Beryl

No one knows the Baracuta G9 Harrington Jacket like Beryl. As a previous Baracuta worker, Beryl has literally had a hand in the creation of the iconic jacket. Working from home, Beryl would make 22 G9 jackets a week, being paid up to £1-2 for each one.

Very nice to meet you and thank you for being part of Baracuta’s long lasting journey. Can you share your memories from crafting Baracuta jackets?

I went into the factory, spent a week there and it was just great. That was the beginning. Came home, every Friday, 20 jackets, worked a week. Monday's it was all the collars, pocket flaps, cuffs, all done and turned-out Monday night. I did five coats a day on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Picked up, new batch dropped off for me to work on.

They asked me if I could do some samples for the Omen film, and they had to be spot on. Not that my work wasn't spot on, but they needed to have it really spot on for Gregory Peck. However, I did them. I started with wages at 50p a coat, rising to 75, rising to a pound and then when I did the Omen jackets, they gave me £2 a jacket which was a bonus.

How was it working with the factory?

It was interesting because it was totally different to what I'd been used to. I went from baby clothes to golf jackets; it was a big change, and it was interesting and mixing with different people. There was this man called Sid who showed me the routine and everything.

Wherever I've worked in sewing, you always had to put a number. You had a number, like the baby clothes number was 278. And you knew that that was your number. It was usually on the label, but with the G9 jacket, it was on a little tag on the side.

Do you remember making the jacket in different colours?

Yeah. Red, navy, black, beige. All different colours. And you always had to make sure that the spool was full for the oversewing because you couldn't have any joinings, no joinings in them. People always ask how we turned them out, what we call bagging out. When you bring the right side out, you turn them through, when you've done all the inside. It’s usually through a little seam on the sleeve and you pull it through and then sew that up. It made it a little bit complicated to make a jacket, it wasn’t easy.

Other than Gregory Peck, have you seen other celebs wearing the jacket?

Well, there's one now in Coronation Street, Peter Barlow is wearing one now in that, and I've seen them in a lot of American things.

We know you have a very personal memory which happened many years after your time with Baracuta.

Once I was in Greece and saw a man walking along wearing a Baracuta jacket. The next time I saw him I stopped him and said, “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but can I have a look at your jacket?” He asked why and I explained that I used to make them. So, I looked at the inside and it was actually one of mine. It had a number 10 on it, it was a black jacket that he’d bought in London. That was about 20 years ago.

Do you still see the G9 around?

I've seen it a lot on television. In the soaps, in different things, different series. When I do, I always think, “Oh, there's my jacket.”