The Kensington Heritage Trench Coat
The coat Burberry invented for the trenches — and the silhouette the whole house still answers to.
Prices are a snapshot from when this page was built — confirm on the retailer's site.
Story & heritage
The trench coat is the garment Burberry can claim to have invented. In 1879 Thomas Burberry developed gabardine — a hardwearing, water-resistant yet breathable cloth in which the yarn is waterproofed before weaving — and built his reputation on outdoor wear cut from it. When the First World War came, the gabardine officer's coat was adapted to the needs of men in the trenches, and the trench coat was born. After the war it passed into civilian wardrobes and never left.
The Kensington is Burberry's regular-fit reading of that heritage coat: set-in sleeves, double-breasted front, storm shield, gun flap, epaulettes, belt and D-rings, and the Vintage Check lining — a pattern Burberry has used inside its trench coats since at least the 1920s. It is offered in long, mid-length and short, so the same coat can read formal or modern depending on where it falls on the leg.
Materials & craft
The heritage trench is cut from shower-resistant cotton gabardine and made in Castleford, Yorkshire — one of the British facilities through which Burberry promotes its origins. The collar is the most demanding part of the coat: it is built from eight separate pieces and takes up to 270 stitches to form the fluid curve that lets it sit cleanly on the neck. It can take a maker up to a year simply to learn the collar's stitching.
Every functional detail is a holdover from the coat's military life. The epaulettes once secured rank insignia; the gun flap buffered a rifle butt; the D-rings on the belt carried equipment; the storm shield and throat latch closed the coat against weather. The honey gabardine and the Vintage Check lining are the two things that make the coat read instantly as Burberry, even at a distance.
How to choose & style
Honey is the canonical colour — the shade the trench has been associated with for a century — and the safest first Burberry. The long Kensington is the dressed, classic length; the short and mid-length read more contemporary and are easier over jeans. Worn open, the Vintage Check lining does the talking; worn belted and closed, the coat is pure tailored line. It is the rare piece that suits a suit, a dress and a T-shirt equally.
