Dr Jaegar’s Sanitary Woollen System came into being in 1884 when Lewis Tomatin opened a shop with that name in Regent Street, London. Named after German zoologist Dr Gustav Jaegar, Tomatin had translated Jaegar’s teachings which espoused the use of animal fibres in clothing, and liked them so much he decided to make a business out of them.

For over a century, Jaegar has been the Rolls Royce of clothing, blankets, sleeping bags and just about anything to do with animal fibres, particularly wool. Antarctic explorers used Jaeger balaclavas in the early 1900s though it was a while before they became popular with mountaineers but by the 1960s they were standard headgear for mountain-goers.

There’s still a few around in the early 2000s and this, much used one, still has plenty of life in it. It’s one Mick Tighe acquired somewhere along the way and was once used in his mountain guiding company – Nevis Guides.

The balaclava had been around for a while before Dr Jaeger & Lewis Tomatin came on the scene, the name having originated in the Crimean War (circa 1854). A small alliance of European nations were battling with Russia at a place called Balaclava in the winter of 1854, desperately short of winter clothing and supplies, a ‘scandal’ hit the headlines back in the UK and supplies were subsequently despatched, they included the (often hand-knitted) headgear which we now know as the Balaclava.