Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In today's video, we'll discuss
five ways in which a sport coat might be a better option for you than a full suit.
When people first come into classic menswear, they usually think of dealing with suits.
The advice to start building a tailored wardrobe is usually to begin by getting a navy suit,
often followed by one in charcoal gray. On that note, for more advice about
building a collection of suits and how many a man might actually need,
you can find our video on that subject here. (link in description box)
Meanwhile, sport coats, also called sport jackets, sports coats or sports jackets get
somewhat less attention when first building that introductory level menswear wardrobe. Sportcoats,
of course, are odd jackets designed to be worn with non-matching trousers
and even if you do have a decent number of sport coats in your own collection,
the average layperson is probably going to compliment you on the street by saying “nice
suit!” or “I like your suit” because they might not be aware of the differences. In today's video
though, we'll boost the profile of sport coats a bit and give them their proper due by discussing
five advantages that a sport coat can have over a conventional suit in some situations. Of course,
before we get to the five advantages we should probably cover briefly the history of sport coats.
Since they originated, they have been considered somewhat secondary to full suits especially on the
scale of formality because they are inherently more casual. They originally appeared in the
latter half of the 19th century to be worn for outdoor sporting events such as hunting,
fishing, or horseback riding, so definitely not for business wear. More specifically,
they started with the Norfolk jacket which was designed for
shooting parties. The origins of this jacket style are a bit more muddied but for more information,
you can find our guide to the Norfolk jacket here. (link in description box)
This style was later adapted into a slightly shorter jacket with fewer
buttons and this was the beginning of the modern sport coat. For more information on
this athletic wear of the past, you can take a look at our guide to tweed here,
and to clear up any remaining confusion you might have about the differences between suit jackets,
sport coats, and blazers, you can find our video on that topic here. (links in description box)
Without any further ado then, let's now get into
five potential advantages that a sport coat can have over a suit.
Advantage number one is that when you're wearing a sport coat, people won't automatically assume that
you've just come from the office. The roots of the sport coat reveal this first advantage that it has
over a suit because it wasn't originally designed to be business wear - therefore it can now be worn
in a wider variety of situations and settings. Even though it is now considered appropriate for
many business environments and can often be worn with a tie in the business casual dress code,
the more casual connotations of the garment still remain. For off-duty wear then, it is simply
less conservative and formal. If you're going somewhere dressed in a full suit, most people's
automatic assumption is going to be that you're a businessman on his way to or from the office.
Meanwhile, if you're wearing a sport coat with odd trousers, people may still think or
compliment you on this suit but they're not going to associate it as immediately with business wear.
With this said though, advantage number two and as we already mentioned is that a
sport coat does still fit into the business casual dress code. Given that a sport coat
is less formal than a suit, you can wear it in a largely business casual workplace and not feel
overdressed or overly formal. Many workplaces these days are already quite casual as a default
so if you show up to a casual office wearing a full suit all the time, you're going to be
violating some of the unspoken norms of the office by so drastically overdressing your peers.
However, if the typical dress code of your office features things like
oxford cloth button-down shirts and chinos, throwing on a sport coat over the top of this
isn't going to be seen as too formal. So with a sport coat, you can indulge your interest
in classic menswear in the office without sticking out like a sore thumb, especially if you go
further into the casual mold by wearing the sport coat without a tie. And, during and following the
Covid 19 pandemic which is going on at the time of this video's original filming, workplaces are
probably going to become a bit more casual as a result, so this is especially important to keep
in mind. Plus, putting on a sport coat for a zoom meeting at home is probably going to be seen as
more natural than putting on a full suit for one and I can back this up with personal experience.
On a related note, advantage number three here is that overall a sport coat is easier to dress
down. Sportcoats generally have more casual features than suit jackets and even most blazers.
For example, they often have soft shoulders without much padding,
patch pockets and they're not made from smooth worsted wool, instead being made from fibers
like linen or cotton in warm weather and tweed in cold weather. Whether it's the rougher texture of
a tweed jacket or the elegant wrinkling of linen, sport coats are typically just going to look
more laid back than a worsted wool suit jacket would. And as we already mentioned, with a sport
coat you can often choose to skip a tie and wear a shirt with a pattern like stripes or checks.
Meanwhile wearing a suit without a tie is going to look somewhat incomplete most of
the time especially if your shirt doesn't have a pattern and as we already mentioned,
a sport coat can be worn in a wide variety of settings. It is appropriate for some offices
but it's also equally at home, at the movies, out with friends for drinks, or on the weekends.
It can even be worn in some circumstances with jeans and for a video covering outfit
ideas in this mold, you can go here. (link in description box) In a world where dressing
casually is becoming the norm and fewer and fewer people pride themselves on looking sharp,
you can put on a sport coat and a pair of odd trousers and still probably be the best-dressed
person in the room, even though you're not wearing a full three-piece suit for instance.
