I've long admired Nigel Cabourn's products and my Tenzing jacket has appeared here several times. The Sherpa jacket is new for this autumn/winter and is a dry-wax Harris tweed with removable Ventile hood and underarm ventilation holes. As with other items in his Authentic collection, it's made to very high standards in the UK. The tweed has a dry, rough, 'my-dog-slept-on-this' quality which I love and which gives the coat an immediate vintage feel.
Stylish, robust and practical, this tweed coat has already been out with me on many outdoor expeditions for which I might previously have worn a modern technical outerwear jacket. The special dry wax finish and Ventile hood, as well as the natural properties of the Harris tweed, make it water-resistant as well as warm and windproof. The generous cut allows it to be layered with a gilet and heavy knitwear.
The Sherpa could be worn almost anywhere: jackets like it would have been worn by any Alpine or Himalayan adventurer until the 1960s, after which modern nylon-based outwear (sadly) became the norm. Indeed, it was inspired by 1930s Sherpa wear, just as the earlier Cabourn-designed Mallory and Tenzing jackets were based on the tweed hunting/Norfolk jackets worn by mountaineers and climbers of the past.
Not cheap (thankfully) but made to the highest standards and in small quantities, this is for those who collect clothes as well as wear them. Cabourn's best pieces command high prices even second hand. I'm privileged to have owned some of this products. They are fun and practical to wear. See Nigel Cabourn.
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