Engineered Garments Shooting Jacket

A shooting jacket has a pocket across the back, and it is there because a bird had to go somewhere. The game pocket is the defining feature of the type: a wide, deep compartment running the width of the back, opening at the side, cut so that weight sits low and central and does not swing when you walk. On a working coat it is lined, and often rubberised, for the obvious reason. It is not the pouch on the front of a sweatshirt and it is not a patch pocket moved round the back; it is a different object with a different job. Everything else about a shooting coat, the four front pockets, the hard-wearing cloth, the freedom through the shoulder, follows from a day spent outdoors carrying things. That is the garment this one is quoting, and the game pocket is intact.

Duck canvas is the right cloth for the quotation. It is a plain weave run at high tension with a doubled warp, which is why it is denser and flatter than an ordinary canvas, and why it stops wind, shrugs off a bramble, and takes years of abrasion at the elbow before it concedes anything. New, it is stiff enough to stand up on its own; a season in, it has moulded to one set of shoulders. Swapping the traditional button front for a zip is the one modern move, and it is the correct one, because a game pocket full of something heavy wants a front that will not gap.

Why we selected it

We wanted one piece in the store that keeps a working garment’s actual function rather than borrowing its look, and this is it. The game pocket is not a styling detail.

Reinterpreting a specific working garment rather than a generic one is exactly what Engineered Garments does, and the shooting jacket is a clear case of it.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton duck canvas, made in the USA. Zip closure, four front pockets, and a game pocket across the back. Colour: Brown.

Fit notes

Cut with room through the shoulder and the chest, which is what a shooting coat needs and what makes it a good layering jacket now. Duck canvas is stiff when new and will feel larger and squarer for the first month than it does after a season. It has no stretch, so size for the layer that goes underneath.

Styling

Over a heavy crewneck with the FA Pant in olive corduroy. Over the Work Shirt with the Natural Cotton Heavy Fatigue Pant. Brown duck against olive is the pairing the garment came from and it still reads best.

Care

Wash cool and hang to dry, and keep it out of a hot dryer, which is what turns broken-in duck back into a board. Brush off dry dirt rather than washing it: this cloth improves with wear and does not need frequent cleaning. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The same duck canvas cut as a sports coat is the Bedford Jacket in red duck canvas, and the Bedford Jacket in black moleskin is the napped version of that shape. The FA Pant in olive corduroy is the trouser, and the Hooded Field Vest the layer under it. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.