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Kangouraks: what are they?

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snowybella
Member
#1 · Posted: 6 Jun 2017 03:14
I have found pictures of Tintin and Haddock wearing a "kangourak salik", and so far I have seen Captain Haddock wearing a yellow kangourak, Tintin rock-climbing with an orange kangourak, and Tintin walking to Kiltoch with a blue one, seen here.
I've also seen in an auction catalogue Thompson, Thomson, Tintin, Haddock and Calculus wearing kangouraks, while Snowy says "Terrific!".


Does anybody know what a kangourak is? Thanks!
mct16
Member
#2 · Posted: 6 Jun 2017 09:51
The Kangourak Salik is a kind of rain coat. The images you describe were part of an ad campaign for a Dutch company which made them. They were drawn by Herge's assistant Bob de Moor. Click here for details.
jock123
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 6 Jun 2017 10:13
"Kangourak" is a portmanteau word, made from "kagoul" and "anorak" (two types of lightweight rain-jacket); it was used as a trade name by the manufacturer AGU for one line of their Salik International products; AGU no longer seem to be trading as Salik, as the trademarks have expired, and "kangourak" isn't used by them (or anyone else) today, as far as can be told from the AGU website.

Salik apparently means "clear and moving" in Arabic (it's used as the name of a road-toll system in Dubai), but apart from that sounding a bit "outdoorsy", I don't know if that was the reason for the choice for the clothing brand's name.
dedemax
Member
#4 · Posted: 6 Jun 2017 15:03
Salik was the real name of the company owner, Pierre Salik, inherited from his father's textile company specializing in the production of jeans.
jock123
Moderator
#5 · Posted: 6 Jun 2017 22:59
dedemax:
Salik was the real name of the company owner, Pierre Salik

Ah, excellent! Thanks so much for clearing that up, dedemax - do you know if they still make clothing? As I said above, the registration of the Salik International marks appear to have lapsed.
snowybella
Member
#6 · Posted: 7 Jun 2017 01:08
Thanks everybody! Those Kangourak Saliks do look rather nice to wear, though. Hang on, I've just noticed that there are the words "Opti-Lon" on the bottom corner of each one!
mct16
Member
#7 · Posted: 7 Jun 2017 09:44
Opti-Lon was a company which specialised in zip fasteners. They supplied the zips for the rain coats and may have arranged to be included in the ads in order to boost their own brand.

On the Bob de Moor link that I included, you may have noticed that the ads were based on scenes from the actual adventures. Furthermore they were actually stickers which you could then stick to the wall of your room or your car or suitcase.

This was deliberate: the scenes of the characters wearing these anoraks all appeared together on a page published in magazines and a competition was held in which readers had to identify which adventures the ads were based on - like "Prisoners of the Sun" (Haddock is shown wearing such an anorak after going through the waterfall); or "Red Rackham's Treasure" (with Tintin, Snowy and Calculus on the bridge of the "Sirius").

If they got them right, then the first thousand entries won a Kangourak Salik anorak and the next thousand would get the stickers.
dedemax
Member
#8 · Posted: 7 Jun 2017 10:54
Hello
No Salik company disappeared late 90s, bankrupt.
In fact Pierre Salik is a fairly peculiar person who has created many companies (especially in the textile field) who have made suspicious bankruptcies.
As for the Kangourak, I had one when I was young, it was an imitation of the rain coat that folds into a pouch : K-way
http://k-way.ca/en/
mct16
Member
#9 · Posted: 7 Jun 2017 12:27
Here's an interesting anecdote: in 1978 a Belgian businessman, Baron Édouard-Jean Empain, was kidnapped in Paris. At one stage, in order to avoid being traced by the police, the kidnappers contacted Pierre Salik by phone and got him to pass instructions on to a third party who was to deliver the ransom.
jock123
Moderator
#10 · Posted: 8 Jun 2017 13:40
mct16:
Opti-Lon was a company which specialised in zip fasteners.

No need to worry on that score, no "was" about it! Opti-lon still is a company which specializes in (woven spiral) zip fasteners (it's actually, strictly-speaking, a brand of Coats Group Plc, which - perhaps confusingly - isn't called "Coats" because they make coats (they don't, they make thread and other haberdashery), but because their founder was a Mr. James Coats. Possibly nominative determinism played a small part, but otherwise it's just coincidence). They claim to be "world leaders" in the field, but because I haven't the time to verify this, we shall just have to take them at their word, with the caveat that other zip fastener manufacturers are available...

mct16:
Here's an interesting anecdote:

Not just an interesting anecdote - sounds like the start of the plot for your next novel!

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