While walk­ing about in my pea coat on Veteran’s Day, I couldn’t help but think about its tra­di­tion. Time­less, iconic and clas­sic can all describe the pea coat, but I’d pre­fer to use reli­able.  I’ve had mine for the past 6 years and it still beats off the snow, rain and wind in the windy city.  But it looks sharp too, work­ing well with most any­thing such as a suit or sweater, jeans or slacks. It’s reli­able because it keeps you warm, makes you look good and lasts a long time, per­fect for the oncom­ing winter.

The orig­i­nal pea coat was first crafted for Euro­pean sailors in the navy dur­ing the early 19th cen­tury. The US Navy began to issue them in the early 20th cen­tury and con­tinue to do so. In 1980, they changed the color to black. The design hasn’t changed much over its his­tory, main­tain­ing the broad lapels, dou­ble breasted style, slash pock­ets and but­tons etched in with a ship’s anchor.

Made with worsted wool, it’s very durable, eas­ily pro­vid­ing warmth and shel­ter from winds and rain. You can flip up the col­lar for added pro­tec­tion like Robert Redford.

The weight of the Navy issued coats are heav­ier than newer designs, but think of it as a mini work out when walk­ing around. Per­son­ally, I like the clas­sic style, mine being from 1963, but I also had it tai­lored, nar­rowed at the waist. The tra­di­tional pea coat tends to be box like.

Since pea coats have a dis­tinct look and have been around a long time, you can always find sev­eral dif­fer­ent styles made by sev­eral high end design­ers. These tend to cost more but will offer you some­thing in a dif­fer­ent color or higher qual­ity mate­r­ial or dif­fer­ent look. They’re usu­ally made from wool and even blended with cash­mere.  Don’t go cheap with a pea coat, how­ever, because it was designed to last and not be tossed aside like a fickle fash­ion trend.

Some things to avoid are styles that are too long, espe­cially if you’re medium height because it’ll make you look shorter. Go for some­thing that is no longer than mid thigh. Also, choose darker col­ors, such as navy, black or grey because they’ll go with most any­thing, at the office or for the weekend.

So you def­i­nitely don’t need to be a sailor to wear a pea coat any­more. They’ve become part of Amer­i­can style and tra­di­tion. Pea coats will never be a tem­po­rary trend found in a fash­ion rag, but a long term invest­ment for your win­ter wardrobe. There are always good options avail­able and it’s a per­sonal pref­er­ence if you want the tra­di­tional, Navy look or some­thing with a mod­ern edge. It’s only going to get colder out there so we need to look good and stay warm.

Return to our home­page to learn more about cus­tom dress shirts.

Be Socia­ble, Share!

• 

Categories: Men's Style Guide

Tags: american tradition, men's coat, men's fashion, men's style, mens pea coat, mens winter clothes, mens winter jacket, pea coat, pea wool coat, peacoat, robert redford, US Navy, Veteran's Day, winter coat, wool pea coat, worsted wool