The work jacket is a five-button number, fairly short and mostly straight in the body. It's an easy all-rounder. It has a collar of middling size, with gently rounded points, and which is cut such that it caresses the neck when up, but sits pleasingly proud and round when down. No sloppy concavity here.
The buttons on the jacket are solid horn — middling in shade 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.
The jacket has what looks like a typical set-in sleeve, such as you would expect to find on a jacket of this kind, but also a large diamond (or kite) panel has taken up residence at the underarm. This is a gusset, and it improves upward and forward lift when in use, and the rest of the time sits neat and flat.
The jacket has many pockets — some more obvious than others. The main pockets certainly are obvious, spanning as they do the entire front of the jacket. They're best thought of as buckets for all and every belonging — drop it in there, care and precision be darned — and the insouciant stuffing of the hand.
There is a chest pocket on the right. It is quite a large one, as such pockets go. With the main pockets mentioned above, it brings the pocket count on the jacket up to three, though that's just those external.
The chest pocket is mirrored on the left by the stitching of an internal pocket (which, sandwiched between the inner layers, is accessible only by digging around, and is thus best thought of as two-thirds secret).
Stout little bar tacks can be found at all the most hard-working points on the work jacket — most obviously the entry-points of the pockets.
The fifth and sixth pockets on the jacket are on the inside, on the left and right sides. They are precisely the right dimensions and coordinates for the stuffing of mobiles and cards. Taking these two into account, pocketing is thought to cover about three-eighths of the total surface area.
The armholes on the jacket are very slightly lapped, which gives a subtle but definitely-there depth at the shoulder. Not just for show, either: the lapping shields the armhole seam from the rigours of the outside world, prolonging durability, and is a trapping of thoughtful workwear since the year dot.
The sleeves are a standard sort of width, but they taper sharply at the elbow and fasten snugly around the wrist with gusset-laden cuffs.
The jacket is lined halfway down the back with a smooth and slinky satin, cut as a single panel. It helps with sliding the jacket on and off. Indeed, despite the outer cloth being so firm and rigid, the "putting on" experience is as if rendered in Teflon. The sleeves are lined with the same cloth.
Wearing a moleskin jacket is — or should be — one of life's quotidian pleasures, with a warmth and softness unmatched anywhere else in the cotton kingdom married to an everyday rinse-wash-repeat readiness. This is a heavy variant, but still breathable and practical for all months save summer.
