Issue 2.
The Bunker Short Kagoul
NOVEMBER
THE DESIGN PROCESS You could say that Nigel Cabourn Authentic is a brand of contradictions. It has a niche yet global fan base; it is never fashion yet it is a leader in the field of Menswear; it is original, but also a timeless classic; you won’t find another product like it because it is unique, yet it’s the one we all want to have in our wardrobe. In this our second edition of The Bunker we thought it important to begin to capture and expose some of the processes that make Nigel Cabourn Authentic what it is; to provide insight to our fans of the lengths that Nigel will go in order to realize his design ideas, and to unveil some of the design and development processes undertaken that make the Nigel Cabourn ‘Authentic’ line truly ‘authentic’. The initial phase of all Nigel Cabourn Authentic design begins with inspiration taken from historical events and stories of great human endeavor, combined with reference taken from Nigel’s personal archive of rare military, outdoor, sports and workwear pieces. To support any particular season, Nigel will always source new pieces relevant to an inspirational theme that takes him to some of the most renowned and specialist dealers in vintage clothing in the globe. Sometimes it will be the vintage pieces that directly inspire further research into a story, or vice-versa, but each time this will provide the foundation for silhouette, fabrication, trims or even an entire collection. To demonstrate this we have chosen to feature the story of our unique seam sealing process and our W13 Short Kagoul, a garment that typically embodies Nigel’s design approach. VINTAGE NAVAL SMOCK Whilst on a vintage sourcing trip to Japan for SS13, Nigel found an inspirational vintage Naval smock that was to initiate a pioneering approach to garment construction for Nigel Cabourn Authentic outerwear products. This hooded cotton piece (shown) featured a half zip opening and a chest pocket.
On turning the garment through revealed the internal construction where raglan and chest pocket seams were seam taped. The garment had lost all of its proofing, but despite its age the internal rough glued seam taping was relatively intact. This inspired Nigel to develop the unique process of seam sealing Ventile™ outerwear. Seam sealing exists in many forms and is commonly found on performance outerwear that uses man made fabrication, but the Naval Smock had struck a cord with Nigel and he was adamant that he not only wanted to apply this process to 100% cotton Ventile™, but to seal it with Ventile™ tape. Fabrication is deeply routed in the handwriting of all Nigel Cabourn Authentic design and is considered to be one of the most important elements of the garment.
The quality of fabric and construction are also imperative and it is the lack of compromise in these areas that gives the ‘Authentic’ line products their unique standing. To maintain this relationship Nigel invested with our UK manufacturers to purchase the seamtaping machinery required to complete the research needed to make his idea a reality, and to maintain the high quality production processes that these factories have always delivered for our brand.
SEAM SEALING The process of developing Ventile™ seam taping was a long and challenging one. The high water repellency property of the Ventile™ cloth increased the difficulty of both application of glue to the fabric needed to make the seam sealing strips, and to the bonding process of the strips to the garment seams themselves. Initial tests proved promising, but it took the development of an entirely new glue formula by our trims supplier to increase the tensile strength of the glue to an acceptable standard for production. The final result of this not only enhanced the proofing performance of the garment, it provided Nigel with an opportunity to create great interest in the garment design.
By first applying adhesive to the Ventile™ cloth and then cutting special strips wide enough for the seam sealing process allowed the development of matching or contrast taping; something that appropriately referenced the initial Naval Smock design. With the seam taping process proven, there was still some way to go to successful application of the tape to real garments. There are many limitations to successful seam taping including seam bulk and curve, so the construction and finishing of each garment seam had to be individually considered. The speed of manufacture is also affected and there is always pressure to remove seams to make things easier, however Nigel’s lack of compromise on design ensured that this was not the case.
Ventile™ seam-sealing was first introduced in to the Spring 2013 season across three different styles including the Cameraman Jacket Sealed, Aircraft Jacket Sealed and the Short Taped Smock (above).
