Once-in-a-lifetime discovery: Indigenous jacket more than a century old turns up in small U.K. town
Once-in-a-lifetime discovery: Indigenous jacket more than a century old turns up in small U.K. town
DODWORTH, ENGLAND -
When 1990s suede fringe jackets started making a comeback last year, U.K.-based vintage clothing company Glass Onion Vintage decided to order four tonnes of suede from a supplier in the United States.
Along with that shipment came a once-in-a lifetime discovery.
The delivery was made to its warehouse, where a total of 3.5 million items of recycled clothing are found on any given day. Occasionally staff will unearth a gem some customers will pay good money for, but what staff member Sophie Upson found, Glass Onion Vintage refuses to sell.
Upson was tasked with going through those suede items to inspect the quality and determine which ones could be resold or redesigned.
It took her a week to get through it all and by then, and after 12 years mastering her skills, she knew exactly the texture she was looking for.
“That is old,” she said to herself when she pulled out what turned to be a Canadian Indigenous jacket. It’s too elaborate to be a stage prop, she thought, as she looked inside the pockets.
“When they’ve got this linen-y fabric inside, it could be 1950s, could be '40s,” she explained to CTV News. But Upson was off by about century.
She told her boss, John Hickling, he had to come and see it.
“It’s beyond what I know,” Upson remarked.
Whereas other historic items have been auctioned off, this jacket will have a different fate.
“I want to find out as much about it as I possibly can,” Hickling told CTV News. “We want to do the right thing by the piece of clothing.”
Alice Leadbetter, head of marketing, then took the lead. She uploaded a video to TikTok and woke up the next day to half a million views and a messages from Canadian experts asking specific question about the pattern of the bead work, the stitching and the feel of the suede: is it soft or dense?
After six months, they’ve pieced together this much: “We now feel very confident that the jacket is either Metis or Cree (…) most likely from Alberta or Manitoba,” she said.
Leadbetter was told that the olive green chain stitch on the pocket is a technique that was taught in schools in the Red River region in pre-1850s. She was also told this was a hunting jacket.
“Some museums have suggested this was created by an artist, potentially for a family member or a fur trader,” she added.
The jacket is handcrafted with astonishing detail, only adding to the historical significance.
“We’re still looking for answers to narrow down it even further in hopes of finding the community it came from,” said Leadbetter, who spends hours answering emails from experts asking for more pictures.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
Like millions of other items in this warehouse, the jacket would have been donated to a thrift store, discarded, and then sold to a recycling company in the United States.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
“From there it would have been baled to different parts of the world, so maybe Pakistan, maybe Thailand,” explained Hickling.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
Incredibly, it would have also made its way back to the U.S. to the vintage dealer that supplied this company, in a little English market town, with the suede it ordered.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
“The thought of the full journey, where it’s come from in history, the recycling process, the fact that’s it’s ended up in South Yorkshire, that our skilled sorters have found it,” Hickling said, “it added to its story.”
A suede jacket is seen inside the Glass Onion Vintage warehouse. (Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
Now it’s a question of completing the journey back to its original home.
After weeks of resistance, and ahead of a vote that could have compelled it to happen, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office has announced that his chief of staff Katie Telford will testify about foreign interference, before a committee that has been studying the issue for months.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has released foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's mandate, which instructs the former governor general to determine by May 23 whether a public inquiry is necessary.
A 15-year-old is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder, after two staff members were stabbed at a high school in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
A group of sheriff's deputies and other personnel at a Virginia mental hospital forcibly pinned patient Irvo Otieno to the ground until he was motionless and limp, then began unsuccessful resuscitation efforts, according to newly obtained surveillance video.
A Virginia teacher who was shot and wounded by her 6-year-old student said it has changed her life and she has vivid memories and nightmares about that day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday a Chinese peace plan could provide a basis for a settlement of the fighting in Ukraine when the West is ready for it.
A 15-year-old is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder, after two staff members were stabbed at a high school in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
Rescuers have yet to recover any additional bodies from the wreck of a fire in Old Montreal last week. As of Tuesday morning, there were still six people missing. The body of one victim, a woman, was extracted on Sunday.
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day and to mark the occasion a Canadian organization launched a campaign showcasing older people living with the condition.
