Herbert Decker was a carpenter and shipwright who, right around the turn of the 20th century, set up shop in a modest workshop in Maine. After a long and illustrious career, it came time to hang up his tools and retire, so he sold the space to a younger friend and fellow woodworker by the name of Ross Stuart Thompson—who, many years later, would become our co-founder Michael Maher's grandfather. On a recent trip back east to see his folks, Michael paid a visit to that same "boat shop" (as the family calls it) and made an incredible discovery: an authentic Brown's Beach Cloth jacket peeking out from under an old tarp. Some sleuthing revealed that this jacket's original owner was none other than Herbert Decker, and that the piece itself is upwards of a century old! Barring a handful of updates, The Decker Jacket is a faithful recreation of that long-forgotten, tarp-covered treasure—a real piece of history, ready for the next chapter.
Our admiration for Brown's Beach Cloth—its place in history, its longevity—is no secret, so we're chalking our founder's discovery up to fate. For the uninitiated, Beach Cloth was a closet staple in the early 20th century (right around the time Herbert Decker purchased his), especially among laborers whose work subjected them to chilly, darn conditions—seafarers, loggers, etc. Although we've cleaned up the construction and given it some slight updates (adjustable cuffs, a larger, more modern collar, etc.), The Decker Jacket is built to the same specifications as the remarkably resilient piece that inspired it. Now all you have to worry about is making sure your descendents have a good story to tell when they inherit yours.