SHORT KAGOUL W13 The Short Kagoul W13 is a typical example of combining different design influences and processes to produce something unique. The vintage Naval Smock that had been such a direct influence upon the development of the seam sealing process itself heavily influenced the design of S13 Short Taped Smock and also provided the foundation for the short Kagoul W13.
However, Nigel wanted to move things further forward for the winter season into a new range of products. The fabrication of the short kagoul takes the form of plain or double printed L28 Ventile™ that is used throughout the AW13 collection. L28 is a heavy duty Ventile™ chosen to be harder wearing than its spring counterpart L34 and to combat the harsher weather conditions of winter. The Short Kagoul W13 is actually a mix of three key influences; the Vintage Naval Smock, an RAF Holdall, and a vintage Antarctic Expedition Smock.
ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION SMOCK This rare vintage garment was picked up on a development trip to a London vintage dealer. The smock originally belonged to the United States Antarctic Research Program and has been worn to this effect. The focus of this garment is in the half-zip front opening that has a storm gusset with fur on the reverse to provide warmth against harsh weather conditions. It features a large deep hood that, once zipped up and closed with the Velcro neck tab, provides a small opening and great face coverage. The hood is finished with a sheepskin trim on the inside and a Coyote pelt on the exterior edge to keep warmth in. The smock also has a large double entry kangaroo pocket with hand warmer side entry openings with a second flap pocket secured by Velcro™ . These desirable features were adapted and adopted for the design of the new Short Kagoul for W13, the Coyote and Sheepskin combination replicated to maintain Authenticity. The garment design process demands that vintage reference is never taken literally. Most vintage pieces are not suitable for contemporary wear. This is because they are often made fit-for-purpose. This is particularly true of the vintage Antarctic Expedition Smock that has a huge silhouette with bat wing pivot sleeve, and is designedto-be-worn as an over-garment on top of many mid and base layers. To wear this in a contemporary sense would be excessive. In developing a more contemporary silhouette for the Short Kagoul threw up practical challenges, such as how to get
the garment on and off. Slim fitting overthe-head pieces require a deep front opening and the addition of a side opening to be able to put them on more easily and this is where the third key design influence appears.
The Short Kagoul W13 is a typical example of combining different design influences and processes to produce something unique. The vintage Naval Smock that had been such a direct influence upon the development of the seam sealing process itself heavily influenced the design of S13 Short Taped Smock and also provided the foundation for the Short Kagoul W13. However, Nigel wanted to move things further forward for the winter season into a new range of products. The fabrication of the short kagoul takes the form of plain or double printed L28 Ventile速 that is used throughout the AW13 collection. L28 is a heavy duty Ventile速 chosen to be harder wearing than its spring counterpart L34 and to combat the harsher weather conditions of winter. The Short Kagoul W13 is actually a mix of three key influences; the Vintage Naval Smock, an RAF Holdall, and a vintage Antarctic Expedition Smock.
GIANT ZIPPER Unique trims are another characteristic of ‘Nigel Cabourn Authentic’ products. All of our trims, whether a label, zip, button or stud are specially developed by our suppliers to our specifications and the trims for Short Kagoul W13 are no exception to this rule. The Short Kagoul W13 features a specially developed no.14 size zip (actually a no.13 but Nigel is superstitious) that has been used for both the half zip front opening and the side zip opening to help when putting the garment on. This is a military grade zip unavailable for commercial use and originally found on a vintage RAF Holdall at one of our bag supplier’s own archives. The distinctive simple punch metal plate zip puller is typical of the Military and British utilitarian period of the Second World War. This inspiration provided the final part to the Short Kagoul W13 development story. The zip puller again exclusively developed for Nigel Cabourn Authentic and stamped with the words ‘Authentic’ on the front and ‘England’ on the back ensures that our customers won’t find this kind of trim on any other product.
The Short Kagoul W13 is a great example of Nigel Cabourn Authentic design progression, from its roots as an original vintage Naval Smock through the development of a new seam sealing process to its first outing as SS13 Short Taped Smock, the design and idea has been improved continually. Where do we go from here? We are not exactly sure, but you can be certain that wherever it is it will be exciting and ‘Authentic’.