3Sixteen Work Blazer – Grey

The word to hold onto here is unlined. A conventional blazer is a piece of engineering: canvas, padding, and a lining that together impose a shape on the wearer and hold it whether the body underneath agrees or not. Remove the lining and you remove the argument. What remains is the cloth, the seams, and the shoulders of whoever is wearing it, which is a considerably more honest garment and a much harder one to make well, because there is nothing inside to correct a bad pattern.

It is also the reason this jacket works in a life that no longer has much use for a suit. An unlined blazer can be worn over a tee on a warm evening and under a coat in February, and it does not look like a man who left the rest of his suit somewhere. The two-button closure and the patch pockets are the details doing that work. Patch pockets are the least formal pocket in tailoring, applied to the outside of the cloth rather than cut into it, and they are what keeps a grey wool jacket from reading as office uniform.

Grey is the harder and better choice here. Navy would have been safe.

We took the tobacco cotton version first and this grey wool second, which is the reverse of the usual order and tells you what we thought of the first one. The wool jacket is the more serious garment. Most of our customers already own a tailored jacket that they wear four times a year and resent; this is the one that gets worn weekly, because nothing about it demands an occasion. Unlined, in wool, and made in Portugal is a combination we do not come across often, and we took it when we did.

3Sixteen's work is grounded in denim and military patterns, and the Work Blazer is where that vocabulary is pushed as far toward tailoring as the house takes it.

One hundred percent wool, medium weight, unlined. Two-button closure, patch pockets. Made in Portugal. Colour: Grey.

Unlined jackets read closer to the body than lined ones because there is nothing between the wool and your shirt, so expect it to feel less structured and more like a shirt with authority. The shoulder is the part to judge in person: with no lining and minimal structure, an unlined blazer will not disguise a shoulder that is wrong for you, and it is not a jacket to buy on a guess. It will take a tee, a knit polo, or a flannel underneath. A thick crewneck under it will be tight.

We do not hold measurements for this piece, and we would rather you tried it on or called us than worked from a number.

Over the Crosscut Flannel with raw denim is the whole case for the garment. Over a Pima tee with the Service Pant in warmer weather. With the alpaca crewneck when it turns cold, brown under grey.

Wool wants brushing far more than it wants cleaning. Hang it on a shaped hanger, brush it down after wearing, air it, and take it to a good cleaner only when it needs one rather than on a schedule. An unlined jacket has fewer places to hide a bad pressing, so choose the cleaner carefully. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The same jacket in cotton is the Work Blazer in Tobacco, and it is the more relaxed of the pair. For outerwear from the same house, the French Work Jacket and the Liner Jacket. It works with the Work Pant as a soft matched suit, and over the Crosscut Flannel. Everything we currently hold from 3Sixteen is listed together.