The Donkey Jacket

Whatever happened to the Donkey Jacket?
Don’t see them much these days.

Some donkey jacket enthusiasts pictured recently

Used to love mine. I found it in a skip/Street in the early 90s, gave it a wash and it was my favourite jacket for years, despite the ripped tartan inner.

Might get another one.
All hail the Donkey Jacket.

Tell us your amazing donkey jacket stories.

Tell us your amazing donkey jacket stories.

…the cool kids at our school in the 80’s wore NCB ones! 🙂

I wore one at uni in Sheffield in the early-mid 90s

Ideal for challenging Yorkshire winter weather. Riding my GT Timberline back home up the hills in the evening was a toasty warm sweat-fest

I think they only kept the water off by virtue of their thickness and density. 😊
Apart from the plasticy bit on your shoulders obvs.

They were cheap clothing back in the 80’s though (along with Parkas and Harrington jackets)* – all a bit gentrified now with prices to match.

(*All purchased from Yeomans Army Stores back in the day along with cheap Docs.)

I’m sure Harrods still sell boatloads to Champagne socialists. Normal people probably choose clothes that aren’t ugly as sin.

I think they look pretty good… but agree that they are not really work wear anymore, they’re a fashion choice.

There was someone with me at uni (mid 80s) who had one which he wore whenever possible. He was very active in the student union and was painfully right-on. Spoke with a faux-cockney accent. Chauffeur picked him up in the roller at the end of every term. I think his brother became/was a Lord.

Pound to a pinch of shit Hebtroco will start sourcing them from the last remaining British donkey mill and flog them at £800 a pop if they get wind of this thread! 😉

They would no longer be considered suitable PPE, no hi-viz etc.

Elf and safety gorn mad.

Oh, blokeuptheroad beat me too it! I bet @brant is on it now 😉

Still made in Manchester… for a price

I only wear mine as a smart jacket, even though it would make a great work jacket, 100% wool and all that

I just need to get it muddy really and crack on

Pound to a pinch of shit Hebtroco will start sourcing them from the last remaining British donkey mill and flog them at £800 a pop if they get wind of this thread!

Just came to post the exact same thing except for £1500!

Anyone else remember Michael Foot wearing one to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27038765

…the cool kids at our school in the 80’s wore NCB ones

Had one of those for work bitd, was told NCB stood for “No C***TS Bothered”

Pound to a pinch of shit Hebtroco will start sourcing them from the last remaining British donkey mill and flog them at £800 a pop if they get wind of this thread!

Well, I imagine Brant and Ed would make a very nice version.

This one is £400 but doesn’t have the requisite shiny shoulders.

Takes me back! Yeah, I remember them being very in, in the era of The Young Ones being on TV.
Not seen anyone wearing one in decades, that I’ve noticed anyway.

Are they back in then?

(Yeah, I’m not known for keeping an eye out for gain trends these days.)

Tell us your amazing donkey jacket stories.

Yeah! I had one. Can’t remember when or how long I had it for. Was it around the time the Joboxers were in the charts with Johnny Friendly? They were obviously hard working men of the street, same as I was.

This one is £400 but doesn’t have the requisite shiny shoulders.

Yes, but perfect example of wearing badly fitting clothes so that chicks don’t notice your beer gut. Just needs a shitty combover to perfect the creepy faux-man-of-the-people sex pest look.

Shiny shoulders for retro bin man vibes

Loved mine. Used them in defiance of the school’s imposition of suits in 6th form.  Warm, dry, hard wearing.  Not so good on a bike. Hebtroco re-issue would need a breathable waterproof layer in the shoulders in place of the bin liner/sheet of DPC Arco used to stick into them.  Can we have CNC machined buttons and Kevlar thread? Pretty please? 

Ventile would be good.

Combat Donkey Jacket Leatherette Shoulders

Binman Chic?

This one is £400 but doesn’t have the requisite shiny shoulders.

Good to see Jon Richardson is keeping busy.

Spent many hours in one of these jackets (or similar) although new issue ones have hi vis stripe and shoulder pieces.
https://kdgworkwearonline.co.uk/molten-metal-jacket-with-collar-mm1.html
Pockets on the inside to avoid catching loose splash, cover over the buttons, genuine mega itch wool, ideal for the top of a blast furnace in January, less ideal at the bottom in August.
If you’ve been around a while you might find an old one with the orange ‘visibility’ stripe round the middle from British Steel days, before ,Corus ,Tata, Hi Vis and the new British Steel (their colours are heavier on the orange and grey).
They itch like made, take ages to dry but allegedly quite good at metal splash resistance.

