Would you be willing to spend £1595 on a jacket? No? What if we told you that it was signed and designed by comedian Al Murray and famed historian James Holland? What if you knew that it was made using silk from parachutes used in the Normandy Invasion?
These jackets are part of an exclusive launch from AVRE industries, a company co-founded by the two celebrities and creators of the hit We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast centred on the Second World War. The catch is there'll only be 100 available, each lined with a small piece of the parachute inside the collar.
History isn’t just in the collar, the jacket is cut from 100% Merino sourced from a mill in Yorkshire that invented the British Army’s khaki cloth and supplied it throughout the war.
Carrying on the history focus, each jacket is designed in the style of a 1940 Pattern Battledress blouse. These were the combat uniform worn by British Commonwealth and imperial forces throughout the Second World War.
The team behind the jackets aimed to make them a historically-accurate dedication to the original, highlighting concerns over the use of the parachute material.
"Somebody will say we should have left it in a box, and I understand that. But a parachute in a box teaches nobody anything. The generation who jumped with these things cut them up for wedding dresses and christening gowns the moment the war ended — they'd find the idea of a sacred parachute quite funny,” said James Holland.
“This silk did the most extraordinary thing a piece of cloth can do, and now a hundred people will carry a bit of it around and be asked about it. That's how memory survives."
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In the attempt to honour the original jacket, everything is kept the same. Two pleated chest pockets, epaulettes, an adjustable waist belt and the noticeable cropped cut that sits on the waist.
This construction is made to look more similar to the jacket an officer would wear compared to a quartermaster. In the 1940s, some officers would take their jacket to a tailor, choosing their own cloth and lining. This became known as the Officer’s Cut.
For each person who is willing to spend £1,595, you’ll be invited to an in-person fitting, hopefully resulting in a perfectly fitted jacket. Once the fitting is done, you’ll have a one of 100 piece of history… albeit, a very expensive piece of history.
