Favorites series: Field jackets, safari jackets, chore coats/jackets - Topic of the day 10/23/23
What are your favorite field jackets, safari jackets, chore coats, or other similar light jackets? Favorite brands at low medium and high price points? What do you look for in a light jacket? What brands have been great for them and what brands have really let you down? (Note: the Favorites Series will be running ~weekly as a new way of the outdated "Best X for $X" threads on MFA.)
20 Replies
I like my old Apolis nylon chore coat. They don't make them anymore, but they're still floating around the internet. Can be had for about $75. Interesting material that makes it feel a tad more sporty than old country french guy.
https://huckberry.com/store/apolis/category/p/29105-nylon-french-work-jacket
Nylon French Work Jacket
Get to work.
I want to like Varusteleka's field jackets but their sizing/cuts feel enormous, and I say that as a big guy.
Does anyone know what the story on Ark Air is? They seemed to have a similar style but I swear their site has not been updated in ages
Universal works is great for the low-medium price range, lots of fabrics available. Fit varies between versions, but their measurement charts are pretty good
I have three chore coats:
A brown jcrew wallace and barnes one which is nice and heavy, but a little stiff
A vintage duck camo one which is very cool, but also very thin
A vintage blue french one which I would like to be buried in. It’s my ideal blue and one of the most comfortable things in my closet
Barbour makes great light jackets that are abundantly available secondhand.
For chore coats, the vintage French ones you can find on etsy seem pretty cool.
Engineered Garments makes great light / medium weight jackets in interesting fabrics / patterns / textures. Pricey though.
Kent Wang and Spier also seem like promising options for light jackets but no personal experience with em
I have a wool one from Lardini that I really like. The cut just seems really subtle in its shape. They’re probably very gettable around the $250-$300 mark.
I have this faux-sashiko one from Best Made Co that I love
I feel the same as art about my vintage French chore coat. Love the color, the material, the cut and fit, everything. I’ve worn it almost every day since it got cold enough. Don’t have a full fit pit but here’s me wearing it to play magic: the gathering.
I've got a number of milsurp jackets (all European save one so far) and I'll probably only get more over time. If you go that route you can often get very sturdy and cool jackets for often the lowest prices. Not all of them scream 'military' either.
On the other hand you have to figure out sizes named things like "96/VII" and "Small Long", and the fact that the cuts usually were intended to be looooong; there's obviously prone to be wear on anything used, and straps and buttons you'll never use.
And, probably will get a homemade chore coat as a present this year lol
my favorite field jacket is this one i picked up from Supreme last year during their end of season sale. The branding is lowkey which is what i look for these days with Supreme. I really love the weight, fit, and pockets. I can wear it with or without a hoodie underneath, and there’s a total of four outside pockets and two inside pockets.
I love snagging supreme pieces that the stupid resellers aren't interested in
Where are people shopping for the French chore coats these days? Just eBay?
same here. the brand gets a bad rap in fashion circles which i get to an extent (if you’ve only ever seen their graphic tees and bogo hoodies for example.) But they put out a lot of wearable, good quality items each season imo. (but you’d never recognize it on the street if someone’s rocking those pieces)
Not as exciting, but in a hand-me-down bag from family we got passed a 90s salmon Detroit. Great condition. Neither my partner or I were familiar with carhartt at the time; It sat in our closet untouched for a bit until I wore it on a coffee run by chance lol
It's comfy, it looks good, it acts as a low key extra binding layer on bad pain or dysphoria days bc the canvas is still very stiff, and the pocket situation on those things is just perfect. I do not let that thing out of my sight now lmfao. It'd be this model I think
EDIT: MISREAD TOPIC but thats okay everyone makes mistakes sometimes :) similar... ish
Need to cop another similar one now because my partner also loves it, we can usually share but it's getting silly 
I got mine from a shop called Palmo goods when I was in Montreal; they’re online too. Highly recommend. Prices not cheap but not absurd either, and the store is really well curated, everything felt worth and least looking at.
My quote unquote fashion journey is pretty young, but I’ve really enjoyed getting into these kind of light jackets this year. I’ve bought a few. Started with a thrifted mall brand chore (sturdy cotton drill, sort of on the slim side) that was a nice intro. Next bought an archetypal French chore coat from a vintage store, which I’ve been wearing a lot and enjoying trying to figure out how to style with my wardrobe.
And on a different note, I got a brand new Barbour Beaufort as a present this year too. It’s gorgeous and it seems too nice to wear for day-to-day activities. So haven’t worn it that much yet, but hoping to get a lot of use from it for years to come.
Very tempted by jungle jackets at the moment. Looking at vintage milsurp stuff but not that plentiful in my part of the world. Starting to consider branching out to camo also, inspired by some great looks in this discord.
Very late to this one, but I searched long enough for, and finally got my hands on an Apolis Chore coat a few years back, and it'll have a permanent spot in my rotation til it dies. Also just acquired an EG BDU/Field type jacket, and think I'm gonna be liking that a lot as well.
Oh snap I just found out about this.
I love field jackets. I have several.
My favorite makers are spier & mackay, and epaulet. In descending order of warmth:
S&M, wool. https://imgur.com/ujpzCs7
Epaulet, sashiko (cotton.) https://imgur.com/n6EgFrv
S&M, linen. https://imgur.com/qoDMryG
Just snagged a great looking off-white linen jacket from a French brand called Le Prince Jardinier for an absolute bargain. Can’t wait for it to arrive 🤩