The first question to ask is, what do we mean by a good raincoat? We think that to be really good, it needs to do several things.
First things first, we think it should keep out the rain. Seems obvious, but a lot of raincoats these days just aren’t that waterproof. We make all of our products with waterproof cotton fabric made by British Millerain, the company responsible for the world's first waterproof cotton fabric, and still a supplier to many of the world's known luxury brands.
Then it should look great, which I think ours do. But style is personal, I know.
A good coat should be comfortable: both fit, cut and the comfort of the fabric. Keeping our designs the same from year to year means we can wear test them over long periods. I've worn our Frank raincoat for months and can say with great confidence that it feels great to wear.
If you spend your hard-earned money on a raincoat, you want it to last. The style should transcend seasonal trends, and it should be physically durable. We make our rainwear in two UK factories, with between them over 250 years of history of producing high-quality rainwear, one in Lancashire, one in Greater Manchester. The former produced clothing for the British Army for over 70 years, so they know all there is to know about making tough clothes that perform. In addition, when the Millerain fabric does eventually lose its waterproofness, through years of wear, it can be reproofed easily at home with a simple Nikwax reproofing wash in your washing machine.
Finally, it would also be great if the making of, the wearing of or the disposing of your raincoat didn’t destroy the planet. There's a lot that goes into this, but we try to keep it simple. We use a low-carbon footprint woven cotton fabric instead of an oil-based synthetic, finished with a fluorocarbon-free waterproof coating. And we make locally here in the UK meanling the lowest carbon footprint for the manufacture, thanks to the UK's clean energy (we have a high percentage of renewable energy in our electricity mix), and the very low transport distance (they go from the cloth mill in Rochdale, to be sewn in either Blackburn or Manchester, to our warehouse in Leeds, then to you.
And at a price that's probably a third or even a quarter of the price of rainwear of similar quality, I'm not sure you could buy a lot better.
The first question to ask is, what do we mean by a good raincoat? We think that to be really good, it needs to do several things.
First things first, we think it should keep out the rain. Seems obvious, but a lot of raincoats these days just aren’t that waterproof. We make all of our products with waterproof cotton fabric made by British Millerain, the company responsible for the world's first waterproof cotton fabric, and still a supplier to many of the world's known luxury brands.
Then it should look great, which I think ours do. But style is personal, I know.
A good coat should be comfortable: both fit, cut and the comfort of the fabric. Keeping our designs the same from year to year means we can wear test them over long periods. I've worn our Frank raincoat for months and can say with great confidence that it feels great to wear.
If you spend your hard-earned money on a raincoat, you want it to last. The style should transcend seasonal trends, and it should be physically durable. We make our rainwear in two UK factories, with between them over 250 years of history of producing high-quality rainwear, one in Lancashire, one in Greater Manchester. The former produced clothing for the British Army for over 70 years, so they know all there is to know about making tough clothes that perform. In addition, when the Millerain fabric does eventually lose its waterproofness, through years of wear, it can be reproofed easily at home with a simple Nikwax reproofing wash in your washing machine.
Finally, it would also be great if the making of, the wearing of or the disposing of your raincoat didn’t destroy the planet. There's a lot that goes into this, but we try to keep it simple. We use a low-carbon footprint woven cotton fabric instead of an oil-based synthetic, finished with a fluorocarbon-free waterproof coating. And we make locally here in the UK meanling the lowest carbon footprint for the manufacture, thanks to the UK's clean energy (we have a high percentage of renewable energy in our electricity mix), and the very low transport distance (they go from the cloth mill in Rochdale, to be sewn in either Blackburn or Manchester, to our warehouse in Leeds, then to you.
And at a price that's probably a third or even a quarter of the price of rainwear of similar quality, I'm not sure you could buy a lot better.
“If you’ve met me anywhere in the last year or two, you’ve probably seen me wearing these. It’s probably my favourite of all the trousers we make at Community Clothing.” Meet Patrick's favourite trousers. The Field Trouser.
One Track Club is a global, science-driven running community and coaching platform designed for "everyday athletes" seeking structured training who we've been chatting to recently about our nature positive running gear.They've very kindly offered CC customers a month's free trial (open to everyone), on top of which you have the chance to win a coaching package worth £450.
We asked award-winning photographer, writer and skater Stuart Clapp (whose photos now appear in the pages of skateboard magazines - something that would have blown the mind of his younger self), along with his pals in the South Essex skateboarding community, to field-test the Community Clothing trousers.