A group of sheriff's deputies and other personnel at a Virginia mental hospital forcibly pinned patient Irvo Otieno to the ground until he was motionless and limp, then began unsuccessful resuscitation efforts, according to newly obtained surveillance video.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that he would call a high-level meeting of the military organization's main forum for cooperation with Ukraine next month despite objections from Hungary.
China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas exports, pumping billions of dollars into Russia's treasury and helping the Kremlin resist Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. However, Russia's reliance on China is accelerating its slide into the junior role in an uneasy relationship with Xi's government.
A grand jury heard from a potential final witness Monday in the investigation into Donald Trump as law enforcement officials accelerated security preparations in advance of a possible indictment and as fellow Republicans staked out positions in a criminal probe expected to shake up the 2024 presidential race.
The Biden administration is putting out the word that expected stopovers in the United States by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen would fall in line with recent precedent and should not be used as a pretext by China to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait.
A 72-year-old American imprisoned more than a year in Saudi Arabia over tweets critical of the Saudi crown prince was back with family members in Riyadh on Tuesday, but it wasn't clear whether the kingdom will drop a travel ban to allow him to return home to Florida.
After weeks of resistance, and ahead of a vote that could have compelled it to happen, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office has announced that his chief of staff Katie Telford will testify about foreign interference, before a committee that has been studying the issue for months.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has released foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's mandate, which instructs the former governor general to determine by May 23 whether a public inquiry is necessary.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent end run around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, the Conservatives forced the House to spend Monday debating a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
A new report that looks at the prevalence of marketing to children inside grocery stores and restaurants suggests regulation is needed to help reduce unhealthy food temptations.
Health Canada has launched a new toll-free number, 1-844-POISON-X, or 1-844-764-7669, to help people across the country access critical medical advice related to poisonings more easily.
Experts say a growing number of people are seeking out platelet-rich plasma therapy to treat COVID-19-related hair loss. But how well does the treatment actually work?
TikTok went on a counteroffensive Tuesday amid increasing Western pressure over cybersecurity and misinformation concerns, rolling out updated rules and standards for content as its CEO warned against a possible U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned video sharing app.
A Vancouver parent has launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against the makers of Fortnite, saying the popular video game is designed to be “as addictive as possible” for children.
Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in court in Utah on Tuesday morning in a lawsuit filed by a retired optometrist who said that the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer violently crashed into him in 2016 while skiing at one of the most upscale ski resorts in the United States.
Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne were among the 'John Wick: Chapter 4' stars honouring Lance Reddick, their co-star who died unexpectedly last week, at the film's Los Angeles premiere.
Public screenings of a slasher film that features Winnie the Pooh were scrapped abruptly in Hong Kong on Tuesday, sparking discussions over increasing censorship in the city.
The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it is assessing Sri Lanka's governance in the first case of an Asian country facing scrutiny for corruption as part of a bailout program.
Strength in energy stocks as well as the financial and technology sectors helped Canada's main stock index gain more than 150 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is trying project calm after regional bank failures, saying the U.S. banking system is 'sound' but additional rescue arrangements 'could be warranted' if any new failures at smaller institutions pose a risk to financial stability.
The 2023 World Happiness Report identifies the happiest nations, those at the very bottom of the happiness scale and everything in between, plus the factors that tend to lead to greater happiness.
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day and to mark the occasion a Canadian organization launched a campaign showcasing older people living with the condition.
The NCAA changed its setup for the women's tournament this season, trimming the traditional four regional sites to two. Seattle and Greenville -- a city of 71,000 in South Carolina about halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina -- will each host eight teams before sending the winners on to Dallas for the Final Four.
Three misdemeanour charges were filed Monday against the son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Danny Briere after a video posted on social media showed him and another Mercyhurst University athlete pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase.
Martina Navratilova returned to TV work at Tennis Channel for its coverage of the Miami Open on Tuesday, less than three months after saying she had throat cancer and breast cancer.
U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints from Honda Civic drivers that their steering can stick, causing a momentary increase in effort and increasing the risk of a crash.
The 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 will deliver 1,025 horsepower from its 6.2-litre supercharged V-8, and the automaker says it will be the quickest production car made.
For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles - leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric.
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
A suede jacket is seen inside the Glass Onion Vintage warehouse. (Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
(Daniele Hamamdjian / CTV News)
