How the affinity for wearing raincoats developed

[joe]

I grew up in New Jersey (born in 1963) and remember wearing my older brother's yellow rain slicker with the “astronaut” or helmet hood for the first time at the age of 4. It was a cold December downpour and I rode with my parents who were house hunting. I loved the smell and feel of schoolboy raincoat rubber and my love for rainwear began. Upon starting school, I got my own raincoat and remember wearing that yellow slicker and astronaut hood during the second week of school - it was a flooding downpour. My friend wore similar a green slicker with the brass clasps and red rubbers.

Subsequently, the rain slicker was only worn when it was really raining heavily before school or a remnant of a hurricane was in the forecast. My mom thought the raincoats were hot to wear, so it really had to be a downpour for it to come out of the closet. I was jealous of those days when many others wore their raincoats to school and I didn't. Even then I felt the urge to enjoy raincoats. When I was home alone, I would open the closets and smell the raincoats of other members of the family as well as my own and was taking in the wonderful aroma of my rubber coat and ZEPEL treated cloth of my older brother's single breasted balmacaan made by Aqua-Haven, a brand of the Robert Hall stores. He wore this coat with a coat and tie to school. He worked part-time after high school in a local library and I remember him coming home through a pouring rain and coming upstairs with the raincoat thoroughly saturated and shining wet. He complained about the "monsoon" but the sight and smell of his wet raincoat was wonderful.

I remember being hustled off to church and Sunday school in the yellow raincoat, feeling very conspicuous as I jostled down the aisle to the pew in my slicker. One time when visiting my grandparents, my great aunt took me to church on a humid drenching day. Since I did not bring a raincoat, my aunt cut a vinyl adult's Pac-a-mac to the right length to fit. The rain and the humidity were equally unrelenting and as I sat on the bus with my great aunt I delighted in the interior sweatiness of the opaque vinyl raincoat.

That Christmas my great aunt gave me a traditional tan balmaccaan made by Briarcliff. It had a thick plush winter liner and I wore this coat to school more often. With the leather legal briefcase that was my schoolbag, I looked like a little lawyer, going to school or so my classmates told me. I loved that raincoat then even more than the slickers it replaced. My mom liked to warm the raincoat up in the morning in the furnace closet. It was nice and toasty when you put it on and you could smell the chemical water-repellent which made it more effective - the heat from the furnace made the renewal of the chemical waterproofing come out the same as when after you gave it the recommended touch-up ironing. As I stepped out that morning into heavy steady rain I could watch the rain bead up and roll off my coat.

When I outgrew my original tan coat, I took over my older brother's black Aqua-Haven balmaccaan, which I nicknamed my "soaker." Then the raincoat fun really started. By that time I was about 12 and I had a mile walk each way to a new school. That September was exceptionally rainy and I remember walking home in heavy rain every day one week and frequently thereafter through the fall. I hated umbrellas and the rain came down relentlessly soaking the cloth raincoat - hence "soaker."

My mom saw the need to purchase heavy vinyl football team logo ponchos for my younger brother and I for the long walk to school one night at Sears Roebuck and that opened a whole new chapter of raincoat fun........

[kulshan]

Football season is a wonderful time to see pvc "logowear" everywhere in poncho's, rain jackets, etc. It is always socially acceptable even if you are 'attracted' to the rainwear! Being a sports fan and a tailgater I have a robust supply of pvc based waterproof teamwear! Several years ago there was a line of rain jackets and poncho's in clear pvc made by Pro Player as well as Reebok. Anyone recall?

[JellyMan]

In the 90's I went to a football match (English not American and NOT "soccer"). I paid no attention to the game and to this day can only recall the reaction of the crowd AFTER the two goals because I was transfixed by a woman in front of me wearing a clear plastic jacket with an Adidas Logo in blue. I loved it when she stood up to cheer and always seemed to adjust the jacket before sitting down when the action calmed. She had long black hair that dropped into the hood. I think that helped my liking for plastic jackets! By the way, tailgating in the U.K. Is when someone follows too close behind another car!

[TStorm56]

Thanks for sharing, Joe. My affinity for wearing raincoats and rainwear started in my youth as well. One notable raincoat I remember from my childhood was a Looney Tunes rain slicker bought from the Warner Brothers Store during the 1990s. It was a shiny bright yellow, had a zip front with buttons, and a detachable hood. It was made out of a heavy duty vinyl so it creaked loudly if you moved around in it. There are quite a few photos of me in the family photo album donning this yellow slicker. For the first half of my youth up to about age 12, my family lived on the west coast, so it didn't rain very often, rarely did I get to enjoy wearing a raincoat out in the rain. Around age 13 we made the move to the east coast where it rained much, much more. Sadly, I don't have any stories of walking home in the pouring rain during middle or high school like you do, nor did I see many of my peers wearing raincoats. During my teenage years I did start to build up a collection of rain gear. During the late spring, all throughout the summer, and early fall I would put my rain gear to the test in heavy downpours brought about by thunderstorms!

Oddly enough, my time so far in college is where I have stories of wearing one of my many raincoats out in the pouring rain. One experience I always think back to is from one of my night classes I had in my undergraduate years. It was a 3-hour long class. That day, heavy rain was forecasted for around the time class would get out, but it was something like a 30-40% chance. As I prepared to leave for class that day, I went back and forth between bringing my above-the-knee yellow Grundens raincoat or not. It really boiled down to whether or not I wanted to spend a few seconds taking the raincoat off the coat rack in my room and folding it into my backpack. I decided to bring it just in case I got lucky. Sure enough, as class was about 45 minutes from ending I saw the all too familiar flash of lightning off in the distance when I was looking out the window. Class ends and I head to use the restroom. While I'm washing my hands,heavy droplets of rain begin to pelt the window with ferocity. I peek out the blinds and see that there is a full on downpour going on outside. I rush down the stairs to the ground level, put on my raincoat, and headed out into the pouring rain. My car was about a 5-minute walk. I had absolutely zero intention of spending 5-minutes in the rain though. I turned a quick walk to my car into a leisurely stroll around campus in a heavy, lashing downpour. I tightened the hood as much as I could around my face and had the wrist snaps done up. My face and legs below the knee were absolutely soaked though. My raincoat glistened in the light from the lamps around campus. I witnessed many students that were totally unprepared for the weather that night. About a minute after I entered my car and started driving home, the rain died down.

[frederique]

thanks for this hystory