Many fishermen, including myself, still call the raincoat and pant components of our on-the-job garb "oilskins."
But at least one third-generation member of a family that manufactured and sold real oilskins in town defines what they at least were and how they evolved over the decades. Two Gloucester octogenarians further tell how oilskins were made, at the D.O. Frost Co. here.
Oilskins are "โฆa cotton fabric garment that boiled linseed oil has been hand brushed onto," explained Jimmy Nelson, owner of Nelsonโs at 248 Main St.