Last year I picked up an old Bertram Dudley Greenspot Jacket on ebay, not quite an original but a Ventile version which  we think may be circa  1970′s

It has taken a litttle time to make a comparison between old and new but now here it is…

The old …

Bertram Dudley Greenspot Jacket

Single Ventile, gaberdine inner, studded cuffs with two poppers, zipped chest pocket, inner pocket, two waist zipped pockets, waist adjustment. No hood.

The new….

Hilltrek Double Ventile Greenspot Jacket

Double Ventile, two zipped chest pockets, two waist pockets, two map pockets on rear, scooped hem, velcro cuffs.

Optional hood.

Our popular Alligin Ventile Jacket is now available in double Ventile, therefore extending the range of the design to fully waterproof  use.

The Alligin Double Ventile Jacket is priced at £235 in standard sizes and £265 Made To Measure

To order see our website

Several  non-standard options are available for the Alligin including:

- reinforced elbows £20

- reinforced shoulders £25

- additional compass pocket on chest or sleeve £15

-large zipped poachers pocket £35

-detachable hood in place of integral hood £30 extra.

Delivery of standard specification and sizes 6-8 weeks currently

Delivery of Made To Measure and standard sizes with non-standard options is 10 to 12 weeks

The Alligin Jacket shown has a navy outer and red inner layer

The River Dee was opened this year by Alistair Hume wearing a Hilltrek Dee Cotton Analogy Wading  Jacket.

Cotton Analogy is a waterproof and breathable outdoor clothing concept designed for robust applications with a Ventile outer and Nikwax Analogy pump liner

Our Cycling Double Ventile Jacket has been renamed the Greenspot Double Ventile Jacket reflecting its heritage.

The Greenspot Super Nomad jacket was originally made in the 1950s by Bertram Dudley & Son Ltd of Yorkshire  from gaberdine.  It was a general purpose outdoor jacket widely used for cycle touring.

We get many enquiries from fans of the Greenspot Super Nomad who have been searching for a source of the jacket.  Hopefully the new name will enable these fans to find the new Greenspot jacket more easily.

Photos are courtesy of Archival Clothing. See their website www.archivalclothing.com/

Early this year we were tasked with designing and making a Ventile flying Suit by biplane owner, Sotirios Koutsoukos,  who also flies gliders at the Aboyne Gliding Club. Sooty wanted the flying suit to be  functional and in a 1930′s  style which looked appropriate to the biplane. 

He recently sent us an email and photograph of the flying suit in action:

‘As promised, here is a photo of the ventile  flying suit you made for me in action. I wear it for flying  the little biplane in the background. I am very happy with it, it is very windproof, big enough to wear over heavy insulation  or on its own in the summer and it looks just like I wanted it’

Sooty

The flying suit style is similar to the famous Sidcot Flying Suit firstly developed in 1917 and used by the RAF until the 1950s. To find out more see the Imperial War Museum website.

Susan Griffiths, who designs and manufactures our outdoor clothing, talks about working with Ventile

‘I was very lucky enough to complete my apprenticeship at Hilltrek in Aboyne in the 1990′s and I have continued learning working with the fabric. When we first started out using Ventile there were not many other companies making outdoor clothing with the fabric. This was in the days before the internet and our Ventile clothing was mainly supplied to customers in the North of Scotland. With the introduction of our website in 2004, sales took off globally and have been continuing to grow ever since.

My skills and knowledge of Ventile have grown alongside Hilltrek and every day working with the fabric brings a new challenge. Many of our customers ask for slight alterations or additional features on our standard designs and these designs have subsequently evolved over the years. The first bespoke design that I produced was an Exploration Jacket for a customer who intended on using it in the Antarctic, which was a challenging design with many features. I also designed our ‘Wee Trekker’ range of Nikwax Analogy clothing for children and developed our clothing designs in Cotton Analogy, which combines Ventile and Nikwax Analogy.

Ventile as a material is in a class of its own and working with it involves a higher skill than other fabrics as there is no room for error– any mistakes show and there is no way to erase them! For this reason you have to be 100% confident working with the material. Such a good quality material stands for itself but it’s important that the style and quality of the garments we produce reflects the quality implied in the name‘Ventile’.

Understanding our customers is also fundamental and, being a small company, I have maintained first hand contact with the people who are using Ventile every day for a variety of outdoor pursuits. Although I feel sometimes that I’ve heard most uses of our Ventile clothing, there are always surprises!

Customers requests and feedback shape my knowledge and experience and I think this has been the key factor in producing some of our best garments yet. We have made clothing for a wide range of people from all over the world and our appreciation of individual requirements has resulted in many returning customers.

 I continually strive to ensure that people associate the Hilltrek brand with the same quality and respect that Ventile has earned for itself and, at the end of the day, I have to be personally satisfied that each garment is of the quality that people have come to expect of Hilltrek.

 As the Hilltrek Brand continues to grow, and we continue producing these quality garments, each day I’m reminded that no matter how many years experience we have in this type of work….we’re always learning.