It all started with a mole in the pub

HebTroCo started as an idea in the pub to make great trousers, like used to be made right here in this valley. The choice of cloth was obvious to us but as it turned out unknown to most people.

Some daft folk think that moleskin is made from moles. Obviously it isn’t, it’s made from cotton, tightly woven for toughness and weather resistance then raised and sheared for softness and warmth.

A little known fact is that the phrase ‘blind drunk’ actually comes from the mole’s extreme intolerance for alcohol!

“The wild west had denim but the cowboys of Calderdale wore moleskin.”

Moleskin was one of the main types of cloth woven in Calderdale in the industrial days. Much of this hard wearing, soft, brushed finished moleskin went on to be made into trousers in the many local sewing shops and was then worn by industrial and farm workers. The wild west had denim but the cowboys of Calderdale wore moleskin.

As well as trousers, moleskin was also made into jackets and waistcoats. It was the workwear of the people but could also be made up into Sunday best and was worn as a symbol of working pride. Famously the highwayman Dick Turpin chose a moleskin suit for his execution in York adding to the cultural clout of the mole.

Then somewhere in the twentieth century moleskin lost its way. The people forgot what it was and just the country folk carried on choosing this cloth for its bramble resistance as well as the other qualities already mentioned. We had moleskin trousers when we were kids and really wanted them again so we started making them in the style we wanted. The rest is HebTroHistory.

Moleskin jeans have never left our range and they continue to sell all year round. You lot just love them. Our moleskin overshirts outsell all the other shirts that we do. Most of our Micap moleskin caps sold in the first day they were launched.

Raise your glasses to the mighty mole.