The fourth advantage that a sport coat has over a full suit is greater durability. As they were
originally designed for outdoor activities, the fabrics used to make many sport coats
are often thicker and more durable than that for suits. Meanwhile, the standard business
suit is made of worsted wool and the super wools in particular, something like super 130s or above,
are going to be very fine and thin. While these smooth weaves will give you a refined and
formal appearance, they're probably going to wear out faster. On the other hand, when you think of
conventional sport coat fabrics, the first one to come to mind is probably going to be tweed
which is much thicker. In fact, there is even a so-called thorn-proof tweed which was designed to
stand up to potential rips and tears from thorns and brambles in the countryside.
Other hard-wearing fabrics typical to sport coats are things like corduroy in the winter
months and to a lesser extent seersucker and linen in the summer. The smooth worsted wool
of a suit jacket will also probably show stains more easily. If you happen to spill coffee or
barbecue sauce on your suit, you may need to bring it into the dry cleaner.
Though if you are of a more courageous sort, you could also try laundering your suits at home.
Conversely, sport coats tend to be woven to create more texture like a bird's eye or a basketweave
and they're more likely to contain a pattern like a houndstooth or a Prince of Wales check
or a herringbone that might be too casual for some business suits. These textures and patterns can
hide dirt stains and minor imperfections in the weave over time so you won't have to bring things
to a dry cleaner or launder them yourself as often, which will increase the overall longevity
of the garment and of course, it will also likely be easier on your wallet. The pants of a suit will
also wear out faster than the jacket will because of friction created from things like sitting
or if you've got larger thighs - if they happen to rub together while you're walking. So, unless
you thought ahead or bought a custom suit with an additional pair of trousers you may ultimately end
up with a jacket that you won't want to wear, as orphaned suit jackets often are a bit too plain
to be worn with much visual dynamism in outfits. Meanwhile, if a sport coat is wearing out one of
the areas where it's likely to show where first is in the elbows. This isn't a problem, however,
as you can simply get elbow patches for a more Ivy League look. Meanwhile, a suit coat with
elbow patches is probably going to look a little bit discordant in terms of overall formality.
Finally today, the sport coat's fifth advantage is that it's likely going to open the door to a
wider range of exciting style possibilities. Aside from the practical considerations we've already
outlined, one of the other major advantages of a sport coat is that it's going to allow a gentleman
to get into more different style scenarios. This isn't to say that suits are stylistically
limiting, of course, but simply that sport coats open the door to an even wider array of options.
For example, if you're fond of patterns, a sport coat will allow you to use them on a larger scale
than just in your accessories. While a whole suit with a windowpane pattern might be too
bold or loud, on your upper half only it can certainly work. In other words, patterns are
expected when it comes to sport coats. Second, simply by adding a pair of odd trousers to
be worn with the sport coat, you introduce more complexity and stylistic opportunities.
Because a suit is a uniform top and bottom, you don't have as many opportunities to mix and match
unless you're deliberately going with the spezzato style. When it comes to odd trousers though,
you could experiment with things like corduroys in the winter months and in the summer go with
chinos or maybe even a step further into go-to-hell pants. As an example here, you could
wear a sport coat with a Prince of Wales check featuring an over plaid in a particular color.
Then, if that color is replicated in your trousers or elsewhere in the outfit,
it creates a dynamic look with visual interest that's still harmonious. In fact,
given the wide variety of options that it allows, a sport coat can often be the preferred choice
for experienced dressers. Speaking for myself, I do find that the combination of a sports coat or
blazer with odd trousers is more versatile and can be more creative than a full suit often would be.
So while a suit may be an easier option because you're simply pairing a jacket,
trousers, and optional waistcoat together all in the same fabric, the sport coat will
allow for more creativity overall and it's more versatile when it comes to formality. With these
five advantages then, sport coats are definitely appreciated by aficionados of classic men's style.
In today's video, I'm wearing a somewhat casual outfit centered around a sport coat to show off
some of the advantages that we discussed in the video. The sport coat itself is in a herringbone
pattern and it has black brown gray and even a bit of green in its weave. To pick up on some of
these colors, I've gone with a micro check shirt in white and green, also without a tie for a more
casual look and a pair of plain brown trousers. My shoes are a slightly bolder element as they're
wing-tipped oxfords that feature both tan leather and fabric inlays again with a herringbone pattern
to harmonize with the sport coat. The gray laces in the shoes are from Fort Belvedere as are my
socks which are shadow striped models in medium brown and green to harmonize with
both the trousers and the shirt. My other Fort Belvedere accessory today is my pocket square
which is in a wool-silk blend and features a geometric medallion pattern in blue,
red, and black on a moss green ground also with a contrasting edge stitch in eggshell.
You can find the shoelaces socks and pocket square that I'm wearing today
in the Fort Belvedere shop along with a wide array of other classic menswear accessories.