Lord Anthony was a brand of clothing particularly popular in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, especially their snorkel parka. It became so popular that people would often refer to it as a "a Lord Anthony" rather than a "parka" or "anorak". It became a school playground legend and even the subject of a song by Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...

 on the album Dear Catastrophe Waitress

Dear Catastrophe Waitress

Dear Catastrophe Waitress is an album by Belle & Sebastian, a Scottish indie pop group, released in 2003 on Rough Trade Records. Producer Trevor Horn, former member of The Buggles and producer of groups like Yes and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, oversaw the production of the album, and gave it a more...

.

Outerwear

Lord Anthony were manufacturers of outerwear in general. It was not a premium or fashion brand, but was at the top end of the utility section generally producing reasonably well-made and durable garments. Whilst they did use some other materials, their garments tended to be made from nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

 fabric and use cheap but warm polyester

Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...

 padding.

Snorkel parka

Lord Anthony became well known during the 1980s for their snorkel parka, which became the winter coat of choice for most schoolboys. Whereas other manufacturers (such as C&A, Brutus, Wakefields, and Keynote) were producing good quality snorkel parkas, the Lord Anthony version was generally regarded as the best.

Now that snorkel parkas have come back into fashion, the original "old school" version have become highly sought after and command high prices in retro

Retro

Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...

 shops and on Ebay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

. Lord Anthony parkas always get the highest price and even well worn, dirty, and torn versions still get a good price.

Changing branding

It is possible to tell the age of a Lord Anthony jacket from the branding labels attached to it.

Earlier versions did not actually mention the Lord Anthony name and instead just contained the "stick man wearing a crown" logo on the inside label.

Mid period jackets then gained the Lord Anthony name on the inside label and a Lord Anthony tag sewn onto the top of the sleeve pen pocket.

Late period jackets acquired a much more elaborate label with an embroidered design and the "Polar Gear" identity. These jackets lost the "stick man with a crown" Lord Anthony logo on the label; however, they usually retained the Lord Anthony tag on the sleeve pocket.

The older the jacket labelling, the higher the price it commands on the second hand market.