Too cool for the pool: how the Dryrobe became the most divisive thing you can wear

They were invented so surfers and swimmers could get undressed without flashing. So why are Dryrobes - half-towel, half-jacket - taking over our high streets?

During the spring lockdown in 2020, Christopher Sloman was walking down a street in Hove when he saw what looked like a green dinosaur looming towards him. The 48-year-old charity shop worker was baffled by the figure in the distance - until he realised it was a woman whose coat was so oversized that her hands (one carrying a phone, the other a coffee) looked really small," Sloman says. I thought: My God, what on earth is that?"

That" turned out to be a Dryrobe - the 160 ankle-length, waterproof robe designed as an outdoor changing robe for surfers in 2010 which has become the go-to piece of kit for any half-serious outdoor swimmer.