Engineered Garments Hooded Field Vest

Poplin is a plain weave with a fine warp and a heavier weft, which produces a very slight crosswise rib and, more importantly, an extremely dense and even surface. It is normally a shirting cloth. Run at the weight and tension that earns a name like Duracloth, it becomes something else: a tightly closed cotton that resists wind because there is almost no space between the threads for air to move through, sheds light rain off the face before it soaks, and takes abrasion far better than its hand suggests. It is what a field garment is made from when nobody wants the weight of canvas.

The hood is what decides the argument. A vest gives up its sleeves so the arms stay free, and the usual price of that trade is that the weather gets in at the top. A hood settles the top without giving the sleeves back, which is a stranger and more useful combination than it sounds, because the two places a body loses heat fastest are the head and the core and this covers both while leaving the reach untouched. The drawstrings are the field detail that carries it. One at the hood keeps it on the head instead of filling with air, one at the waist pulls a loose garment in against wind, and letting the waist out again turns the same garment back into a layer that goes over something bulky. Large front pockets closing on snaps rather than buttons are the other working choice, because a snap opens and closes with one hand and a button does not.

Why we selected it

A hooded vest covers the head and the core and leaves the arms completely free, and almost nobody is making one. In a wind-resistant poplin it stops being a curiosity and becomes a garment with a job.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton Duracloth poplin, made in the USA. Hooded, with drawstrings at the hood and at the waist, and large front pockets with branded snap-button closures. Colour: Black.

Sizing and fit

Cut as a field layer, so it is made to go over other things and the waist drawstring takes up the slack when it is worn over less. The hood carries volume behind the neck, so it sits over a collar rather than under one and the shoulder line reads differently from a plain vest. Poplin is light and has little give, so size for the layer underneath rather than for the body.

Styling

Over the Work Shirt in natural with the FW24 FA Pant in black. Over the Raglan Hoodie in graphite, which is the layering order this pattern was drawn for, and one hood up is enough. Under the Shooting Jacket, in cold.

Care

Wash cool and hang to dry. A tightly woven cotton loses some of its wind resistance if it is washed hot or dried hot, because the weave opens, so keep both cool. No fabric softener, which coats a tight weave and does the same thing. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The C-1 Vest is the lighter vest in cotton twill. The Shooting Jacket is the duck canvas outer layer, the FW24 FA Pant in black the trouser, and the Raglan Hoodie in graphite the fleece underneath. There is more on the house on the Engineered Garments designer page. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.