Late 1960s (?) Leather Coat / The Great Mystery of Outer, Ltd.

[fridaybutnotmonday]

Last fall my mom and I found a gorgeous leather coat at an antique barn in North Carolina. Recently I've been going back through some thrifted items and trying to date them as I am realizing I've accidentally thrifted way more wonderful pre-1980s vintage pieces than I realized, and am stuck on this coat. I've been through several resources discussing dating pieces based on their labels and tags, but there are only two tags intact on the coat, one stitched like a patch onto the bottom interior of the coat that says "Outer Ltd.," and one that just says "Made In England." There's evidence of at least one more tag on the interior of the coat, but I have no idea if it was a size indicator, care tag, etc. as it's pretty much destroyed. I've found other sellers on Etsy and eBay selling jackets from this label and have been able to trace it back to Marshall Fields & Company, and found some trademark history listing that the name's first use was in March of 1967, and that it was founded for womenswear, most significantly outerwear. Otherwise, it seems completely lost to the internet, and I can't even find traces of it on trademark history websites that list other trademarks owned by Marshall Field's.

The coat has two pockets, one being an inseam pocket and the other an imitation flap pocket (?). Both pockets are detached from the interior everywhere except for the opening. The interior feels like a synthetic fabric, but I'm not quite the expert on fabrics. In the back there is a bit of a vent detail that closes with snaps. The coat also came with a matching belt. All closures on the jacket are snaps, and there are no snaps closing the front of the jacket, just faith and a belt from what I can tell. I'm not as familiar with these details as a more seasoned historian/collector might be, and hope that they might be able to help someone in dating the jacket and figuring out all the details of the evasive Outer Ltd.

Attached are images of the jacket and its details.
EDIT: PDFs of images are now converted to JPGs for convenience.

 

[GemGem]

I want to say early 70’s, it has some detailing I would associate with the cusp, such as the collar and wider sleeve but I think the contrast stitching and the fact it had a belt make me lean to early 70’s. I’m not an expert though so let’s see what they chime in with. I’m always excited to see how close I am and to learn new things.

 

[fridaybutnotmonday]

I want to say early 70’s, it has some detailing I would associate with the cusp, such as the collar and wider sleeve but I think the contrast stitching and the fact it had a belt make me lean to early 70’s. I’m not an expert though so let’s see what they chime in with. I’m always excited to see how close I am and to learn new things.

I was thinking along those lines too, even before I found the patent date for the brand. I wish it had a care tag so I could tell if it was pre-1971 or not, but we'll just have to wait and see!