These Mackinaw jackets were first made in November 1811 from Mackinaw cloth which is a heavy & dense water-repellent woollen cloth, like melton wool (worsted). The cloth is so called as its was produced in the Mackinac or the Mackinaw region in Michigan which was an important trade route during the 1800 & 1900s.

The jackets were commissioned for the British Army at Fort St. Joseph, Ontario but not in the form you see now, a trader named John Askin Jr. was hired by the Captain of the fort to design & sew 40 woollen greatcoats for the British Army stationed there. The jackets were made out of three point trade blankets however the story goes that the local general goods store ran out of blue blankets so the rest of the order was completed by making the greatcoats from blankets with a black red tartan pattern that is associated with the jackets of today, this design, Buffalo check or buffalo plaid which has black hashes on a red background. The plaid got its name around when a designer at the Woolrich mill at Chatham's Run in Pennsylvania copied a pattern known as the Rob Roy Tartan in Scotland. Original Greatcoat design was also unsuitable to the terrain & weather conditions so the length was greatly reduced to the form we have today known as the Mackinaw jacket. 

The jackets were later made famous by American lumberjacks & loggers as workwear during the middle of the 19th century due to its hard wearing properties & warmth, the jacket also found widespread popularity with hunters & fishermen for the same reasons. After the war, plaid jackets of this type, were manufactured by the Pendleton brand, these became popular casual wear for American men so the name became synonymous even though Woolrich & Filson produced them too , & do now.

During the early 60s Pendleton shirts were worn by surfers & a then unknown band singing group known as 'the Pendletones' taking their name from the Pendleton wool plaid shirt. This group later changed their name to The Beach Boys & the Pendleton shirt became popular with the American youth culture.

The jacket has made several comebacks, in the 90s for grunge, hardcore punk & skater subcultures, more recently with the hipster subculture.

Today, they remain a classic workwear style favourite for many people as a stylish & warm outer layer in the cold, for work or pleasure.