Meet the World's First Trench Coat Life Jacket — Designed for a London That's Going to Flood

Three creatives have designed the world's first trench coat life jacket, and they've done it because London is running out of time to take its flood risk seriously.

Launching on Earth Day, 22nd April 2026, The Drench Coat is the work of fashion designer Hadjer Kateb, art director Chelsea Tijerina, and copywriter Henry Plumridge. It is a single garment — photorealistic, 3D-rendered in CLO3D — that takes the most iconic coat in British fashion history and rebuilds it as flood survival equipment.

It looks like something that should be on a runway. It exists because Environment Agency projections put Chelsea, Kensington, Brixton, and huge stretches of East London inside serious flood-risk zones by 2050. Yet most of the people who call those neighbourhoods home have no idea.

High Fashion for High Waters.

"We didn't want to create something aspirational or purely aesthetic.” Says Tijerina. We wanted it to lean into the irony and satire of climate change — to sit somewhere between fashion and daily life, and carry a statement. Hadjer's work in CLO3D helped bring that sensibility to life."

The design earns its concept through craft. Glen plaid panelling, double-breasted hardware, a cinched utility belt– the heritage tailoring is immaculate before the survival elements even arrive. And when they do, they're precise: a red oral inflation valve on the life ring collar, a yellow emergency whistle on a braided cord, webbing harness straps crossing the waist. It’s a fashion image, but a fashion image that has decided to tell you something.

“It’s a coat for the rain, or for what comes after it.” says Kateb, who designed it. “It still holds the shape of something familiar. A London coat, worn without question. But something has settled into it. A quiet adjustment. The kind you don’t notice at first, until it feels necessary. There’s a strange comfort in how easily it makes sense. As if it belongs, even though it shouldn’t. It sits somewhere between habit and warning. Between what we wear, and what we’re slowly preparing for.”

Hadjer Kateb, founder of Petite Sage Designs, works between digital simulation and physical construction. Her practice is defined by contrast, structured yet romantic, precise yet emotionally driven. She develops garments across the full pipeline, from sketch to 3D to tailored form, maintaining a strict control over detail, texture, and silhouette.

The campaign goes live on social media on Earth Day, directing audiences to organisations working on London flood adaptation and climate preparedness: London Wildlife Charity, Groundwork London, and Friends of the Earth.

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