Engineered Garments Bedford Jacket – Black

Moleskin has nothing to do with moles. It is a cotton woven in a dense satin structure and then brushed hard across the face until the weave disappears under a short, tight nap. The result holds two properties that ought to contradict each other: it feels like suede under the hand and behaves like canvas on the body. English gamekeepers wore it for a century because it was the only cotton that survived a season of brambles, and it has been moving toward the city ever since.

The Bedford is the garment this house is known for, and the idea behind it is subtraction. It takes the outline of a sports coat and removes the things that make a sports coat formal, leaving a boxy body, a button front, and four patch pockets applied to the outside rather than set into the cloth. A patch pocket is the honest kind. It is sewn onto the surface, it shows its own edges, and it carries what you put in it instead of pretending to be empty. In black moleskin the jacket lands somewhere between a chore coat and a blazer and refuses to resolve into either, which is not a failure of nerve. It is the whole proposition.

Why we selected it

The Bedford is the piece a person buys first from this house and keeps longest. Moleskin is the version that reads as a jacket rather than as workwear, and black is the one that goes everywhere.

Daiki Suzuki founded Engineered Garments in New York in 1999 and produces the line in the city’s garment district, which is why every garment in this brand carries the same country of origin.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton moleskin, made in the USA. Boxy body with a button front and four patch pockets. Colour: Black.

Fit notes

Cut boxy and square rather than shaped to a chest, so it hangs from the shoulder and does not follow the waist. That means it takes a layer underneath easily, and it means a size chosen for the shoulder will be generous everywhere else. Moleskin is heavy and has almost no stretch, so it holds the shape it is cut in and softens rather than relaxes. Expect it to break in at the elbow and the pocket mouths first.

Styling

Over the Rounded Collar Shirt in white with the Andover Pant. Over a heavy tee with the Natural Cotton Heavy Fatigue Pant, which is the version of this that gets worn most. Black moleskin against olive cotton is the pairing this house draws season after season.

Care

Brush the nap in one direction after wearing and hang it on a shaped hanger. Wash cool and inside out or have it cleaned, and keep it well away from a hot dryer, which crushes a nap and does not give it back. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The same jacket in heavyweight red duck canvas is the Bedford Jacket in red, and in a lighter cloth the Bedford Jacket in red cotton ripstop. The Shooting Jacket takes the canvas and adds a zip and a game pocket across the back, and the Natural Cotton Heavy Fatigue Pant is the trouser drawn against it. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.