Pakamac

It's been over a year since I posted but what a perfect wet year it has been for my Pakamacs. I was even astounded to buy a yellow plastic mac in a high street shop. Sadly it was one going out of business. Best wishes to my mac wearing friends.

Susie its good to see on the web again email me.

It's a triple mac day today in Blackpool.
Wore one mac to MacDonalds and heard an assistant shout for a mac to the kitchen.
On second thoughts I'd have preferred just to wear three macs.

Can't make a link but have you all tried drive-in fashion british pathe not pakamac but nice hat and mackintosh.
Re mails from ladies sadly seems most of them have this odd idea that mackintoshes are for keeping out the rain.
And worst still they would rather get wet than wear one shame. Bev.

Where have all the ladies gone is it only men that make a comment come on ladies lets hear from you.

Ken, are you from Liverpool luke myself and f so which district and what is your particular interest.
Personally it navy blue nylon pakamac as were the standard school wear or nowdays the only real alternative is the nylon macs at Rainmac which are first class quality
Regards

Colin it was in Liverpool

Hi to you all again. This site seems to have gone very quiet. Well I found a new site which I thought some of you might find interesting, : experienceproject.com its a site where you just put in you interests and find other people who are interested in the same. It really is worth taking a look at. Not much happening on the Pakamac side at the moment.Anyone had any recent experiences in there macs?
Regards Alan

Hello Ken.

I've lived in N.London, Framwellgate Moor (Durham), Carrville (Durham) and now in Blackpool. Can't recall a Garmoyle Road.

Tip for mac mending: a piece of transparent shower curtain to patch over a tear and used with the soft plastic glue, some of which I've found in Maplins electronic store (at Blackpool.)

Recommend joining Rainwear Central, and yahoo groups for Rainwear Bound for anyone who hasn't done so yet.

Colin I think I know you did you use to come to Garmoyle Rd years ago.

Alan, thank you for that tip, I'll be there next week as I have a few repairs to do.
I can never really fathom out the stares. Are they admiring or what. Fortunately at my age I'm better able to ignore them now and will go out even when others are around

Lesley your feelings when you have a small tear in your plastic macs use to have the same effect on me, But after many atempts to repair torn or split plastic macs I tried every adhesive I could get my hands on but all said the same, Not suitable for soft plastics. But recently I came across some adhesive in Wilkos called soft plastic glue.
So I purchased a tube not having too much confidence in it, But to my suprise its brilliant. If you keep a disused mac to cut for patches you can repair any kind of rip before it goes too far,
Getting back to this recent weather its ideal for plastic mac wearers but like you say people stare.
I tend to go to areas where I know it will be quiet like a walk along the Canal towpath or the many walks around here in the countryside because you rarely meet anyone when its raining, So it gives me chance like you to enjoy the long shiny translucent plastic mac moving with every movement of my body,,I live in hopes that they will return one day. but I doubt it.

Anna how are you and your son

That's the thing Colin, plastic macs do tear easily, the more so if they have the plastic buttons. Those styles are my favourite. Personally, I think the ones in the eighties were the worst, extremely flimsy. They're much better now but my heart still sinks when I see even the smallest tear.

I must say, I'm loving this unpredictable weather, although my sympathy does go out to those who have been flooded out. I've been out so many times in my plastic macs recently and at least twice this week. The other day was so wet, I spent ages out in my long black plastic mac, buttoned up to the neck - a wonderful feeling. I've only just returned from a four hour walk in a knee length black plastic mac. It was fabulous being out in a plastic mac when it wasn't raining, looking well prepared for a downpour but the smile on my face must have betrayed how good I felt on the inside, just staring at the rippling smooth plastic. What a pity there was nobody else in theirs.

A while ago I proposed that this should be 'Pakamac Week'. Maybe 1012 could be considered the Year of the Pakamac. For me though, I've devoted most of my whole life and love to Pakamacs, they're going to have to bury me in one.

In reply to Alan, I'd say plastic macs went out of favour because they tore and still do tear too easily, and so many people have cars now instead of walking to and from work or a standing at an open bus stop.

Alan,Suzie- can you send please a mail to me
uki@tele2.at

Hi Katie. I was wondering if you eventually got fixed up with a retro raincoat that you wanted, Peter. I was in a shopping centre in town the other lunchtime when I saw exactly the same kind of thing, Youngsters walking down the main street obviousy in there lunchbreak from the colledge with there blazers ver there heads during a heavy shower, I too fail to understand what is or was wrong with the good old British Plastic mac. It was easy to carry and served a valuable purpose when needed, Not to mention the people with similar feelings about them like myself. Regards Alan

Hi Lesley

I dare say you and others reading this will think I have a strange sense of humour when I say I laughed this morning as I watched people out there in what can only be described as torrential rain

Three schoolgirls on their way to school.....must have left home just in blazers although it was raining ..walking up the road with their blazers on their heads...crazy or what!

