4S Designs 69 Flak O.Gusset Bomber

The military bomber is one of the most copied shapes there is, and the reason most copies are dull is that they also copy the cloth, so you end up with a slightly worse version of a garment that already exists in surplus. This one keeps the shape and abandons the cloth entirely: ninety percent viscose with ten percent polyester, which is fluid, heavy in the hand, and the opposite of a flight nylon. The consequence is that the bomber’s own geometry starts doing something else. A ribbed hem and a blouson body are designed to trap volume above a fixed point, and in a soft cloth that volume falls rather than stands, so the jacket reads as drape held at the waist instead of as a shell held away from it. It is cut slightly oversized, which gives that fall somewhere to go, and there is adjustable lacing at the sides so the amount of it is a decision rather than a given. Black.

Why we selected it

Almost every bomber we are offered is a fabric substitution and nothing else. This one keeps the engineering and changes what the engineering does, which is a much rarer thing.

Taking a military shape and cutting it in a cloth that undoes its function is a habit of this house, and this jacket is the clearest case of it.

Materials and construction

Ninety percent viscose and ten percent polyester. Made in Italy. Slightly oversized, with adjustable side lacing. Color: Black.

Fit notes

Slightly oversized through the body, and the side lacing is what lets you take that back in, so the same jacket can sit close at the waist or full. Viscose has no recovery, so it will settle and hang rather than springing back into shape.

Sizing

We do not hold a size for this piece. It is sold as a single item rather than in a size run, so there is nothing to choose between. On a jacket described as slightly oversized that is a real question, and it is worth a call before you commit.

Styling

Over the Knit BD Shirt Animal or the Rugby Shirt. With the Mil Pant or the James Cargo Pant, which keeps the military reading whole, or with the H. Sartorial Pant, which deliberately does not.

Care

Viscose at ninety percent governs and it is weakest when wet, so this is a dry-clean garment. Undo the side lacing before it is cleaned or pressed. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Raglan Osc Parka is the technical answer to the same layer, in polyester, where this one is the soft one. Everything we carry from 4S Designs is listed together.