His clothes take him back in time.
Hugh Coles, who plays George McFly in Broadway’s “Back to the Future,” owns a vintage shop in his native England and said about 85% of his closet is full of used clothing.
“I made a conscious alternative that I won’t buy anything latest. All the garments you wish exist already, other than underpants and socks and athletic gear should you want it,” he said.
“For me, it’s that moment of going, ‘You picked this out and now I’m picking it out.’ It’s an inventive exchange.”
Coles, 30, who moved to Prospect Heights in May to start rehearsals for his Broadway debut, took The Post on a thrift store shopping trip in Midtown ahead of the show’s Aug. 3 opening on the Winter Garden Theatre.
Donning a 1985 “Rocky IV” T-shirt gifted to him by the show’s historian that sells for $800 online, Coles highlighted two of his favorite spots — PDL Vintage on West forty ninth Street and Vintage on forty sixth.
The important thing to looking for vintage tees — just like the 1978 Steely Dan shirt he had bought at L Train Vintage in Brooklyn the day prior for $25 that Coles estimates is definitely value $60 to $120 — is to search for single-stitched seams.
“Post NAFTA, they outsourced stitching of garments to Jamaica and Honduras and places like that and it was the tip of American screen printing,” he said. “So single stitch, that may be pre-’95, ’96, after that, it will be double stitched.”
The outfits he wears in his role of George, who was played by Crispin Glover within the 1985 film, are historically accurate, Coles said.
“Once I first put it on, it was very vital to me that it was as close as you’ll be able to get to the film and it’s bang on, each costume,” said Coles, whose character is the daddy to Marty, who was played by Michael J. Fox within the movie.
The “Back to the Future” costume department actually bought an item from his London store for one in all its ensemble members to wear on stage: a $50 Chicago Bears T-shirt from 1985.
American sportswear, similar to Nineteen Nineties NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA jerseys, t-shirts, jackets, sweats and hats, were the mainstay of his shop, Coles said.
“We specialized in Nineteen Nineties Starter Jackets, Champion jerseys, Nike, Reebok, Logo Athletic. My gateway drug into vintage was the jerseys,” he said.
