US men's fashion goes postal

Diffusion clothing lines have long been in vogue in the fashion world. But it is unusual when the thing doing the diffusing isn’t some proud fashion megalith but a postal service instead.

The US Postal Service is working with the Wahconah Group to produce a line of menswear which will include jackets, footwear and clothing incorporating space for iPods and other tech. The hope is that it will go some way to reducing the posties’ working deficit – which is currently $16bn.

“This agreement will put the Postal Service on the cutting edge of functional fashion,” said Steven Mills, a spokesman for Wahconah.

It seems more likely the line, Rain, Heat & Snow, will turn its wearers into facsimiles of Newman from Seinfeld. But who can say that this won’t be the next hipster trend (remember Cat boots in the 1990s?)? Alas, our own Royal Mail, with its chic fire-engine-red polo shirts and mud-coloured combat trousers, informs The Independent it will not be following suit.