When 1990s suede fringe jackets started making a comeback last year, U.K.-based vintage clothing company Glass Onion Vintage decided to order four tonnes of suede from a supplier in the United States.
Along with that shipment came a once-in-a lifetime discovery.
The delivery was made to its warehouse, where a total of 3.5 million items of recycled clothing are found on any given day. Occasionally staff will unearth a gem some customers will pay good money for, but what staff member Sophie Upson found, Glass Onion Vintage refuses to sell.
Upson was tasked with going through those suede items to inspect the quality and determine which ones could be resold or redesigned.
It took her a week to get through it all and by then, and after 12 years mastering her skills, she knew exactly the texture she was looking for.
鈥淭hat is old,鈥 she said to herself when she pulled out what turned to be a Canadian Indigenous jacket. It鈥檚 too elaborate to be a stage prop, she thought, as she looked inside the pockets.
鈥淲hen they鈥檝e got this linen-y fabric inside, it could be 1950s, could be '40s,鈥 she explained to 麻豆影视. But Upson was off by about century.
She told her boss, John Hickling, he had to come and see it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 beyond what I know,鈥 Upson remarked.
Whereas other historic items have been auctioned off, this jacket will have a different fate.
鈥淚 want to find out as much about it as I possibly can,鈥 Hickling told 麻豆影视. 鈥淲e want to do the right thing by the piece of clothing.鈥
Alice Leadbetter, head of marketing, then took the lead. She uploaded a and woke up the next day to half a million views and a messages from Canadian experts asking specific question about the pattern of the bead work, the stitching and the feel of the suede: is it soft or dense?
After six months, they鈥檝e pieced together this much: 鈥淲e now feel very confident that the jacket is either Metis or Cree (鈥) most likely from Alberta or Manitoba,鈥 she said.
Leadbetter was told that the olive green chain stitch on the pocket is a technique that was taught in schools in the Red River region in pre-1850s. She was also told this was a hunting jacket.
鈥淪ome museums have suggested this was created by an artist, potentially for a family member or a fur trader,鈥 she added.
The jacket is handcrafted with astonishing detail, only adding to the historical significance.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still looking for answers to narrow down it even further in hopes of finding the community it came from,鈥 said Leadbetter, who spends hours answering emails from experts asking for more pictures.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
Like millions of other items in this warehouse, the jacket would have been donated to a thrift store, discarded, and then sold to a recycling company in the United States.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
鈥淔rom there it would have been baled to different parts of the world, so maybe Pakistan, maybe Thailand,鈥 explained Hickling.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
Incredibly, it would have also made its way back to the U.S. to the vintage dealer that supplied this company, in a little English market town, with the suede it ordered.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
鈥淭he thought of the full journey, where it鈥檚 come from in history, the recycling process, the fact that鈥檚 it鈥檚 ended up in South Yorkshire, that our skilled sorters have found it,鈥 Hickling said, 鈥渋t added to its story.鈥
A suede jacket is seen inside the Glass Onion Vintage warehouse. (Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
Now it鈥檚 a question of completing the journey back to its original home.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
(Daniele Hamamdjian / 麻豆影视)
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