The most arresting image of the shearling coat is, unfortunately, not its most effective advertisement. Only Fools and Horses’ Del Boy has cemented for many the relationship between the trusty sheepskin and market trading, a wide fluffy collar for the wide boy. If not him, the sheepskin was for many years a staple of football managers screaming from the sidelines during frosty winter fixtures, or of John Motson, a little cosier in his commentary box.
But what unites their appreciation for the sheepskin coat – more widely known as shearling, a coat that’s been made from sheepskin, tanned and dressed with the wool left on as its natural lining – is the fact that few winter coats,