Donkey jacket
A donkey jacket is a short buttoned coat, typically made of unlined black or dark blue woolen material; originally worn as a work jacket in the United Kingdom.
Design
The donkey jacket is derived from the wool sack coat worn by workers in the 19th century, and the Oxford English Dictionary references the term as first used in 1929: "one with leather shoulders and back". There is often a plastic panel covering the shoulder-blade areas. This panel can be plain black or grey, or fluorescent orange or yellow for conspicuousness and for night use. When used as a work jacket, it sometimes bears the name of the company which supplies the jacket, or the name of the company for which the wearer works. The jacket usually has two capacious side pockets, and sometimes an inside "poacher's pocket".
Social significance
The donkey jacket is regarded as typical of the British manual laborer and trade unionist as well as members of the political left. It is also favored by traditionalist skinheads. Former British Labor Party leader Michael Foot was criticized for supposedly wearing a donkey jacket at a Remembrance Day wreath laying ceremony and he was shown wearing one on several covers of the satirical magazine Private Eye; it was a "very expensive short overcoat" chosen by his wife.
EmoticonEmoticon