How To Buy An Overcoat - Man's Guide To Overcoats Topcoats Greatcoats - Stylish Winter Clothing
Men
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be talking with you about how to buy an overcoat, what to look for,
and how to make a smart purchasing decision.
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In addition, this is in support of my article over The Art of Manliness.
Go check it out.
I go into overcoats in a lot more detail.
I also co-wrote this article with Raphael.
I say "co-wrote".
Raphael took the lead, that guy over at the Gentleman's Gazette.
If you haven't been over there and you're interested in overcoats, make sure to go check
him out.
The article down below at The Art of Manliness links to him multiple times, but he went into
great detail on the different types of coats.
Okay, so let's talk about overcoats.
Why purchase an overcoat, the first question that we need to ask here.
Well, the reason is because if you're wearing a parka or you're wearing a big, bright yellow
Columbia or -- I have a Helly Hansen jacket.
I'll just tell you my story.
I went to Ukraine back in 2001 and one of the things my wife really remembers about
me when she first met me was, "Yeah, you look like you're about to go climb a mountain or
something."
I had like mountaineering gear on.
I don't know what it is about us or I don't know if other countries do this, but in the
United States, we seem to all like to dress like we're going on an expedition gear, so
we wear North Face, Columbia.
The thing is that's fine if you're in Colorado and you're going to go hiking, but day to
day going to work in a business or city environment, a place where you want to dress sharp to impress
in a business environment, you need an overcoat when it's cold.
You need also scarves and hats.
I'm not going to talk about that here.
I've created other articles and other videos for that, but you need to have a good quality
overcoat.
A lot of people, they're going to meet you for the first time and they're going to instantly
size you up.
An overcoat, if it fits you properly, can make you look taller, leaner.
It builds up your shoulders.
Basically, it just creates a streamlined profile and it makes you look healthy and attractive,
which is a good plus in business.
People want to work with other healthy people.
Okay, so talk about the details of the overcoat, and you're going to hear a few words like
greatcoat, overcoat, a topcoat.
The big difference, and they're all overcoats, but a topcoat is usually much lighter weight.
A greatcoat is going to be a heavyweight.
I mean, this is something -- greatcoats came from the wars, World War I and World War II
when basically guys were living in trenches and they were wearing those jackets 24/7 for
months at a time, trench warfare.
Just look up some old World War I photos and you'll see the greatcoats.
Okay, so this is a classic overcoat, one that I had made.
The one that I really love about my overcoat is that I can button it up all the way, so
I'll probably go ahead and slip this on for you, and you can see the first thing when
choosing an overcoat is make sure that you are wearing the clothing that you're going
to wear underneath it because if it fits you really well and you're just wearing a t-shirt
underneath, you need to make sure it's roomy enough that it's not going to crush up your
jacket, your shirt.
In this case, I've got a lightweight sweater from my friends over at 5th & Lamar, really
nice.
I'll talk about this V-neck lightweight sweater at some other point.
So I want to make sure it fits me and it buttons up fine.
The great part is that even though it buttons up and I'm wearing all this clothing underneath,
I've still got a slim profile.
I take care of it myself.
I've measured it with a tape measure, about a 34-inch waist.
That turns into jeans at about 32 or 31.
My chest is about 40 to 41 inches and my shoulder is about -- I think I like it to be 18.5 to
19 inches across.
So my overcoat usually is probably going to be about an inch to an inch and a half larger
than that.
I like it to have about a half inch to an inch larger than my jacket, shoulders as well,
so it fits right on there as an additional layer.
Another thing with an overcoat, make sure the sleeves fully cover everything, so this
is a protection layer.
You don't want to show a little bit of your jacket cuff or anything like that.
You want it to fully cover although you don't want it going all the way down to cover your
knuckles or anything like that.
So if I put my hands down, it's just starting to cover, I'd say, it goes to the pinch of
the hand, which the pinch is right here.
That's about as far as you want to let your overcoat go before you want to have it adjusted
or brought up.
Now, let's talk about the length of the overcoat.
You can't see this one, but this one just goes about three inches below my knee.
I like my overcoats a little bit longer, but three inches below the knee for a classic
overcoat works out.
Now, we talk about different styles of overcoats.
We talk about the Chesterfield.
We talk about the Polo.
We talk about a number of other ones in the article.
I'm not going to get into that here.
What I'm really going to try to do is make sure that you're paying attention to making
sure that your overcoat fits as good off the rack as possible, or if you go find it in
a thrift store.
The reason being overcoats are more expensive than normal jackets to alter because they
use a thicker, heavier fabric.
So let's talk about the fabric.
You want to be looking for 100% wool, maybe a wool-cashmere mix.
It's usually going to knock the price up unless you can find it for a great deal in a thrift
store.
If you're going to have one custom-made though, you want it to fit as close to perfect as
possible.
Now, the tailor who made it, he can probably make some magic happen because he's got the
tools to do that, but most seamstresses basically need to have a heavier duty sewing machine
to be able to work with thicker fabrics like this.
In addition, I like to, if I'm going to choose a fabric, to go a little bit more heavier
weight if I can find it.
Usually, that's going to last longer, be more durable.
Even if a moth ends up finding this, it's not going to probably be able to eat all the
way through, so that's another thing.
This is 100% wool.
These are cashmere.
Sometimes they use mohair or other types of wools, but basically you want to make sure
that you take care of this as well, so storage is -- I'll create a video for storage at some
later point.
Now, did I miss anything?
We talked about length.
We talked about fit.
Now style, gentlemen, go down to the article.
There are too many different styles.
This is a single-breast.
I think single-breasted is one of the most versatile, and double-breasted would be where
it overlaps and it's got two buttons right next to each other.
This single-breasted, I had this custom-made because I'm a custom clothier and what I love
about my overcoat is I can button at the very top of it like this.
I'm in Wisconsin.
It gets like negative 35 degrees Fahrenheit below zero here, so I'll wear it like this.
I like mine to be very functional.
I'll throw a scarf on.
I'll put on a type of hat, and I'm usually good to go like this because it's made from
wool, which I've talked about the properties of wool before, but wool is really nice in
a sense of it can actually absorb about 30% of its weight in water before it even starts
to feel wet.
In addition, wool just have some great properties for not only retaining its shape, but creating
an insulating layer and keeping you warm, so it keeps animals warm and it's been used
for thousands of years.
So guys, that is hopefully going to help you make a smart decision when you go out there
to purchase an overcoat.
And usually, three options to purchase an overcoat.
You can find one used at thrift stores.
You can go buy one off the rack.
I would go to higher end men's wear stores, so look at Brooks Brothers, Paul Stuart.
The Men's Wearhouse and Jos A. Banks occasionally have something good.
Make sure it fits you well coming out of there.
They're probably not going to be able to make adjustments to their overcoats.
Don't quote me on that.
They may be able to do it, but the other option is going to be to have it custom-made.
There are a number of tailors I'd recommend, either myself.
There's my friend, Raja, over at Monte Carlo Tailors in Bangkok.
He does a great job, W.W.
Chan in Hong Kong, or maybe Noble House in Hong Kong.
If you're in London, Savile Row, of course, and there are a lot of other great ones.
Well, I could create a whole video on custom tailors.
Guys, go out there, find a nice overcoat.
And if you need more information about men's style, don't forget I've got a link to my
free 47-page e-book down below and that is free.
You're on my newsletter.
I'll send you out helpful tips.
Go find an overcoat and wear it in style.
Take care.
See you in the next video.
Bye-bye.