The Harrington jacket

Invented in Lancashire, immortalised by Hollywood, still cool 86 years on

BORN IN LANCASHIRE, raised in Hollywood, now a citizen of the world: from its creation in the 1930s as a 'posh' man's golfing jacket, the Harrington, as it is now universally known, has become a ubiquitous element of male fashion spanning all social groups and all ages. It's a favourite of film stars, American presidents, Mods and rock stars.

Two companies - Baracuta and Grenfell, both based in Lancashire lay claim to having created it. Grenfell was first to introduce a golfing jacket, although it differed in a few details from the later version. The company had emerged from the far less snappy-sounding T Haythornwaite & Sons, founded in 1908. In 1922 Walter Haythornwaite, son of the founder, devised a 'wonder fabric' in response to a lecture given by Dr (later Sir) Wilfred Grenfell, a missionary, philanthropist and adventurer who was providing healthcare for the sailors and natives of Newfoundland and Labrador.