About TOG24
TOG24 (TOG24 stands for “Truth Over Glory Everyday”) was founded in West Yorkshire in 1958. Based in the Spen Valley town of Heckmondwike, they started to produce footwear, branched into sports bags and football kits in the 70’s before finally landing on waterproofs and fleeces. As the brand grew in popularity skiwear and casual clothing were added. It’s still a family business.
They do a great collection of school coats and jackets for kids that can be worn from Autumn through to Winter and right into Spring. Designed in the Spen Valley in Yorkshire, these coats are affordable, made to last, really easy to wash and designed to be worn day in, day out.
Better yet, they started to produce items made with recycled polyester and organic cotton. The jackets we received are made with recycled polyester. This is is commonly made from melting down post-consumer PET which is often found as plastic bottles. This is converted into recycled polyester requiring less energy to make and maintains the same properties as virgin polyester, meaning no compromise on quality. This helps to divert plastic bottles from ending up in landfill, minimising soil contamination, air and water pollution and reducing our dependence on petroleum. The material is hard wearing, can be washed on low temperature and dries quickly.
To give you an idea about the scale of this: TOG24 used 9000 plastic bottles for their 2020 spring-summer collection, which means approximately 3.5 bottles make a jacket.
Review
We have received two recycled polyester jackets: Shibden Kids Padded Jacket in dark indigo and Shibden Kids Padded Jacket in dark indigo spot print. They were shipped with carbon neutral delivery.
The jackets are very lightweight, super soft to touch yet warm thanks to the quilted design and thermal filling that is made from recycled bottles. It’s also wind resistant with insulated hood has elastic around the opening and the cuffs are elasticated too. For safety, there are reflective prints above the cuffs and back hem that stand out against car lights for increased visibility at night.
The jackets are a really good fit, snug but not too snug and true to size. They look lovely and they are visibly well made. Because they are so lightweight it’s easy to pack them (we took them on summer holiday with us to the French Alps). They are great active wear: easy to move around in them, they are not bulky at all. The designs are cool and cute yet timeless. So it can be passed onto when the child grows out of it. The “girly” design isn’t too girly, I like the indigo outer with dots hiding the pink inner lining. And Bobcat’s coat is just really cool I think. I love the revival of the 70’s colour scheme of the stripes. They also look smart enough in my view!
The Shibden design come in a couple of other colours too. And there are other recycled polyester jackets available in the TOG24 collection for kids and grown-ups.