The sheepskin coat worn by Del Boy Trotter, the lead character of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, was made by Nursey Sheepskin, a family business founded in 1846 in Bungay, Suffolk. The coat wasn't created for television - it started life as a wartime request decades earlier, and Del Boy's adoption of it as his trademark look turned an already century-old Suffolk product into a genuine piece of British pop culture.
Here's the real story behind that coat, told the way it actually happened.
A Suffolk workshop, long before the sitcom
Long before "Del Boy" made our sheepskin coat a national icon, Nursey Sheepskin was already a century-old Suffolk family business. It was founded in 1846 by James Nursey in Bungay, Suffolk, and the original business had nothing to do with coats at all - it made protective leather aprons for farm workers and blacksmiths, along with gloves and other leather accessories, for the local trades of the day. You can read the fuller version of that story in our piece on the history of sheepskin craft in Suffolk.
The wartime request that created the coat
The sheepskin coat itself has a very specific origin, and it has nothing to do with fashion. Towards the end of the Second World War, Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, commander of the British 8th Army, asked Nursey Sheepskin to adapt one of its sheepskin jerkins by adding sleeves, so he could wear it as a winter warmer. That single, practical request is what led Nursey Sheepskin to pioneer the sheepskin coat in Britain - decades before it ever appeared on television.
A post-war boom, before Del Boy ever put one on
The coat found a real market well before Only Fools and Horses existed. By the 1980s, trading as Nursey of Bungay, the business was employing around 80 to 90 people, producing roughly 15,000 coats a year, and turning over about £2.5 million annually. At its peak, Nursey Sheepskin supplied hundreds of men's outfitters and women's dress shops across Britain and northern Europe - the coat was already a genuinely popular British garment before it became a television icon.
The coat Del Boy made famous
Nursey Sheepskin's fortunes changed again when Only Fools and Horses became a national institution, and its lead character, cockney wide boy Del Boy Trotter, adopted the sheepskin coat as his trademark look. The coat went on to become genuinely iconic in its own right, later joining the wardrobes of football commentator John Motson and guitarist Eric Clapton, and appearing on TV presenter Holly Willoughby.
Nurseys made two identical coats, one that was used in the show and another for David Jason himself.
Its influence reached fashion's front row too: in 2015, The Guardian reported on the "Del Boy aesthetic" appearing on the autumn/winter runways of Burberry and Topman Design, more than a decade after the sitcom first aired - proof that the look Del Boy popularised had a genuine, lasting influence on British fashion.
Changing times, and a 169-year run coming to an end
Fashion moves on, and so does the weather. As high-street outfitters and dress shops across the country closed, and winters became milder, demand for full sheepskin coats declined. Production wound down in 2014, and the factory shop in Bungay - after 169 years of continuous trading - finally closed its doors in 2015, as reported by Drapers.
Back in business: the sixth generation
The Nursey name didn't disappear for long. James Nursey and his partner Marcella took on the business, moving it online and rebuilding it as a smaller, focused, handmade operation, still based in Bungay, Suffolk, and still using a skilled workforce making genuine sheepskin and leather goods - gilets, slippers, hats, headbands, bags, and mittens and gloves. Read more about the family and the revival on our About page. As EDP24 reported on the revival, James Nursey said: "We feel there is a growing appetite for high-quality handmade British products and very few other companies can claim to have such a prestigious past as ours."
The revival has continued to attract its own attention: presenter Helen Skelton wore Nursey Sheepskin's fingerless sheepskin gloves and a peaked cap on BBC's Countryfile, and a pair of fingerless gloves featured on Rebekah Vardy's Instagram - a very different kind of visibility to Del Boy's, but part of the same continuous story.
Why the story still resonates
It's a genuinely good story precisely because it's true and slightly unlikely: a wartime request for sleeves on a sheepskin jerkin ended up, decades later, dressing one of British television's most beloved characters, then briefly influencing London Fashion Week, then surviving a closure and coming back as a small family workshop making the same kind of goods by hand. Few brands can point to a history that touches a war general, a sitcom icon and a fashion runway, all from the same Suffolk workshop.
FAQs
Did Nursey Sheepskin actually make Del Boy's coat?
Yes. Del Boy Trotter, the lead character of Only Fools and Horses, adopted the sheepskin coat made by Nursey Sheepskin of Bungay, Suffolk as his trademark look, turning it into a genuine piece of British pop culture.
Is Nursey Sheepskin connected to the BBC or the Only Fools and Horses estate today?
No. Nursey Sheepskin's connection is historical and factual - it made the style of coat Del Boy wore on screen - rather than any current sponsorship, partnership or endorsement by the BBC or the Only Fools and Horses estate.
How did the sheepskin coat come to exist in the first place?
It began as a practical wartime request. Towards the end of the Second World War, Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese asked Nursey Sheepskin to add sleeves to one of its sheepskin jerkins so he could wear it as a winter coat, which led Nursey Sheepskin to pioneer the sheepskin coat in Britain.
Does Nursey Sheepskin still make the Del Boy-style coat?
Since reviving the business, James Nursey and Marcella have rebuilt Nursey Sheepskin as a smaller, handmade operation focused on gilets, slippers, hats, headbands, bags, mittens and gloves, all made in Bungay, Suffolk, carrying on the same craft tradition that originally produced the coat. Learn more about that wider tradition in our piece on the history of sheepskin craft in Suffolk.