Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A Mackintosh is a form of waterproof raincoat, first sold in 1824, made out of rubberized fabric. The Mackintosh is named after its Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh; note the spelling, with the added 'k' in the coat's name. Macintosh waterproofed cloth by cementing two layers of fabric together with rubber dissolved in naphtha, producing a material that shed rain completely. This page explains the invention, the early drawbacks of rubberized cloth, and how 'mac' became the general British word for a raincoat.
Although the Mackintosh style of coat has become generic, a genuine Mackintosh coat should be made from rubberised or rubber laminated material.
As well as their practical use as a rainproof garment, Mackintoshes feature in a peculiarly British form of rubber fetishism.
Charles Macintosh patented his invention for waterproof cloth in 1823 and the first Mackintosh coats were made in the family's textile factory, Chas Macintosh and Co. of Glasgow. But in 1830 the company merged with the clothing company of Thomas Hancock in Manchester. Hancock had also been experimenting with rubber coated fabrics since 1819.
Early coats had problems with smell and a tendency to melt in hot weather, but Hancock further improved their waterproof fabrics, patenting a method for vulcanising rubber in 1843, which solved many of the problems.
Throughout the 19th and 20th century, the company continued to make waterproof clothing and by the end of the 20th century was called Traditional Weatherwear Ltd, with a factory based in Cumbernauld near Glasgow. In recent years the company has been keen to establish the traditional rubberised Mackintosh coat as an upmarket brand in its own right. As a result they have collaborated with leading fashion houses such as Gucci, Herm's, Louis Vuitton and Liberty. The coats have become particularly popular with Japanese women and the company won a Queen's Awards for Enterprise in 2000 for it success in international trade.
Mackintosh (raincoat)
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| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mackintosh). 1/7/06 |
A Mackintosh is a waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric, first sold in 1824. It is named after its Scottish inventor, Charles Macintosh, though the coat's name is spelled with an added 'k'.
Charles Macintosh used rubber dissolved in naphtha, a by-product of gas works, to cement two layers of cloth together. The rubber layer between the fabrics made the material waterproof.
Mac became the generic British term for a raincoat because Mackintosh raincoats were the first widely sold waterproof coats, so the maker's name passed to the garment type, as brand names sometimes do.