3Sixteen Liner Jacket

The liner is one of the odder things to have become a garment in its own right. It began as the layer that buttoned inside a field coat, quilted for warmth and never meant to be seen, and the reason it escaped is that it turned out to be the most useful part: light, warm, packable, and cut without the weather-fighting bulk of the shell it lived in. The American M-65 liner and its German equivalents are the two references, and 3Sixteen has taken the body from the first and the quilting and pocket placement from the second.

The departure is the fabric. The original liners were nylon, which is why vintage ones rustle and shine. This one is cut in Tencel, a lyocell fibre made from wood pulp, and the difference is immediate in the hand: it is smooth, cool, and it drapes rather than holding air, so the jacket falls close to the body instead of standing away from it. Underneath, the lining and the fill are both cotton, which is what keeps it breathing and stops it feeling like a technical product. It is a warm jacket that is not a puffer, worn over a shirt in autumn and under a coat in January, and it is the layer most wardrobes are actually missing.

Most of the warmth in this category comes wrapped in synthetics and looks it. We wanted something a customer could wear over a knit polo to dinner without looking equipped for weather, and this is the only piece we found that manages warmth, drape, and a military pattern at the same time.

3Sixteen works from military originals more often than not, and the Liner is where the house has taken the most liberty with the material while leaving the pattern alone.

Body one hundred percent Tencel, lining one hundred percent cotton, fill one hundred percent cotton. Made in India. Quilted construction with replica BDU buttons and a zipped chest pocket. Colour: Steel.

Cut to go over a shirt or a light knit and under a coat, which is a narrower brief than a standalone jacket and gives it a trimmer line. Tencel has more drape and less structure than a cotton shell, so it follows the body and will not hold a shape away from it. Elasticated cuffs. If you intend to wear it over a heavy sweater rather than a shirt, size up, because the quilting takes up room that the fabric will not give back.

Over the Club Collar Shirt or a knit polo, which is where the steel grey earns its keep. Under the French Work Jacket for real cold, which is the arrangement the garment was invented for. With cargo or fatigue trousers it becomes military again; with the Work Pant it does not.

A cotton-filled quilted jacket is best aired rather than washed and spot-cleaned rather than laundered. When it genuinely needs it, cold and gentle, then dry it flat and let it take a long time, because a cotton fill holds water and will migrate if it is agitated wet. Do not tumble dry. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The two jackets it goes under are the BDU Jacket and the French Work Jacket. Beneath it, the Fatigue Pant in Midnight Washed HBT and the Alpaca Crewneck are what the steel grey was chosen against. Everything we currently hold from 3Sixteen is listed together.