Harrington jacket in cotton cambric in manila
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£450.00 — ex VAT
Short, casual jacket, made in London, with lightweight (6oz) weatherproof cotton from Scotland, and horn buttons from the Cotswolds.
Sizing
The Harrington fits true to size, with a roomy feel up top, and a neat, trim shape below. The mannequin here is the most standard 40 chest in all of London and is wearing one in size M.
| XS | S | M | L | XL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To fit chest | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 |
| Pit-to-pit | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| Back length | 25¾ | 26 | 26¼ | 26½ | 26¾ |
| Sleeve from centre-back | 33¾ | 34¼ | 34¾ | 35¼ | 35¾ |
The method of sleeve construction on the jacket means the shoulders accommodate and drape smoothly over human contours of every shape and size — rendering a shoulder measurement both impossible and irrelevant.
The Harrington goes along with the idea that a Harrington should be a plain and simple jacket — about waist length and about yay casual — but all the while goes about the brief in an entirely not-plain and not-simple way, being assembled with more carefully connected pieces than a world championship jigsaw.
The jacket has a standard collar which encircles the neck and is open from the body at the front so it hangs a little looser, looks a little less ecclesiastical, than it perhaps otherwise would, and it fastens with a single button.
There's a pocket under there. Not only does the storm flap on the Harrington go around the front as well as the more standard back, but it hides completely a horizontal pocket on the left side as worn, which is a good size for a wallet, say, and in its obscurity is the scourge of cutpurses across the seven seas.
There are two more pockets on the front of the Harrington — certainly more visible than the hidden one at the chest, but still not completely exposed to the elements. Indeed, the storm flap across the front of the jacket serves as a handy quasi-umbrella for hands when they're submerged into these neat little handrests.
The cuffs and hem of the Harrington are elasticated, pulling the cloth together for a pleasingly ruched appearance, and gripping the wrist and waist, respectively, in a supportive but unobtrusive manner.
The Harrington has a front of six buttons, four of which slot into a neatly constructed fly panel when the jacket is fastened, hidden from view, and thus leaving just the very top and bottom ones visible. They're horn, all these buttons, natural, only slightly polished, and each utterly unique from one to the next.
The Harrington features a two-piece raglan sleeve: arguably the most traditional sleeve for a such a jacket. The top side is a single panel, but a strip along the under arm helps bring shape and balance. On the body the sleeve has plenty of room around the bicep, and tapers to a neat, snug forearm.
The jacket has an in-breast pocket — an internal chest pocket, that is, of the jetted variety — on both the left and right sides.
The Harrington is fully lined — both the back of the body and the sleeves — with a slinky satin, making donning and undonning it a breeze, and helping to reduce friction with whatever is worn underneath.
Crisp, light cotton from Scotland, this, with a water-repellent finish. It has a very high number of fine threads per inch, so is smoother, stronger, and, crucially in this case, better in the rain than your average cotton. It is highly breathable, too, and is highly adept at wicking moisture away from the body.
Makers of
The jacket is made at an outerwear factory in London: the best, many agree, in the capital. The jacket is cut by the hands of a cutter with some 30 years in the trade, and sewn by one of four seamsters whose meticulousness and pursuit of perfection would be caricature were the end results not always so good.
The cotton comes from Scotland, from a mill on the coast, where the making of heavy, waxed, and otherwise element-proof materials emerged in hand, centuries ago, with local seafaring trades. Industry-strength cottons finished in industry-leading ways is very much the order of the day here.
The horn buttons are cut, shaped, and polished by the last horn button-makers in Britain. Relocated from the Midlands to the Cotswolds, they continue a tradition going back to the 18th century. "It is no easy task," claimed William Hutton in 1780, "to enumerate the infinite diversity of buttons made in Birmingham."
