What is a Harrington jacket?

A Harrington is a lightweight, hip-length jacket with a fold-down collar, raglan or set-in sleeves, elasticated cuffs and hem, and a distinctive tartan lining, typically the Fraser tartan on the original Baracuta version. It was designed as practical, weatherproof outerwear and has since become a staple across multiple menswear and subculture traditions, from mod and skinhead style to American Ivy League dressing.

Why is it called a Harrington jacket?

The jacket was originally sold by Baracuta as the G9, with no connection to the name Harrington. It picked up the Harrington name in 1964 after actor Ryan O'Neal wore one repeatedly while playing the character Rodney Harrington on the American television soap opera Peyton Place. The nickname stuck so thoroughly that most people today don't know the jacket's original model name.

What is the difference between a G9 and a G4 jacket?

The G9 is Baracuta's original and most famous Harrington-style jacket, introduced in 1937 with a fold-down collar and the signature Fraser tartan lining. The G4 is a related but distinct Baracuta style with subtle differences in collar shape and cut; both belong to the same jacket family, but the G9 is the specific model that became the globally recognized Harrington silhouette.

Who made the original Harrington jacket?

Baracuta, a Manchester, England company founded by brothers John and Isaac Miller, made the original G9 jacket in 1937. The Miller brothers were regulars at Manchester Golf Club and designed the jacket as practical, weatherproof golf attire for the club's damp conditions, well before it had any connection to American Ivy or British subculture style.

How do you style a Harrington jacket?

The Harrington works as a lightweight layer over a t-shirt or oxford shirt, traditionally paired with slim trousers or jeans and desert boots or loafers in the mod and Ivy traditions, or with jeans, braces, and boots in the skinhead and 2 Tone subculture traditions it was later adopted by. Its short, hip-length cut and clean lines make it deliberately versatile across fairly different style traditions, which is part of why it has stayed in continuous production for close to 90 years.

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The Harrington Jacket Had a Working-Class Name Before Baracuta Made It a Preppy Icon

Kevin GuiJuly 2, 2026

Short answer: The Harrington jacket, originally the Baracuta G9, was created in 1937 by brothers John and Isaac Miller in Manchester, England, as a rain-proof golf coat with a Fraser tartan lining. It picked up the name "Harrington" only in 1964, after actor Ryan O'Neal wore one repeatedly as the character Rodney Harrington on the American soap opera Peyton Place.

Before Steve McQueen and Elvis Presley made it a symbol of effortless cool, the G9 jacket was a practical golf coat made in Manchester, designed for a specific problem: keeping golfers dry and comfortable on a wet, windy course, with a Scottish clan tartan lining that had nothing to do with American style at all.

The Miller Brothers and the Golf Course Origin

John and Isaac Miller founded Baracuta in Manchester and were regulars at Manchester Golf Club. Watching fellow members struggle with outerwear that was either too heavy or too impractical for the club's characteristically damp, windy weather, they designed a lightweight, water-resistant jacket specifically for the course. They called it the G9: "G" for golf, "9" for the nine holes of a standard course.

The jacket that emerged from this brief was deliberately functional: a fold-down collar that could be worn up against wind, elasticated cuffs and hem to seal out drafts, and a cut short enough not to interfere with a golf swing. None of that had anything to do with fashion trends. It was equipment first.

The Tartan Lining Was a Negotiated Detail, Not a Default

The Fraser tartan lining that's now inseparable from the Harrington's identity wasn't part of the jacket from day one. In 1938, a year after the G9 launched, John Miller approached Simon Fraser, the 24th Lord Lovat and chief of Clan Fraser, for permission to use the Fraser tartan as the jacket's lining. Lovat granted it, and the addition gave the practical golf coat an unexpected touch of Scottish clan prestige, reinforced further by Lovat's own high-profile wartime service record with the Commandos, which lent the tartan an added layer of cachet well beyond golf.

How a Golf Coat Became a TV Character's Name

The G9 spent roughly three decades as a well-regarded but unglamorous piece of practical outerwear before it acquired the name most people know it by today. In 1964, actor Ryan O'Neal wore a Baracuta G9 repeatedly while playing Rodney Harrington on Peyton Place, one of American television's most popular soap operas at the time. Viewers began asking for "the Harrington jacket," and the nickname displaced the original G9 model name so completely in public use that Baracuta itself eventually leaned into it.

By the 1960s and into the following decades, the jacket had been adopted well beyond golf and well beyond its TV-driven nickname: mod culture in Britain embraced its clean, minimal lines; the skinhead and later 2 Tone subcultures made it a uniform piece paired with jeans and boots; and American Ivy League style absorbed it as a lightweight layering staple. Steve McQueen and Elvis Presley wearing it on screen further cemented its crossover appeal, moving it from subculture signifier to broadly recognized style icon.

Harrington vs. Bomber vs. Windbreaker

Feature	Harrington (Baracuta G9)	Classic bomber	Windbreaker
Collar	Fold-down point collar	Ribbed knit collar	Often hoodless or simple stand collar
Typical material	Cotton or cotton-blend twill	Leather, nylon, or MA-1 nylon	Lightweight nylon or polyester
Lining	Tartan (Fraser tartan on the original)	Often quilted or plain	Usually unlined or mesh
Era of popularity	Introduced 1937; adopted by mod/Ivy from 1960s	Military origin, 1940s; mainstream from 1950s-80s	Mass popular from 1970s onward
Silhouette	Structured, hip-length, tailored	Boxier, ribbed waist and cuffs	Loose, purely functional cut

Spotting an Authentic Vintage Harrington

The clearest identifiers on a genuine vintage Baracuta G9 are the Fraser tartan lining itself (a red, green, and white check, not a generic plaid substitute), an umbrella-style back vent for movement and ventilation, and a Baracuta label with a design consistent with the jacket's production era; label fonts and tag formats changed over the decades, so cross-referencing a specific label style against the jacket's other construction details is more reliable than assuming any single label design covers the entire vintage era. Later licensed and reissued versions sometimes substitute a similar-looking tartan or omit some of the original construction details, so close inspection of the lining pattern and back vent construction is worth the extra minute before buying.

When you are searching for an authentic vintage Harrington, Crawli can scan multiple secondhand marketplaces for the telltale Fraser tartan lining and umbrella back vent at once, so you can compare listings and find the real thing faster.