Clearly waterproof and breathable at the same time. Just not all over

Spent many hours in one of these jackets (or similar) although new issue ones have hi vis stripe and shoulder pieces.
https://kdgworkwearonline.co.uk/molten-metal-jacket-with-collar-mm1.html

⬆️ Looks like Darth Vader’s pajama top.

I remember having a SGD donkey jacket but no leather on the shoulders just cost cutting pvc although it did have a tartan liner

The two strap satchel to keep your thermos and cheese piece wrapped in a sunblest bag just complements the look

SGD Scottish Grain Distillers now known as Diageo

They were cheap clothing back in the 80’s though (along with Parkas and Harrington jackets)* – all a bit gentrified now with prices to match.

They made of wool and quite a lot of it judging by the weight, they were never cheap. Low status, but they are from an era when clothing was a fairly major expenditure for people – all clothing was expensive. Anything made of the same materials these days is going to cost a fair whack compared to heavily marketed polyester and bamboo rayon with a few magic words and an infographic on the swing ticket.

No, because he did not – Tabloid hatchet job.

I kept my old jacket from when I was on the bins for a few years later, very much my usual coat at University. Ditched the orange dungarees though.  Would love another one.

Low status, but they are from an era when clothing was a fairly major expenditure for people – all clothing was expensive.

Yep, living standard have changes so much in the last 40 years or so. We were burgled in the late 70s / early 80s IIRC, they mainly took clothes! People didn’t have electronic gadgets or Credit Cards to steal and TVs were a two man lift back then.

Are they back in then?

They are now!

Once the kids start seeing what the fashionistas of STW are wearing this season, I don’t see how they can’t be.

had a NCB one in the late 70s from my stepdad, who was a miner.

then in 1982 i left school and got a job as a coal merchant. so donkey jackets were the coat of choice because of the shoulder protection when carrying coal.    absolute rubbish in rain tho.

Loved mine. Used them in defiance of the school’s imposition of suits in 6th form

…and the pockets were the perfect size for a cd walkman and a small collection of Ned’s and NewFADS cds from HMV.

footflaps
Full Member

Anyone else remember Michael Foot wearing one to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph?

Lots of people remember it even though it never happened. You can actually go and see the jacket, which he bought from Harrods specifically for the occasion, at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. Literally just a suit overcoat, the only criticism you can make is it wasn’t black, and it probably should have been.

(in fairness, Foot was one of those people that could be carefully dressed by his wife in an expensive new jacket as if going for the school photo, but by the time he arrived he’d look like he’d got in a fight then slept in a bin)

I think they only kept the water off by virtue of their thickness and density. 😊Apart from the plasticy bit on your shoulders obvs.

They made of wool and quite a lot of it judging by the weight, they were never cheap. Low status, but they are from an era when clothing was a fairly major expenditure for people – all clothing was expensive. Anything made of the same materials these days is going to cost a fair whack compared to heavily marketed polyester and bamboo rayon with a few magic words and an infographic on the swing ticket.

absolute rubbish in rain tho.

Considering how much wool is promoted by the cycling community for its ability to keep the wearer warm when wet, there’s a certain irony in seeing cyclists moaning about a heavy wool jacket being rubbish in rain! Original donkey jackets had thick leather across the shoulders for protection, but vinyl/leatherette was used for mass production, because it’s clearly cheaper.

They’re designed for similar purposes to the Pea Jacket/Coat, although those are somewhat smarter looking it has to be said.

I was seriously considering getting a donkey jacket a year or two back, specifically one with leather shoulder patches, but never went much further than searching online.

We did something similar at one point, in a lovely wool from Hainsworths. Didn’t do the plastic shoulders.

See what’s up our sleeve

I think something with ventile or a waxed cotton would be great, but could be seen as a piss take.

We do have an Action Man jumper tho.

Man of Action Jumper / Land Green

I used to wear mine to keep me warm as I rode my crap moped to get to my YTS placement back in the mid 80s. It was always wet and stunk like a stinking dog. On really cold days it would get ice particles forming on the outside.

Loved that jacket. So glad I didn’t fall off the moped whilst wearing it though.

My live in jacket back in the day at  Technical College was a…………Belstaff Waxed Cotton motorcycle jacket.

(Bike was a D175 Bantam…)

Years ago there was a female hill walker rescued after something like 5 nights out on the hill in winter. A colleague of mine remarked that she must have been ‘so cold you could hang a wet donkey jacket off her nips’.