And to think the way my mum made sure we wore sensible rainwear when we went to school

Is it that parents just don"t care or let the children do their own thing

Of course is there such a thing as a school mac now

We had regulation gaberdine macs....most were dark blue or black ...a few were green.light blue ...these for winter wear and for the summer showers...the old faithful plastic mac

But grown ups are no better....prefer to get wet rather to wear a sensible mac...not only the younger ones...the older generations seem to have discarded their rainwear

I do recall in some early episodes of "Last of the Summer Wine...Peter Sallis wore a black plastic mac but thinking it might be proving difficult to get plastic macs they kitted him out with a nylon one

I suppose I am a bit like Peter Sallis....irrespective of the weather...on many occasions dry he wears his nylon mac or carries it with him

On Saturday it was dry here but windy....what did I do...wore my brown nylon mac

I dare say some thought...Why a mac?....not raining or none expected

Just look at old Pathe Newsreel in black and white

All ages...young and old in macs

They were good days...not just for mackintoshes but life in general

Peter

I can't help but agree with you Peter. All this bad weather and nobody wearing a traditional style of folding mac (apart from me). Like you, I'm rarely without a folded nylon mac and will wear it no matter what the weather, like Peter Sallis in 'Last of the Summer Wine'. When it's wet though, it's usually by black plastic mac. What I don't understand is why people seem to stare, like I've just arrived from Mars!
I think we should introduce an 'International Pakamac Week' when we wear our pakamacs everyday. I'd suggest it is around St Swithin's Day (15th July) to encourage a further 40 days of rain.

May I ask a question to all mac enthusiasts out there...

Does no one listen to or watch weather forecasts

The reason I ask is that it was broadcast that heavy showers would hit the London area on Wednesday but I sat at my window watching the rain and hail which was like a torrent and saw some very wet individuals out in it

Now for me old habits die hard...as kids(1950s) the plastic mac was always put in the school bag...."Just in case it rained" was Mum"s advisory comment

So irrespective of the weather forecast my lightweight mac is carried and the amount of times I have had the last laugh on those who ended up with a wet experience

Why is it that we have turned into an anti mac society...seems it is the trendy thing to wear as little as possible and get wet

So much am I attracted to mackintoshes I wear them indoors as well as outside

Sadly my ex wife never accepted this innocent passion of mine so the only time I could wear them indoors when she was out....

Now on my own I do my own thing.....Mac wearing indoors as well as outdoors

A well kept secret to be shared with fellow mackintosh enthusiasts

Katie I will look up the sites what model car do you have and please save the last dance for me.

Nice one in Torquay last week, wet day. Had on my turquiose nylon mackintosh from rainmac had it on all day.
When putting it back on in cafe a lady asked me where i got it and said what a nice colout for holiday.Pleased to tell her.

Hi Katie, just read your posts and that your into retro clothing and attend events such as Goodwood.

Whilst I don’t wear vintage clothing myself, I do have affection for vintage sports cars (and rainwear) and do like the Goodwood event. Especially when everyone makes an effort to dress in vintage attire. I did see a video clip of last year’s show and noticed a lack of period plastic rainwear being worn when raining, which was disappointing. I do agree with you that a nice plastic raincoat, matched up with belt and rain scarf or folding rainmate worn over vintage clothing setts the look off so well when raining, it’s just very retro chic indeed.

Well to get to the point, I may be able to help. I have a retro ladies Almar plastic raincoat size small 8-10. Semi-transparent white with matching tie belt and headscarf, has side pockets and 4 plastic buttons, complete with box. I think early 60s however looks vintage style. It’s been worn a couple of times by my ex-girlfriend, who looked great in it. It can launder easily.

If your interested drop me an e-mail and I can ping some photos to you and we can take it from there.

Happy to help
Scotty

I go to events mostly in Kent, so Darling Buds, Paddock Wood Hop Farm, Camber - and Goodwood too. We used to go to Biggin Hill every year, but it finished. Anywhere we can display the car really - and dress up of course! Have a look at their websites if you fancy going to one.

Dances, not so many now because they're in the evening and I don't really have anyone to look after my daughter at the mo.

Katie

Katie were and when are your dances and events details please.

Thanks again both for your replies - you've been really helpful. I think I know what you mean by translucent buttons, that seems familiar to me! I will have to ask pvc you like if they have anything like that, I'll see if they have the natural colour material too - I think I'd prefer this because it will go with any outfit. I'll keep you informed how I get on.

I think raincoats can be very stylish Lesley, especially if they have a belt. This is helped by the clothes underneath of course. Anyway, if you collect vintage clothes you don't really want them getting wet. We went to Goodwood a few years back and got soaked. I was wearing a little fur jacket too - not a good look lol.

Take care
Katie

Katie, I think both buttons are representative of the era but I particularly remember plastic macs, whatever the colour, with the contrasting white or clear buttons. Yes, the 'natural' colour wasn't exactly white, translucent really, colourless. Quite distinctive really.
It's a pleasure to hear from someone who appreciates the look of a plastic mac then it's teamed with an outfit. For me, they were/are extremely fashionable garments.

Katie. Natural is vinyl without any specific colouring.
The best way to describe it is Milky but translucent.
You had me thinking for a moment bout the buttons but after
going into deep thought about it , I remembered that on quite a few of the colours the buttons were actualy transparent without colour that seemed to match most colours. Some colours appeared more shiny than others.
I am pleased you were impressed with Pvc-u-like,. On the very early ones I seemed to remember the buttonholes were
stitched. They did vary as time moved on and the material varied. My mobile No is in a previous message here if you
want to text me with any more questions you may have,

Hi Alan/Lesley, thanks so much for your quick and helpful responses. I've just had a look at the pvc u like site, and yes they do look fab don't they! I love the matching bonnets too. They mention they can do either black or white buttons - are both correct for the period do you know?

Oh, what do you guys mean by 'natural' is that just plain see through white?

Thanks
Katie

You described the plastic macs from the 50s exactly as I remember. I particularly remember the natural coloured ones which pvc-u-like emulates so well these days. The only thing I might add would be the optional tie belt and a matching plastic rain head square with a long drape.