It was back around 1978 that Scottish mountaineer, Hamish Hamilton, came up with his idea for Buffalo Clothing. For a long time it seems that he had been wondering how the Inuit people kept warm by using animal skins with the fur next to the skin which allowed moisture to circulate and escape through the porous hide. Hamish managed to create a synthetic version of the hide which he called Pertex and when this was combined with a fleece type inner he had an ideal material, initially for the production of sleeping bags and later on for a clothing system which included a top very similar to the one we have here in the collection. ‘ There are lions and roaring tigers And enormous camels and things. There are biffalo-buffalo-bisons And a great big bear with wings’. A A Milne Founder member of our heritage collection, Mick Tighe, was a member of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team back in the 1980’s and so good did the team think that ‘ Buffalos’ were, that they bought one for each team member. They were even bought another a few years later. This one dates from around 1985 and was cherished by Mick and fellow team members. It’s survived because the second version was blue which was far more fashionable and was consequently used more, though Mick still has his rather battered blue one 30 years later.