More 'Ivy' than Baracuta, at least according to GG quite a few years ago, this version was something that appears to have come and gone and is/was, thus, desirable with a capital D. Olive, with interesting detailing (do your own damn search), and now, like olive Grenfell, something of a Holy Grail item - at least as far as I'm concerned. It may not even be classed as a 'Harrington' - dunno - but I'm going to try and find a photograph somewhere. I haven't set eyes on a Baracuta in donkeys years now; don't really want to; way too 'overground'. I wouldn't mind an old 'London Fog', though, in some colour other than grey.
Current Grenfell Harringtons are decent quality - pricey, but then most decent quality is now. They still trade heavily on the Lancashire and Haythornthwaite heritage, so there’s something slightly dodgy about the fact that the clobber is now made in East London. But the stuff is okay. I lean more towards the G4 type style than the G9 nowadays, I don’t think the G4 is a proper ‘Harrington’ is it?
The notion that it is not a 'proper Harrington' - thinking of all the discussions there have been on the subject over the years - might work to its advantage.
The Grenfell website is as bullshitty as most of these 'heritage brand' things tend to be, creating a certain degree of mistrust, wouldn't you agree? Okay, it's the name of the Internet game: who will survive without pretty pictures of good-looking chaps posing beside trout streams (or whatever)? I knew the world was changing when the local chippie got itself onto the WWW. 'Jeez', you could imagine them saying in Detroit, 'I wonder if they do their haddock in batter or breadcrumbs...'
Not sure that anyone cares about 'proper Harrington's' anymore. Made in England/USA/UK would be more important to me.
I like that Grenfell have a factory in East London. It might not be Burnley but it is in Blighty.
London Fog seem to have gone downmarket to me. I bought a long sleeved Polo shirt recently because it was claret and 100%cotton and cheap but it was made in Bangladesh.
Workers in the old Grenfell factory would have probably been Claret/Burnley football fans. I wonder if the present day workers support Claret and Blue West Ham United?
I might see some 'Made In The USA' labels whilst I'm out and about in Nottingham next week. Chances are, however, it will be low-grade 'Americana', items aimed at the 'on-trend' student population.
I bought my last made in England Clarks desert boots in a shop in Nottingham. It was many years ago now and I'm not sure why I remember that. The next pair were made in Vietnam. I could compare both pairs and there wasn't a lot of difference.
Agreed. I wear very little outsourced clothing but I cannot resist Clarks DBs.
I also have 2 made in England G9s that both look superb.
Perhaps we should retitle this thread 'Clarks' And The Lost Desert Boot'; based upon a brief conversation I had with a retired assistant at JS. Apparently they went a little way further up the leg; no idea how far. I very much liked my English-made chukka boots - which came first? - and regret that I parted with them almost ten years ago this winter. Never felt quite the same about Trek, although they were manufactured in Somerset.
Regarding the Grenfell site, they have to sell to the people who might buy enough of their clothes - and that isn't us anymore. Eventually all brands will annoy us this way.
But the core staples are still there and the quality good. Yes the prices seem a touch stiff, but they are made in UK, make their own fabric and are less in price than comparable modern brands. Personally, I'll keep supporting them and just grind my teeth a touch at the site.
All this talk of Nottingham interests me, I'm from and still there. Not seen much Ivy about over the years but the apart from the train station I haven't been in the city itself since Feb 2020. I can often be found doing the West Bridgford stroll.
Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2021-09-26 03:52:57)