Delphine Ninous on the Belstaff Trialmaster

last updated 15 February 2018

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Trialmaster four-pocket jacket. With this opportunity, I looked at the Belstaff archive and to the roots of the brand in Stoke-on-Trent. I wanted to celebrate its British heritage, as well as the youth subculture movement of the 1960s when young people were adopting the style and adapting the jackets. This is why there are a lot of customised biker jackets in the latest collection, including a new Trialmaster with patches and a customised parker. A sports influence has also been mixed into the collection, because Belstaff has always made protective outdoor clothing, so there is a technical element that I am combining with a more classic, British style.

Few pieces are as enduring as the Trialmaster – if you look at the 1948 original, you still want to wear it. I think the magic of this jacket is that it's functional and stylish at the same time, and this is not always the case with many functional clothes. Sometimes they are useful, but that's where it ends. With the Trialmaster you can wear it in many circumstances, and if you look through the archive, some were made for marines, some for police officers, some for motorbike riders. It's so versatile and everybody looks so stylish in it – that's why it has survived all these decades.

We still produce it in waxed cotton and leather, but we also have a new, modern version in our Origins collection made in a three-layer stretched nylon that is even more protective and stretchy, meaning it's even more comfortable. There are many ways we continue to revisit it and make it appropriate for all seasons and pursuits, from wearing outdoors to the daily commute.