Are you going outside in your dry coat? £165 terry toweling jacket, loved by wild swimmers and celebrities, is becoming an outerwear staple, but a Facebook group is shaming city dwellers who wear them to the pub and Tesco

Once considered an essential piece of equipment for wild swimmers needing to warm up after a dip in icy water, the Dry Robe has seen something of a revolution in recent years.

Today, the £165 towel jacket is no longer exclusively associated with the sport favored by the middle class, but instead seems to have become a stylish outerwear item.

Whether it’s a quick trip to the shops or a lunch break with friends, people don dry jackets for all kinds of daily errands and activities – and some of them aren’t planning on going swimming in the wild.

The garments now come in a variety of prints and styles, perhaps adding to their appeal as a stylish winter coat – and the ‘dryrobe’ logo on the chest ensures everyone knows yours is the real deal.

It also has the celebrity seal of approval – with the likes of Davina McCall and Harry Styles donning the clothes to warm up. But as the dryrobe grows in popularity, so does the response.

A Facebook group, Dry robe w*****s, which currently has 85,000 members, catches people wearing their towel robes on the street, posts photos of them to the group and subjects them to ridicule by other members.

The group’s description encourages people to “post photos of people inappropriately wearing dry robes.”

Among the faceless people mocked by the group are unsuspecting dry-coat enthusiasts who have donned their coats to the gym, supermarkets, the pub and for dog walks – and even over chic outfits.

The group’s members mock the porters for putting on the jackets despite not being anywhere near any stretch of open water.

Harry Styles and Emma Corrin pictured on the set of The Policeman in 2021 – and the actors appear to be wearing the garment for what it was intended

Davina McCall pictured in a special edition dryrobe – but it doesn’t look like she’s going for a swim

Take That’s Jason Orange, who is rarely seen in public, was spotted strolling around Hampstead in a drycoat earlier this month

The school run and trips to the local cafe were certainly not the original intention of the dry robe, the first version of which was made by Cornish surfer Gideon Bright’s mother Anne when he was just a teenager.

As she watched her son shiver in the freezing temperatures in St Ives after his morning surf sessions, she bought some waterproof material and grabbed her sewing kit.

Gideon told the Daily Mail in 2021 about the very first drycoat: ‘It was huge… light blue waterproof material on the outside, with stripes across it, a dark blue towel lining with an elastic hole for your head to stick through and a hood with snaps .

“She tried to make it look very striking; she definitely put a lot of love into it.”

He admits he barely thought about it when his mother first presented the garment to him – but the next time he was freezing in the parking lot and had to quickly change out of his wetsuit and put on dry clothes, the drycoat came in handy .

‘We used it all and it was never washed, so it got really smelly. But it worked,” he said.

Despite the usefulness of his mother’s garment, it wasn’t until decades before Gideon turned the idea into the very first drycoat that hit the market in 2010.

Since then, the garment has become a staple for wild swimmers and those taking part in other water sports, against the backdrop of cold British weather.

And the critical acclaim it has received has played no small part in helping the dryrobe develop into an everyday outerwear piece.

Many A-listers have been spotted wearing the towel jackets in recent years – both for their intended purpose, to keep warm in cold conditions, and to act as coats in the winter weather – as they venture inland and miles away from the nearest wild swimming spot were worn. place.

Take That’s Jason Orange, who has rarely been seen in public since his abrupt departure from the group, was spotted in Hampstead earlier this month in his drycoat – and although the leafy corner of London is a wild swimming hotspot, the Mancunian singer looked suspicious dry.

However, A-listers have also been known to don the garments on film and TV sets after filming scenes in the water.

Emma Corrin and Harry Styles were pictured together in their drycoats to keep warm on the set of My Policeman in 2021 after filming scenes on the beach in windy conditions.

Singer Rita Ora also looked cozy in her jazzy camouflage dryrobe with bright pink lining on set – but as she strolled the cobbled streets of East London she couldn’t have been further away from the coast.

Despite being something of an urban renewal, dryrobe itself still markets its product as a tool to warm yourself up after a wild swim.

The Instagram page is full of moody photos of swimmers walking along windswept beaches, warming up in their towel robes – without a ‘dryrobe w****r’ in sight.