Engineered Garments Bedford Jacket, Red

Duck canvas is a plain weave run at high tension with two threads in the warp for every one in the weft, which is why it is denser and flatter than the cloth a painter’s drop sheet is made from. It was the material of tents, mailbags, and work coats for the same reason: it stops wind, resists a tear, and takes abrasion at the elbow for years before it gives anything up. New, it is stiff enough to stand on its own. That is not a defect to be endured. It is the first stage of a cloth that will eventually mould to one person’s shoulders and stay there.

Putting the Bedford in duck canvas takes the model back toward the workwear it was drawn from, and putting it in red takes it straight back out again. Duck in tan or olive is a work coat. Duck in red is a jacket that has decided to be seen, and the four patch pockets and the boxy front stop reading as utility and start reading as graphic. Suzuki has been running that argument since 1999: take a garment with a job and remove the job, and what is left is the shape, which was always the interesting part.

Why we selected it

Heavyweight duck is the version of this jacket that will outlast everything around it, and red is the reason to want it rather than a plainer one. Both halves of that are deliberate.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton in a heavyweight duck canvas, made in the USA. Boxy body with a button front and four patch pockets. Colour: Red.

Fit notes

Boxy through the body and cut to hang from the shoulder, so size it on the shoulder and expect room elsewhere. Heavyweight duck starts stiff and stays that way for a while, which means the jacket will feel larger and squarer for the first month than it will after a season. It has no stretch at all, so leave room for what goes underneath rather than counting on the cloth to give.

Styling

Over the Work Shirt in natural with the Olive Cotton Reverse Sateen Fatigue Pant. Over a plain crewneck with indigo denim, which is where red duck is at its best. Against natural cotton and against olive it works; against black it fights.

Care

Wash cool and hang to dry, and expect the colour to move a little in the first few washes, which is normal for a saturated dye on a heavy cotton. Wash it alone the first time. Avoid a hot dryer, which is what turns a broken-in duck canvas back into a board. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Bedford Jacket in black moleskin is the same pattern with a nap on it, and the Bedford Jacket in red cotton ripstop is the same colour at a fraction of the weight. The Shooting Jacket is the duck canvas cut as outerwear, and the Work Shirt in natural goes under either. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.