3Sixteen CWU Bomber Jacket

The CWU flight jacket is the one that came after the MA-1, and almost every decision in it was made for a man sitting down and strapped in. It is cropped because a long jacket bunches against a seat back. It is boxy because a harness has to go over it. The cuffs and the waistband are knitted so the jacket seals at its openings without a fastening to catch on anything, and the collar is stitched to stand rather than lie, because a collar that lies flat is no use at altitude. None of that was styling. All of it survived into civilian dress unchanged, which is what happens to a pattern that was solved rather than designed.

3Sixteen has done two things to it. The first is subtraction: the chest patch and the sleeve pocket are gone, on the reasonable ground that nobody outside a cockpit has ever used either. The second is the cloth. The original was nylon, and nylon is why vintage examples shine and rustle. This one is built on a cotton-majority blend instead, so it has a matte surface and the hand of a garment rather than of equipment, with the synthetic content there for strength rather than for effect. Inside, the quilted lining is Tencel, which is smooth and cool and carries warmth without loft, so the jacket insulates without turning into a puffer or fighting a sleeve on the way on.

Why we selected it

We wanted one piece of outerwear in this line that was not workwear. The military patterns 3Sixteen draws on are mostly ground-issue and mostly cotton, and this is the exception: a flight jacket, cropped, with knitted ribbing and a lining that does real work. It is also the most immediately wearable thing the house makes. Nothing about it needs explaining to anyone, which is not something we say often and is worth saying when it is true.

3Sixteen builds most of its outerwear from military and workwear originals, and the CWU is the one drawn from the air rather than the ground.

Materials and construction

Shell sixty percent cotton, twenty-eight percent polyester, and twelve percent nylon. Lining one hundred percent Tencel, quilted. Ribbing one hundred percent cotton. Made in India. Black.

Fit notes

Boxy and cropped, sitting at or just above the waistband rather than over it, with the knitted hem gathering the jacket in at the bottom. That shape reads shorter and fuller than a modern bomber and is meant to. It takes a shirt or a light knit underneath comfortably; a heavy crewneck will fill it. The ribbing at the cuff and hem is cotton rather than a synthetic, so it has less snap-back than a technical rib and will relax slightly with wear rather than gripping.

Styling

Over the Crosscut Flannel with raw denim, which is the plainest correct answer. Over a knit polo when the flannel is too much. Black cotton over indigo needs no thought, and a cropped jacket over a full trouser like the Cargo Pant is the proportion the shape was drawn for.

Care

A shell blending cotton with polyester and nylon and a quilted cellulosic lining are three materials with different tolerances, and heat is the one thing all three dislike. Wash cool or clean gently, never hot, and never tumble dry: heat glazes the synthetic content in the shell and flattens the quilting. Our care guidance covers cotton, it covers regenerated cellulosics like Tencel, and it covers what to do when a garment is more than one material.

Related pieces

For quilting on a lighter frame, the Liner Jacket. The ground-issue side of the same vocabulary is the BDU Jacket and the French Work Jacket. It goes over the Crosscut Flannel and with the CS-100x. Everything we currently hold from 3Sixteen is listed together.