As we enter our 5th consecutive day of rain here in the Pennines, we think this is a very appropriate blog post.
We came across this fabulous vintage sign recently.
It’s a shop counter sign for ‘Antirain rainwear’ and dates from the late 1940s or early 50s. It has a classic look of the day – think James Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life or Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter. It’s even got a cute dog thrown in for good measure!
We uncovered a couple of trivia gems whilst looking into the company responsible for Antirain products – P.Frankenstein & Sons Ltd (yes, Frankenstein!). The first is that one of their prototype flying suits which incorporated pipes with circulating liquid were used by NASA in its trials to develop the Apollo spacesuit. The second is that they designed the amazing iconic yellow spacesuits seen in the classic film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Making waterproof macs must have been a doddle compared to spacesuits – and the company was based in Manchester, so who better to develop waterproof clothing?
Wow! Who would have thought a raincoat company could be so very interesting! So cool! And yes… that dog is adorable! I wonder if he's their official spokesdog, since he's on the "look for this label" image. Looks like a springer spaniel… or some sort of water dog? I'm curious to what his story is.