Harris Wharf London Men 2b. Blazer in Houndstooth

Salt and pepper describes a cloth spun from light and dark fibers blended before spinning, so the color is mixed in the yarn rather than in the weave. Drawn as a houndstooth, the effect is a check that reads as a soft grey texture from across a street and resolves into a sharp broken figure at conversational distance. The composition is what makes this jacket unusual: not quite half wool, a little over two-fifths cotton, and a small amount of polyamide and elastane. Wool gives the recovery and the drape. Cotton takes the shine out and cools the cloth down, which is why the pattern reads matte rather than crisp. The synthetics are there in small quantities to hold the shape and let the jacket move. Patch pockets rather than flap pockets are the informal choice, applied to the surface instead of cut into it, and they tell you the jacket is meant to be worn open with a knit as often as it is buttoned over a shirt. The single welt chest pocket is the one formal note left standing.

A patterned jacket that behaves like a soft jacket is more useful than a patterned jacket that behaves like a suit. The blend is doing that, and the patch pockets are the giveaway that it was intended.

Harris Wharf London makes tailoring that is meant to be worn all day rather than presented at, and this is that intention applied to a check jacket.

Forty-seven percent virgin wool, forty-two percent cotton, ten percent polyamide, and one percent elastane, made in Italy. Woven as a salt and pepper houndstooth. Two-button, single-breasted fastening, patch pockets, and a single welt chest pocket. Color: Salt and Pepper Houndstooth.

We do not know whether this jacket is canvassed, half-canvassed, or fused, and we do not describe a lining or a vent. For a tailored jacket those are the facts that separate one from another. Ask us and we will look.

A blend this soft will not hold a shoulder the way a worsted jacket does, so expect it to sit rather than to stand. The one percent elastane means it moves at the back and the elbow. Two-button single breasted is the most broadly forgiving configuration there is.

A grey-reading check wants a solid: charcoal, black, navy, or denim below, and a plain shirt or a fine knit above. The Men Pleated Trousers in black are the obvious partner. Avoid a second small pattern anywhere near it.

Dry clean, and keep it away from heat, because one percent elastane is enough to be destroyed by a hot press and it does not come back. Rest the jacket a day between wearings. Our general guidance on garments made from more than one material covers the rest.

The Shirt Jacket in patterned moleskin carries the same composition of virgin wool, cotton, polyamide, and elastane in a dark blue herringbone, and the 2b. Blazer in Vitale Barberis Canonico houndstooth is virgin wool worsted suiting. Everything we carry from Harris Wharf London is listed together.