Jacket found in U.K. may have origins with Indigenous Manitobans 170 years ago

A rare article of clothing that found its way to a vintage clothing business in England may have Manitoba roots dating back more than 170 years.

A rare article of clothing that found its way to a vintage clothing business in England may have Manitoba roots dating back more than 170 years.

The jacket — which is believed to have been made by Indigenous people on the Canadian Prairies around the 1850s — ended up at the Glass Onion, a vintage clothing wholesaler and retailer in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, as part of a shipment from the U.S.

The Glass Onion’s head of marketing, Alice Leadbetter, told 680 CJOB her company processes 20,000 kilograms of vintage clothing a week, with regular truckloads of secondhand clothing from across Europe and the U.S.

The jacket in question was found in a bale of clothing, mixed in with countless other fringed suede pieces, and it stood out immediately, Leadbetter said.

“We’ve been in business for 15 or so years now and we’ve never come across an item quite like this. We do get a lot of vintage clothing and a lot of gems, but this one was really extra-special. Very rarely do we get an item come through of such age and historical and cultural importance as well.

“Luckily our team are vintage experts and they instantly spotted that this one had an amazing story to tell so we made sure to keep it in a safe place and store it … and that’s when we began the research process of trying to get to the bottom of what the history might be of this amazing item.”

The eventual goal, she said, is to reunite it with its community of origin.

Leadbetter said the jacket has intricate beading on the front and shoulder areas, as well as fringing details that were discovered to have been created with dyed porcupine quills. She said it’s shocking the jacket is in such good condition, as it likely moved multiple times over its long history and its journey across the world.