For sale here is a shop coat from the S.E.H Kelly label, a pretty small-scale manufacturer based in London. S.E.H Kelly is unique in a couple of ways. For one, their clothing is produced entirely in the UK. That is, all aspects of their clothing are sourced from British manufacturers. The designer, Sara Kelly, originally started out on Saville Row in London and was able to make a number of contacts with British fabric mills, button makers and traditional manufacturers. This is an increasingly rare thing, where these days many labels outsource to the developing world. Not only is S.E.H Kelly’s clothing imbued with British history, but many of these textiles are otherwise largely impossible to get outside of exclusive made-to-measure British tailoring.
Another unique aspect of S.E.H Kelly is their business model, where they are currently only available online. They used to have their own small brick-and-mortar store in London and some Japanese distribution, which seems to no longer be the case. The label is kept intentionally very small, with very small production runs given the scale and the type of materials involved. Still, S.E.H Kelly present an entirely unique take on classic British clothing, where their materials are some of the best available, while the designs tend toward the more casual. It’s a niche that few others are able to occupy, and really none as well as S.E.H Kelly.
With all of that said, this is their take on the classic shop coat, a workwear staple intended to provide some basic protection from the elements while also giving ample storage space to carry your tools and materials. This version is more tailored than the workwear inspiration with a notched lapel and pronounced shoulder. The fabric is a beautiful 50% cotton / 50% linen blend. Normally this kind of cotton/linen combo would be a perfect summer fabric. However, this piece is more suited to the British climate known for being generally cold and rainy. The fabric is actually doubled up on the interior in the front, giving it considerably more weight than you would normally find. It is still nicely breathable, and as such I would consider this a good fall-spring coat. The fabric has a beautiful weave and texture to it and is honestly S.E.H Kelly’s specialization and their strongest point. You won’t find these fabrics elsewhere, especially at this price point.
S.E.H Kelly always incorporates some interesting details as well. The coat uses genuine horn “butchers” buttons that are removable to help facilitate washing. My favorite detail is in the pockets – not only are there two large patch pockets on the sides but there is an additional set of side pockets hidden in the front seam. The patch pockets are also quite large and capable of holding quite a bit of stuff. Retail was pretty steep on this coat if you were lucky enough to come across it when originally released, and now this model is completely sold out. These aren’t likely to come back anytime soon either.
Size is labeled a small, although it fits more like a standard medium in my opinion. I measure the chest at 20.5” / 52cm, shoulders at 18” / 45cm, length at 38” / 97cm from the base of the neck, and sleeves at 25” / 64cm from the shoulder. The coat comes in lightly used, very good shape with no holes, tears or stains. Made in the United Kingdom.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $36.
