Mackintosh Rainwear Alive and Well after 175 Years
The innovative application of rubber that was started by a chemist in Glasgow over 175 years ago, continues to have a presence in the fashion world in the 21st Century with the opening in London of the first boutique for Mackintosh rainwear, which is manufactured in the Mackintosh Ltd factory in Cumbernauld.
Charles MacIntosh (the spelling of the iconic rainwear was later changed to Mackintosh) was the son of a Glasgow chemist who manufactured dyestuffs for the textile industry. Around 1820 Charles discovered that coal-tar naphtha, a by-product of the Glasgow Gas Works, which had been opened in 1818, was a cheaper solvent for natural rubber than turpentine, which had been used previously. By spreading the rubber solution on woollen fabric and sticking the two layers together (combined fabric) he created a waterproof sandwich material. Patented in 1823, the Mackintosh fabric was later improved by using cotton and by vulcanising the rubber (1843), after the tie up with Thomas Hancock in 1830 when the partners entered the ready-to-wear market. Since then the company has had its ups and downs. In 1925 it was taken over by the Dunlop Rubber Company and by the mid 1990s the manufacturing plant in Cumbernauld, in Scotland, was threatened with closure but the company, at that time Traditional Weatherware Ltd, was rescued by Daniel Dunko who had started as an apprentice in 1983. By1995 he had become Sales Director and in 2000 he bought the company and restored the Mackintosh name. In 2007 Mackintosh Ltd was acquired by Tokyo firm, Yagi Tsusho, which also owns the Barbour brand, and in 2011, to consolidate the move from industrial clothing to the fashion world, it has opened its own boutique store in Mayfair in London, showcasing classics from the Mackintosh archives alongside its current fashion collections.
Although Charles Macintosh was best known for his waterproof fabric, he was a brilliant chemist and is associated with a string of innovations, including bleaching powder, the blast furnace process for cast iron, steel production, dye stuffs (turkey red) and the first alum works in Scotland.
Report by C Geddes, SPRA Hon Secretary February 2011
