horn, wood or plastic. The oversized hood offered enough room to wear over a Naval cap. After rain, a duffle coat has a characteristic smoky smell.Originally worn by Belgian fishermen, the duffle coat was adopted by the Royal Navy in WWI and WWII, and then in the 1940s French students snapped up this item and many other military styles inexpensively at surplus sales.Filmmaker Jean Cocteau saw the look in the Latin Quarter cafes and began wearing it about town, including to opera premieres. Eventually the duffle coat became a classic overcoat, adopted for rainwear and cold-weather dressing where its utilitarian nature comes in handy.'It is a undisputed classic.