Consider the Cagoule

The most enduring types of men’s clothing were, mostly, created for one of two reasons: work or war… sometimes both. 

An A-2 bomber jacket designed for the chilly cockpit of a fighter jet, a bleu de travail in heavy-duty moleskin for the fields and factories of Brittany. Okay, dungarees might not have stood the test of time quite so well, but there is something to it all.

The cagoule (or is it an anorak?) can be trickier to define. Early versions of long, weather-resistant coats made from animal skins were made and worn by Inuit tribes to hunt and stay warm out on the frozen tundra of Greenland, often finished with intricate patterns and detailing. The garment was adopted and adapted by whalers, and later various militaries to keep troops warm and dry during soggy campaigns. 

In Britain, the cagoule has often suffered from a reputation issue. A sensible, packable coat mostly associated with even more sensible shoes and perhaps an encyclopaedic knowledge of the East Suffolk train line; something that’s been dug out from the bottom of a cupboard and zipped up over your head while being pelted by rain on a pebbly beach, or worn during an ill-fated walk up a bleak and muddy hill.

We wanted to try something a little bit different with our surf cagoules, working with fabrics like Scottish waxed cotton, Japanese ripstop and a colourful Madras cotton sourced from artisans in India, cropping and widening the body and adding a sturdy O-ring half zip to the equation, along with handy toggles on the hood and body.

The result is a piece of lightweight outerwear that honours the originals (although we’d advise against wearing it out on the tundra, if you happen to find yourself there) but elevates it beyond the depressing slip of nylon that gets soaked the minute the weather turns.