Garments: Puffer Jackets, Montgomery, Sport Jackets, Sheepskin Coats, Mountain Knitwear, Classic Knitwear, Check Shirts, Contemporary Shirts, Sport Trousers, Denim
Puffer Jackets, Montgomery, Sport Jackets, Sheepskin Coats, Mountain Knitwear, Classic Knitwear, Check Shirts, Contemporary Shirts, Sport Trousers, Denim
Depending on who you ask, the down jacket originated in Canada and was imported to Europe by the French mountaineer Lionel Terray in the 1950s, when he told his friend René Ramillon about the ultra-warm, ultra-light piece of feather-filled outerwear. Ramillon had recently founded a tent and sleeping bag manufacturer named Moncler: he decided to make jackets too. In 2018, the down j acket has conquered every r ange of masculine t aste. Moncler, t hat original pioneer more recently reinvented as a high watermark of fashion, remains at the vanguard of puffer i nnovation – however today there are plenty of other adventurous designers striving to take this uniquely functional winter style to fresh creative heights.
Italians call this style the Montgomery after the British General who helped popularise them. The English call it the Duffle coat – probably a bastardised spelling of ‘Duffel’, the Belgian source of the heavy wool used in many early versions. Its origins are obscure, but it found popularity in the early 20th Century as a deck coat for navy sailors who required something warm and easy to button up in the cold. When thousands of British military versions flooded the surplus market after the Korean war, they became popular with students, existentialists and every wannabe beatnik on a budget – and entered the pantheon of masculine outerwear. Today, the Montgomery remains undefeated, a style that rises again and again on the runways.