The duffle coat has been the perennial favourite of Otago University students. One "Very Special Reporter" reported in The Critic in 1966, "Best thing about this time of year is the influx of freshers. For one or two weeks the University is filled with an excess of young men with brand- new duffle coats, scarves and drinking mugs." Otago is New Zealand’s oldest university (established in 1869) and duffle coat manufacturer Hallensteins is New Zealand’s oldest clothing manufacturing company. Bendix Hallenstein was born in Germany in 1835. He immigrated to Australia and ran a general store with his two brothers before relocating to Invercargill to open another store. After the store ran into financial difficulty he moved to Queenstown and opened more stores in Arrowtown, Cromwell and Lawrence. Hallenstein’s The New Zealand Clothing Factory was the first men’s clothing manufacturer in the country. Bendix eventually sold the factory to the National Insurance Company in 1875 on the condition that the brothers could lease back the factory. A year later the first Hallensteins menswear store opened in the Octagon, Dunedin. Within 25 years there were 34 Hallensteins stores throughout the country. Bendix Hallenstein retained control of the company until his death in 1905. In 1987 Hallensteins merged with Glassons, creating the country’s biggest clothing company. Read more about wearing the colour black in the New Zealand Fashion Museum publication Black: The history of black in fashion, society and culture in New Zealand.