Vintage Lakeland Clicker Coat

Cindy Shebley

Lakeland Clicker Coat

If you are not familiar with the Geography of the Seattle Puget Sound area Seattle is a port city located on a large inland waterway. The waterway is about 100 miles from the southern tip in Olympia to the Northern opening in Deception Pass. The Puget Sound shoreline is about 1,332 miles long encompassing a water area of about 1,020 square miles. This large mass of ocean includes many small islands. Some of these islands are just large enough to picnic on, some are accessible only by boat, and one is so inaccessible the state created a Alcatraz type prison on it. Many islands have large thriving communities. Many islands were originally inhabited by the settlers to log the massive wooded forests using the Puget Sound waterway to move the logs to the mills. With the timber industry came the need to transport people back and forth to the islands. Thus, here in Puget Sound we have a very robust system of ferries. If you ever come to the area be sure to include a trip to one of the islands - they are beautiful and the ferry trip picturesque! Of course with any transportation there are costs.... depending on the time of year a rider can expect to pay about $25.00 for car and passenger to cross to an island using one of Washington's Ferries.

Which brings me to this week's Pick of The Week.

I had an appointment with a client on one of the islands - just a quick meet up to purchase some supplies. Because of the ferry cost and because it was a nice summer day, I invited my partner Dany along to go picking. We decided to do a Thrift Shop tour of the island. Our main focus was the Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.

As we drove the country roads toward our first destination, I noticed a very small Thrift Shop sign. Of course I pulled across lanes of traffic and right in to the parking lot! It was at the very back or a small, mostly abandoned, strip mall. A small sign above the door indicated this was a church-run thrift shop. These smaller, community run thrifts are usually gems and this one turned out to be a diamond. I've found that unlike the commercially run thrifts like Goodwill, these small, all volunteer shops tend to price things low and have a wonderful selection of items usually donated by the community members.

The Thrift shop was small and full of stuff and when we entered and it was hard to know which way to turn. Usually the first thing Dany I scope out is the books, so off we went. The assortment was mainly mass market paperbacks and not worth spending much time on. After looking at the books, Dany went in one direction, I went in another. Finally, we both ended up in a room full of men's clothes. Dany first, then me.. when I entered the room Dany had a coat in her hands.

We don't usually buy clothes to resell - but this one was tugging at Dany in a nostalgic way. I had the same kind of connection when I saw it ... I think I may have seen my brother in a photo wearing one .. he's a vintage car collector. The tag marked it as a Lakeland Coat, made in America. Because it was an American made item and a regional (Wisconsin) brand, we decided to take a chance on it.

The coat didn't have a price tag so we had to take it to the clerk. We thought we'd go as high as $5.00 (because it was something we knew nothing about) but let him set the price. He sold it to us for $3.00.

When I did my research on the coat it turned out to be a  Lakeland Clicker Coat.  They are very desirable with the vintage hot rod car collectors who want to look authentic in their period cars. Over the last ninety days the prices of sold Clicker Coats ranged from $300 down to $150.

I decided to list the coat on eBay for a fixed price, offering it at $279.00, with a best offer. I did this because the ones that sold at the lower prices were the coats on auction. I received several low ($100.00 or less) email offers before accepting a $200.00 offer.

I could probably have held out for more - but the coat sold in less than two weeks, during the summer months. To me, turning the coat quickly was much more important than holding out for the very last dollar. We have limited storage space in the shop and having cash in hand to purchase more inventory during the peak garage/estate sale season is important.

To check out the coat we found on eBay Click Here