Nine Winters
A vicuña overcoat made for a board chair
The ask
Our board chair has flown in for every quarterly meeting for nine years, through nine Minnesota winters. He steps down after the March meeting. He wears the same coat he bought for the IPO. I'd like to replace it with the best coat that can be made. Budget $30–50k.
The gift
An overcoat cut by hand by a Savile Row tailor from vicuña cloth, the fiber of a wild Andean camelid shorn once every three years. It is patterned from his measurements and refined over several fittings, and we have his initials and his years on the board sewn inside the collar. It is delivered on a shaped hanger, with the card sealed in wax.
Why it's extraordinary
Vicuña is among the finest animal fibers in use, and the wild herds limit how much of it exists. It is a coat for the winters he flew in for.
The moment
It is worn to the March meeting, his last, and the old coat finally stays home.
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