Hunting jacket in cotton duck in black
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£440.00 — ex VAT
Five-button jacket, made in London, with two types of cotton — mostly a duck canvas of not-insubstantial weight (14oz) from Lancashire — and with dark horn buttons from the Midlands.
Sizing
The hunting jacket fits true to size. The mannequin here is as standard a 40 chest as ever there was, and is thus wearing size M.
| XS | S | M | L | XL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To fit chest | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 |
| Pit-to-pit | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Back length | 31¼ | 31½ | 31¾ | 32 | 32¼ |
| Sleeve from centre-back | 32¾ | 33¼ | 33¾ | 34¼ | 34¾ |
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.
Workwear from the more technical end of the spectrum, this, with exactly as much to it as meets the eye — which, including seven external pockets, is quite a lot. It is made with two types of cotton, with the majority a durable cotton, and the upper parts a lighter and more rain-resistant high-count cotton.
It has a collar of moderate size, and with gently rounded corners, and a front which is designed to roll softly open. The collar is easily coerced into standing up straight, or once the front of the jacket is wrapped across, either kept upright or folded back down again for a neat, tidy, buttoned-up look.
The buttons on the jacket are large, solid horn — dark in colour and matte in finish — and each is a little different from one to the next. They are in that regard as if alpha-keratin snowflakes — such is the beauty of being a product of a high-grade natural material, rather than, say, a plastic replica.
There are two large pockets on either side at the front, which enjoy a symbiotic relationship. The top pocket has an open top and is best for the resting of hands. It is partially loose, and therefore serves as the flap for the lower pocket, which is the more secure of the two and best for wallets and the like.
There's a pocket at the chest, too, the flap of which is fixed into the cross-chest seam. It is a bellows pocket, with a raised channel running around its perimeter. The main pockets are likewise bellows, incidentally. They are able to expand to allow for more storage space, but otherwise sit fairly flat on the body.
The jacket has what's called an action back: a gusset, across the mid-back, which benefits movement in the forward direction. After stretching out, the gusset returns obediently to shape, thanks to elasticity built in the back. The gusset opening runs into a fixed half-belt into which pleats run both above and below.
The jacket has what some a game pocket, and others a poacher's pocket. It's a channel that runs from one side of the lower back to the other, covered at entrance and exit by flaps that fasten with studs, and dropping down in the middle, helping to maximise the capacity for and the security of a smuggled salmon.
The hunting jacket has what's known as a cap shoulder, with the upper parts of the body and sleeve cut as a continuous piece of cloth, running around the jacket in a gently curved cap-like shape. It is good for movement in the upward direction, similar as it is to a raglan, and gives a soft, relaxed shape.
Inside, the jacket has a chest pocket on the left-side as worn. Perhaps more importantly, though, the inside is faced with an extra layer of cloth, which increases its durability and weather-readiness. The rest is fully lined — both the body and the sleeves — with a slinky satin, and so is easy to slip on and off.
This is cotton duck — the term "duck" coming from the Dutch word doek, meaning small, short-necked, large-billed waterfowl. In plain, non-Dutch terms, it is a cotton canvas of just-over middling weight, hard and firm when new, soft and ruggedly lived-in with wear, and hard-wearing throughout.
As worn
The gentleman here has a chest of 38, and seems very happy to be wearing the jacket in his usual size of S.
Makers of
The jacket is made by an outerwear factory in north-east London. It is specialised skill, assembling jackets from thick and heavy cloth. The idea is to make something which truly lasts — all highly durable making techniques, heavy fusing, and turned seams — without the result being stiff or bulky.
The cloth is sourced from a mill in Lancashire, in north-west England. Cottons have rolled off its line for nearly a century and a half. Industry-leading methods of weaving, dyeing, and finishing — unimproved in decades — along with steadfast adherence to quality, result in some truly first-rate cloth.
The horn buttons were cut, shaped, and polished by the last such factory in Britain (now defunct). It was part of a tradition in the Midlands first linked to the meat industry of the 18th century. "It is no easy task," said William Hutton in 1780, "to enumerate the infinite diversity of buttons made in Birmingham."
